One of the most common things that I hear as a photographer is "what a lovely job you have".
Yes, I have the best job in the world and I am so lucky that I do the job that I do and even luckier that I still love it as much as I did when I first started as a photographer 15 years ago!!

One of the best things about my job is that I get asked to photograph the most special times in people's lives such as weddings and I get asked to photograph the most precious things in people's lives, newborn babies, children and families. For that I am truly priviledged, honoured and thankful.

Back in early 2011 I met Kate and Craig who came along to see me about photographing their wedding in the forthcoming November. As soon as we met I instantly liked them, I liked the way Kate made herself comfy in my home by kicking off her shoes and putting her feet up on my sofa! We had a cup of tea and talked about their wedding. A few days later they booked me and we met up a couple of months later for their pre-wedding shoot with their 3 young children.
Forward to November and the day of the wedding. We all met at Brandshatch Place Hotel and started with the preparations of both the bride and groom. I met up with Craig and their eldest son who was Best Man whilst they got ready and then made my way to see the bride who was very calm and relaxed as she got ready. The initimate family ceremony was full of love, smiles and emotion, with their youngest son giving his mum a cuddle as they signed the register.
The rest of the day just flowed beautifully, we had a few pictures, had dinner and then guests started to arrive for a big party. Kate, Craig and their 3 children started the dancing off with the cutest first dance I've ever seen. Everytime I hear 'their song' it just reminds me of them!

Kate and Craig were over the moon with their wedding photographs, I delivered their album a couple of months later.

Fast forward to early this year. I had an email from Kate asking me about a family photo shoot. I was delighted. I love it when my wedding clients get in touch with me about photographing their babies or their families. And besides, I like to know what they're up to so it's nice when we stay in touch.

We discussed options but what I didn't know, and what came as a shock, was that this was to be a very special family shoot. I remembered Craig hadn't been well during the album design stages. Kate had explained to me in a further email that Craig had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that was in fact terminal just 6 months after the wedding.
As I read Kate's email, tears rolled down my cheeks.

I offered to do a 'day in the life' shoot with the family to capture all the precious family moments such as playtime, bath time, story time. And so we set a date.

The date was last Sunday. I spent the afternoon and early evening with Kate, Craig and their 3 young children whose ages are (almost) 6, 4 and 2.

We had a fun day, the children were play 'wrestling' with daddy - the highlight of my day, because I have a young daughter and I'm surprised by how much energy the boys had!! I learnt all the names of the wrestlers!
The children were great! Despite having broken her arm a few weeks earlier, their young daughter joined in with the wrestling and then made me (pretend) tea and read me a story.

Once the children were all in bed, Kate, Craig and I had a coffee and a chat. I then took a few quiet photographs of them together...and some fun shots of Craig on his own, despite feeling a bit of a wally doing so it was  worth it, we got some great fun pictures!

Throughout my time with the family I didn't do many 'posey' photographs, I just stayed in the background and captured everyday memories, for the children. In years to come as the children get older they will appreciate the photographs that they have with their daddy and will treasure them.
Kate and Craig are a true inspiration, they've coped phenomenally with everything that has been thrown at them within their first year of marriage. The love they have for each other is special.

This is why I do the job I do. I love to capture memories. Every day is a memory and every memory should be treasured.

With Kate and Craig's permission, here are a few photographs from the day.

Homework time, Daddy building a dinosaur!

Enjoying a cuddle in front of the tv...

Bathtime...so precious!

I'd like to thank Kate and Craig for having me in their home and allowing me to capture precious memories for them. I wish them all the very best!

xx

Last month baby Harrison entered the world so I photographed him when he was just 10 days new. 
We spent a few hours together, and after a few top ups from mummy we got some fantastic photographs.

Here are a few of my favourites....

If your interested in having some newborn baby portraits taken please contact me claire@level11.co.uk

Claire x

So, after a busy couple of months I'm back to blogging!
I've made it my new year resolution to blog more often this year, but seem to have failed already!

So here I am, with a beautiful post Christmas wedding. The wedding of Gemma and Steve in Kent.

I met up with Steve at Brandshatch Place Hotel where he was getting ready with his best man and ushers.

Steve seemed quite relaxed, if a little nervous as we 'mocked' getting ready because it was too early to actually get ready. As I was about to finish and leave to get to Gemma's hotel, Steve received his wedding gift from his bride - a beautiful pair of Mulberry cufflinks and wallet! I 'heart' Mulberry and drop hints to my husband every birthday and Christmas to have a new Mulberry bag - sadly it falls on deaf ears!

So, I finished with the guys and headed to the bride's hotel, which was also the reception venue, to meet Gemma and her 7 bridesmaids all getting ready and drinking champagne! Lovely!!

Here I photographed all the little details. I love photographing the small details of the day, details that you spend a lot of time and money on!! 

Once the bride's hair and make up was finished it was time to get dressed! Gemma looked absolutely beautiful in her gorgeous gown and Louboutin shoes.

After spending an hour or so with the girls I headed to the church in West Malling to capture the arrival of guests, photograph the guys and arrival of the bride and bridesmaids in a mahoosive Hummer!
Fortunately the rain (just about) held off. It was grey and damp with light rain during the guests arrival however it held off during the important bits of the day which was brilliant!!

It was a beautiful service, quite emotional at points especially when a poem was read out which was written especially for the bride by her groom!  

After the ceremony and a few group photographs it was onto the hotel for drinks, mingling, dinner, speeches and dancing!!

Here are (a few) of my favourite shots from the day.

Answers on a postcard for the shot below...

Congratulations to you both. Thank you for allowing me to capture your day for you!!

Back in November I photographed two gorgeous little girls in the beautiful Autumn sunshine.
I met their mummy at the Baby and Toddler show at Bluewater in October and after seeing examples of my work she booked a location portrait session with me.

I love the Autumn, I love hearing the crunch of crispy leaves as you walk, I love the beautiful colours and the light that Autumn brings!

We met up just after lunch one Sunday afternoon and took a walk to two local parks. We spent a while chasing each other around the park and throwing leaves up in the air whilst I captured some lovely natural photographs.

Last week I met this handsome little man, just 7 days old.

He took some time to settle and cried whenever we moved him but I still captured some beautiful photographs of him.

Here are a few favourites...

If you are pregnant and are interested in having your newborn baby photographed please do contact me either by emailing me at claire@level11.co.uk or by calling me on 0845 0711178 and we will book in your session around your due date. I like to do my newborn sessions within the first 10 days of baby's arrival.

Claire x

A couple of weekends ago I met up with this beautiful little lady and her mummy in the woods for a portrait session.

Unfortunately the weather hadn't played ball before the day which meant it was muddy and wet with lots of puddles however it was bright and dry so we went ahead and went for a walk in the woods.

I'm really pleased with this set of photographs. I love this  little lady's little outfits, especially her tutu and blingy Converse trainers.

Meet baby Harry, 7days old, who I met couple of weekends ago at his grandparents home.

I was really looking forward to this baby session because Harry's daddy is an old friend of mine who I hadn't seen for years so it was good to catch up during the photo session!

Harry was such a good little boy and so well behaved.
I was left to my own devices which was great, and good for mummy to have a little rest in between poses

I'm so pleased with the who set of photographs but obviously can't show them all on here so here are just a few of my absolute favourites.

A few weeks ago I met up with this lovely little family after they won a very special portrait session with me.

We went to a park that I knew well, as I use to live opposite it.
The September sun was beautiful and warm so we made the most of it and walked around scouting for different locations.
I have to say, it was the quickest portrait shoot I've had, the girls were brilliant!!

Here are just a few photographs from the session.

For more information on booking your portrait photographs with me please do not hesitate to contact me by emailing me at claire@level11.co.uk or phone me 0845 0711178

...early February was beautiful! Very cold but the light was fantastic!

Lisa and Kordel's wedding was beautiful too!! Lisa made a stunning bride, I knew she would as she's naturally beautiful but once she had her Maggie Sottero wedding dress on and matching veil, complete with Audrey hepburn hair she looked absolutely stunning!

The day started off with Kordel and best man Chris at Chris's house for 'mock' getting ready shots! Yep, they put their suits on only to take them off for their journey to Cooling Castle Barn where they would get re-dressed!! This enabled me to capture some shots for the album before I headed off to their house to capture the Lisa and the ladies getting ready. The morning ended in a bit of a rush which was a shame as it meant we couldn't get any shots at home with the bride, her bridesmaids, parents etc but we had the shots we needed for the album.

So, onto beautiful Cooling Castle Barn...I always love working here, and especially in the beautiful winter sunshine!

Lisa arrived, the guests assembled and the ceremony took place.
Ceremony over, the guests all enjoyed reception drinks whilst the bride and groom disappeared of in the gorgeous Rolls Royce Phantom for a few minutes together.

I met them outside for pictures when they got back which is where we were treated to some gorgeous light!! I couldn't stop taking pictures!!

After the bride and groom pictures we went onto start shooting the list of groups. Everyone braved it for the bigger groups so we could take advantage of the sunshine.

Soon it was time for guests to enter the beautifully decorated barn for where they were treated to a yummy three course meal followed by some heartfelt speeches.

Soon after, it was time for everyone to relax after dinner whilst the band set up ready for the evening party to commence. During this time we had a request from Lisa to take pictures of some L.O.V.E sparklers however it didn't quite go to plan, firstly we lost the L so we started with E.V.O (lol!) but then we found the missing L by which time the others had burnt quite quickly....anyway, we got a few shots just not what I had envisaged!

Next it was time for the first dance and the party which started with the fantastic band Under The Covers  I left after the second dance which was a shame as I was quite enjoying the band!!

Here are a couple of pictures from the day...more to follow!