Honoured to share with you my latest commission for the Prince and Princess of Wales: a birthday portrait of Prince George as he turns 10. As with my previous portraits of Prince Louise, Princess Charlotte & Prince William, I took this portrait of Prince George in the grounds of the Windsor Estate, a few months later.
I love how this image captures the confidence, maturity and charm of Prince George – and gives us a glimpse of what lies in store as a future king.
For more examples of my children portfolio, click here.
Meet this week’s stunning frontispiece for Country Life Magazine – Princess Adebomi Adewale, from Nigeria, photographed at the Church of St Mary & St Nicholas, Wilton in Wiltshire.
A joy and honour to photograph – Bomi was beautiful, vibrant, intelligent and great fun. What more could I ask for? Thank you Country Life for another wonderful commission. Lucky me!
How old are we when we stop skipping down the road, or jumping on street walls? Some may say never, but in essence there is definitely a time when we become too self conscious, when we are suddenly too grown up, too rushed, too stressed… One of the many joys of photographing children is that they remind me to stop and enjoy the little things again, hold hands, skip down the street, even try a bit of jumping. And wow, the thrill comes straight back – along with a few strange looks admittedly!
When I moved out of London over 10 years ago, I craved rural backdrops for portraiture, but I fear I was simply unaware of quite how fantastic urban backdrops are for children portraiture – especially in black and white. Every street offers something unique, graphic, dynamic, quirky, but equally, every street invites the imagination of a child by offering games, adventures, magic, fun, play…
This image captures Ben enjoying a little alley way just around the corner from his home – he apparently does this wall jumping each time they walk along there. I hope one day that this image will remind him of a whole chapter of his childhood.
This portrait of Trudie Styler for Country Life Magazine’s feature on Irish Wolfhounds, was taken at Trudie and Sting’s residence in Wiltshire on a filthy winter’s day in December.
Portrait photography in the rain is always a challenge. Standing in a fast running river with water flowing in over the brim of my wellies, Lucy precariously holding my lighting in strong gusts of wind, 6 irish wolfounds on a bridge eyeing up potential fun in the water below, all whilst being overlooked by Sting – made it all the more exciting! Trudie also had her hands full with these enormous hounds so I’m not sure who was more relieved when all the elements came together within a few minutes and we captured the shot without any of the wolfhounds joining Lucy and I for a splash!
Another very enjoyable portrait commission from Country Life Magazine: photographing Cecily Offord at home in Devon for the frontispiece with my great friend and very talented make up artist Amanda Jackson Sytner.
Although the weather was rather dreary, the light was soft and there was little wind – so great conditions for portrait photography. The only set back with soft lighting is that it’s flat and lacking in shadow which adds a depth and mood I love particularly in close up portraiture. However, I found an ideal location under a pergola offering opportunity for creating soft shadows, a lovely wall with plants growing up in the background, and soft light flowing in from the front and right. I positioned the chair towards the front on the right, where there was sufficient light behind to avoid her her being lost in the dark background, and angled it so as create some soft shadow on the left of Cecily (from the viewer’s perspective).
We then worked through a variety of poses on & around the chair, which resulted in a wonderful selection of stunning portraits. The combination of a stunning model, make up, red velvet jacket and set up all worked in my favour. The one Country Life chose is but one of my many favourites.
As a mother of three daughters myself, I love photographing girls.
There was something so special about these two sisters (aside from both being naturally beautiful and photogenic). A combination of their contagiously happy spirit, gentle confidence, humility, kindness, and deep routed love for each other. Whilst I captured a variety of stunning portraits of the two of them together (and individually), this image epitomises their relationship. The subjects don’t have to be looking into the your eye to capture your attention – a moment can be every bit as powerful. This was a moment for me.
As I peer out of my kitchen window today, it’s raining ‘sideways’ and last November’s sunny day photographing this wonderful family in Gloucestershire already seems a life time ago. Where does time go?
I love this portrait of these two siblings on their cherished trikes. All the elements work perfectly – framed between two trees, lovely backlight making them stand out from the background, and both giggling in anticipation of the race! A moment of magic.
One of the things I love most about being a portrait photographer is the variety of my work, the people I meet, and the places I visit. One day I’m photographing children, another adults, sculptures, interiors,weddings, etc. One day I’m in Dorset, another Wiltshire, Hampshire, Gloucestershire. No day or commission is ever the same.
A recent portrait commission from Country Life Magazine took me to the new gallery, Messums, which has recently opened in the Medieval Tithe Barn located in Tisbury, Wiltshire. Here I had the pleasure of photographing Lord Margadale, the owner of the Tithe barn and Johnny Messum the founder of the gallery. I was also asked to capture the stunning interior & ceiling of the barn, and their inaugural exhibition of stone and bronze sculptures.
This is a portrait of Milo – future musician of the year! Well, at least his hand positions on the piano certainly suggest this – he looks like a total natural. However I can assure you the noise coming from the piano suggested otherwise!
As a portrait photographer nothing could stop me picking up the camera and photographing this friend’s son whilst they were staying with me in Dorset this last weekend. His captivating eyes, engaging smile and happy & relaxed temperament made him the perfect model. I can’t wait for our photoshoot in the New Year.
A wonderful sunny day photographing Sandroyd prep school in May was made all the worthwhile when Country Life Magazine chose this image for the front cover of their School Life Guide.
Providing schools with effective advertising, marketing and website photography is one of my favourite jobs – it’s an opportunity to combine my skills learned from 10 years working in marketing, with my passion for photographing children. They are such fun to work with. Read more…
