Luxury Travel Guide Wedding Photographer of the Year

Award Winning Wedding Documentary Photographer

Photography has always been a big part of my life, that started when I was given a Pentax K50 as a teenager and that inspired me to play with and then study photography; learning the art and techniques that enabled me to start my own photography business in 2007. So when I won the Luxury Travel Guide ‘Wedding Photographer Of The Year Award 2019’ I was delighted to add this award to my trophy collection!

I was introduced to an old polaroid camera as a child. I loved the large square flash blocks which exploded before a photo popped out the bottom! I thought it was a fab invention. I moved onto more grown up manual cameras, trying to weave a fiddly roll of film into the back of it trying very hard not to expose the whole thing before I’d even started. Life before digital was fairly fiddly.

In 2000 I decided to leave London behind and jetted off on a plane on my own and landed at a little island in the Caribbean with a suitcase and had to get out to a cruise line anchored far out to sea. I got on board not knowing what to expect as part of the small photography team. We were known as ‘Fotogs’ on board and we travelled the Caribbean, New York and Bermuda. Can’t be bad !

Still using manual cameras on a cruise ship involved a lot of developing film in a tiny windowless lab through the night and during the day involved hanging around on the gangway in warm Caribbean heat taking photos of passengers coming and going on their holidays. It also meant managing the gallery or even running around the restaurant dressed as a pirate! Don’t ask!

I returned to complete a BA in Editorial Photography as a mature student which steered my focus mainly towards people and living things, cementing my observations of relationships, interactions and the essence of people and feelings as where I was at – because everybody has a story.

Finding the right photographer is a big decision to people and I recognise more often than not it’s about the person and the feeling, rather than just the style or technical ability. I like to think I’m approachable and I have had the pleasure of photographing many events and celebrations and I have nothing to hide behind except me. I like to pay attention to capturing images you wouldn’t normally see, I love to involve people so they feel at ease and it can become a talking point and set the tone for a great experience.