...From 9th-12th February Level 11 Photography will be at the Bluewater Wedding Week which will take place at the brand new events venue Glow at Bluewater.

The Wedding Fair at Bluewater promises to be a fabulous day out and the ultimate destination for inspiration for all of you who are planning your wedding.
With over 150 fantastic wedding professional exhibiting at the show you are guaranteed to find something that you are looking for!

We will be launching some new albums at the show and we will also be offering some amazing special offers which will only be available during the Wedding Week.

Level 11 will be located in the lower hall, stand B46 so come along and see us!!

www.weddingfairatbluewater.com,

OMG....I really need to play 'catch up' on this blog!!

There is so much to blog, I just haven't had the time to do it in between shooting weddings, portraits, editing, processing, album design, being a mummy and wife....and sleeping!

So, here's a little quickie until I get the chance to blog properly over the Christmas period.

Suhayla and Damien were married on Saturday. After a church ceremony the reception was held at Dorton House in Sevenoaks.
Dorton House is the Royal London Society for Blind people http://www.rlsb.org.uk/ . A beautiful Grade 2 listed building where all profits from your event go back to the RSLB.

Here are just a couple of shots that jumped out at me whilst editing...

 I'll be blogging again soon but in the meantime....Happy Christmas!

...here is a little sneaky peak from Kate and Craig's small but perfectly formed wedding on Saturday at the Brandshatch Place and Spa hotel.

 I'm still editing and then I will be designing the album but this shot jumped out at me.

...a few weeks ago I had the priviledge of photographing Katie and Tim's beautiful wedding in Rye, East Sussex.

I love Rye, I like wandering around the old cobbled streets and visiting the little quaint shops so I was looking forward to Katie and Tim's wedding.

The day started off with Katie and her sister getting ready at The George in Rye - which was to be the venue for the reception.
I then went and found Tim and his best men in the gun garden for some pictures before heading to the pub for a quick drink (them, not me) pre-ceremony.
I left them to it as I made my way back to The George to meet Katie, her bridesmaids and her father for the short walk to Rye Town Hall for their ceremony.

The ceremony was beautiful, I had to stop a tear or two falling down my cheek behind my camera. I captured some great shots during the ceremony, little knowing looks between the couple!!

Ceremony over, it was time for Rex, Rye's infamous town crier to announce to everyone that they had indeed married before leading the way, with everyone behind him, back to The George for the celebrations to begin.

Once all the guests were greeted and were happy with a glass of bubbly, I took the bride and groom off for a walk around the cobbled streets of Rye to take shots of them both for 20minutes or so before heading back for detail shots before the wedding breakfast. The room where the breakfast was to take place at The George looked beautiful, I particularly liked the personalised bar mats complete with both surnames and wedding date which the guests had as favours.

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of photographing 7day old baby Aaron.

I love photographing newborn babies, they're so scrummy!

So, I was asked to take some PR shots for the founders of the most delicious yogurt I have tasted.
'No problem' I said, 'on the farm where the yogurt is produced, with the cows who produce the milk for the yogurt' was what Rebecca said...'mmm, OK then' I said.

Now, I haven't worked with cows until this week and I was surprised how obliging they were! Very nosey cows too, sniffing around my bag!
I'm really pleased with the results and hope that the founders, the lovely Rebecca and Es are too....and the cows, especially Smokey!

Yog shops are in London, Brighton, Reading, Lakeside Essex, Brent Cross shopping centre and Watford.

Look out for Yog which will be available in your local Waitrose very soon!! www.yogyogurt.co.uk and www.facebook.com/yog

...A few weeks ago I had the priviledge of photographing Kerri-Anne and Robin's wedding at the beautfiul Cooling Castle Barn, one of the most popular wedding venue's in Kent!

The wedding day was a bit like 'Don't Tell the Bride' except the bride and the groom didn't have a clue about their day, except for what they were wearing and their first dance choice.
The day was full of surprises, from the flowers arriving in the morning to the menu which was revealed in the morning, which made it all very exciting.

The biggest surprise of all was the bride's father's speech. In the 13 years that I have been a photographer, I have witnessed lots of lovely speeches full of emotion but I have never witnessed a more brilliant and emotional speech than this one. I was chatting to Paul in the morning and he told me what he had planned and why. It was because he knew that the emotion may get the better of him so he decided to don a 'Sinatra'-esque trilby and sing his own lyrics to a Sinatra song! It was brilliant and lovely capturing the surprise on the bride and groom's faces.

After a day full of surprises for the bride and groom, arranged by Kerri-Anne's mum and sister, the bride and groom had their own little surprise for the first dance which included a dance routine - practised shortly before during the sunset photographs that we took.

All too quickly, as always, it was time for my day to come to an end and I left leaving the excellent band - thetzars.com - entertaining the guests.

One of my favourite moments from every wedding that I do is the first time that the brides father see's his daughter for the first time on her wedding day!

The boys...

Boys again...

Bride's arrival...

Blue sky overhead...

Romantic....

Beautiful bride....

A big hug after the first dance...

Come and meet Claire at the Cooling Castle Barn wedding open day on Sunday 4th September 2011 from 11am-5pm.

If you don't know the venue come along to see how beautiful it is and if you already know the venue...come along and enjoy!!!

Following on from my previous post showing the gorgeous photograph of the conservatory at London's Syon Park, finally, here is my post showing some photographs from Katie and Brendon's wedding last month.

I loved this wedding!! Katie and Brendon were fantastic to work with, their guests were all lovely, lovely videographer - Dan from From the Hip who was great to work with - fabulous venue and no rain!! I didn't want to leave and could quite easily have stayed longer despite the fact that I was already well past my contracted time.

We started with the preparations at the Waldorf Astoria hotel within the grounds on Syon Park.
Just look at Katie's shoes...

Katie looked gorgeous in her beautiful bridal gown, the way it flowed from the back reminded me of the soft waterfall pictures that you sometimes see - where the waterfall looks like cotton wool. Obviously the dress wasn't cotton wool, but it flowed beautifully!
Brendon looked very smart - despite the mad rush to get ready after his shopping trip to Westfield just a couple of hours earlier - to buy his shirt, tie and bridesmaids gifts!!! Nothing like leaving it to the last minute!! Still, with a little bit of encouragement from me, Brendon was ready in plenty of time to get to the church!

The ceremony went smoothly, it was a mad rush afterwards as there was another wedding waiting to get into the church as our wedding was coming out. I don't know why churches allow this to happen, it's not fair on the couples getting married plus it can be confusing for the guests.

We got back to the beautiful Syon House where we started taking the bride and groom portraits straight away. I love this venue! It's in my top 5 favourite wedding venues.
Once all the guests were back to the venue we did the requested groups, candid shots and detail shots in the stunning conservatory.
Katie and Brendon led their guests across from the house to the conservatory where they all tucked into what was a delicious meal!! It's always a treat when I get served a meal, and I honestly appreciate it because I'm usually starving! This was one of the best meals I've had - I can still taste it as I write this, yummy!!

Anyway, enough dribbling. Speeches were next on the agenda, the best man embarrasing Brendon with childhood tales - which involved a kitchen fire, don't ask!! Their poor mum!

Speeches over, it was time to cut their black and white cake, which smelt delicious. During this time, guests mingled, relaxed and generally enjoyed themselves before the dancing started with the fabulous Micheal Buble act. Talking to him before he started I found out he came from Essex so it was strange to hear him speak in an American accent during his set!!

The dreaded first dance went well and got everyone in the mood and onto the dancefloor.
Finally, it was time to leave but I couldn't leave without doing some final portraits with the cloudy night sky over, which is, in my opinion the best venue in London.

Leading the way to the stunning conservatory...

Gorgeous wedding flowers by Louise at http://www.thecrackedpot.co.uk/ - such a great name!!

Different corsages, with a touch of bling, again by Louise.

Dancing princess...

Micheal Buble....

Congratulations and thank you for looking after us, we had such a great time working with you!!

Now onto the album design....

I was called on Thursday by a nice lady and asked to 'pop along' to her home for an hour or so on Sunday to photograph a large family group plus the little family groups. Something a little different from my everyday norm but still, well within my capabilities so why not?!I charge £75 for a location portrait session (plus travel if outside a certain radius) which is payable at the time of booking.

My fee is broken into different elements:

• My time, which actually means up to 2 hours with you for a portrait session (if we need it)
• Travel to and from location (time and petrol)
• Electricity to charge my camera kit
• Wear and tear on my car and camera kit
• My time (and electricity) editing and processing the pictures so they look they're absolute best for you to view
• A viewing session with me or an online gallery
• Insurance (PI, PL and car)
• Tax
• Accountancy
• Marketing/advertising
• Kit servicing/maintenance

This is without mentioning my 13 years experience and skill involved in taking the beautiful photographs that I take and of course living costs/wages.
When I list it out like this it actually makes me think that I should indeed increase my fees.
All products are additional costs, i.e beautiful frames to display your beautiful photographs, gorgeous desktop acrylic blocks, photographs to display proudly around your home or gifts to send to family.

The lady called me the next day to cancel the session. Why?? She told me it was too expensive so I asked, out of interest, what she was expecting to pay.
She told me that she was expecting to pay around £45 inc CD and just wanted someone who knew what they were doing behind a camera!

There lies the problem. My husband knows how to work a camera, it's not that difficult. BUT he doesn't know about lighting, where the best light is coming from, does the photograph need extra light, how the eyes are looking, where the best background is, group positioning, composition, colour management etc etc.

If you go to a restaurant and had steak and chips....you kind of know the price of the ingredients and how you cook it but you pay a much higher price for it because your paying for quality ingredients and for an experienced chef to cook it for you amongst other things.

I have heard so many stories from clients, friends and friends of friends about how they wished they'd hired a professional photographer - be it for a special occasion (the latest was for a 40th birthday but she thought that at the time it was an extravagance however a couple of weeks after her best friend died and now she regrets that she didn't have a photographer!), for baby or childrens portraits or more commonly, a wedding. 
I find it amazing that some couples getting married choose to scrimp on the photography but yet spend hundreds on things that are thrown away after the day.
I had a lovely couple come to see me for a wedding consultation last week who admitted that they're wedding was going to be 'done on the cheap' but the biggest expense was the photography because they said that they wanted memories captured and beautiful photos of them on their wedding day, together with their children and family that they can look back on at their 50th anniversary! Such a great way of looking at it and one which I think everyone should look at it!

Unfortunately, the professional photography industry has been 'cheapened' by what I fondly call 'weekend warriors' - those who pick up a digital camera and think they can earn a few quid at the weekend!
Most lack basic training. Some do actually know what they're doing and are trying to break into the industry - I appreciate we all have to start somewhere - but can they cope with the pressure, particularly on a wedding day!! I'd like to know how many 'newbies' are still working and established in 10/15 years time!

A few times I have had a bride or groom call me a week or two weeks before their wedding asking me if I am free because the photographer they had booked couldn't make it - once, the reason was because he was called to cover a shift at work!
This is so wrong!! Professional Photography should have some kind of registered trademark. We have the Master Photographers Association, and although the professional photographers who pay to join the MPA are all recognised by their peers and undergo what I call an 'assesment', in which you submit a certain number of photographs of a certain quality for assesment, there is nothing like 'Corgi' or the such like. There should be!

Without sounding like a cliche, this is my passion but is also my full time job. My clients come to me because they want me to produce beautiful photographs for them. Many of them become lifelong clients and friends which is an honour for me. I love it when my wedding couples come back to me for me to photograph their babies, children, families....who knows, maybe I'll be photographing the children's weddings in years to come. I get a warm, fuzzy feeling when I visit a clients home and see my work proudly on display!!

I have huge respect for my clients; past, present and future. They are investing their hard earned money in me and expect me to produce photographs of exceptional quality and with a level of service and professionalism that they both expect and deserve.

My work will be remembered by families for generations. I still look at my parents and grandparents wedding albums and wonder who the photographer was and what was s/he like, obviously my parents and grandparents can still remember what the photographer was like - my mum's had to stand on his box to take the groups as he was a short man.  I wonder if me and my work will be remembered and admired in future years, I certainly hope so!!