Given how much time you spend with your wedding photographer on your wedding day, it would be pretty silly to not pick someone you get on with. I always like to meet my couples either in person or by Facetime/Skype before confirming a booking – I think it’s really important that I’m a good fit for my couples (and vice versa).
During these chats I love to find out more about you guys, how you met, what you love doing together, how you came to be engaged. And of course, the wedding, I love hearing about what you have planned for your wedding day. Not a minute by minute schedule, just the general feel and vibe that you’re going for and what you want your guests to remember from the day.
With the focus being on you (as it should be!), my couples, you don’t really get to know anything about me, so I thought I would use this blog post to share a little more about me and my life.
I live in North London with my amazing wife Rachel and our fluffy feline companion, Audrey Fluffburn. Rachel and I met online, and after going out for a couple of years, I proposed to her whilst she sat on a large mushroom (well, strictly speaking, it was a bracket fungus) in the New Forest. A year later we tied the knot ourselves at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, a stunning building that we both love. We jetted off to Japan on our honeymoon, which was an unreal trip I wish we could do all over again.
Rachel and I in Japan under some beautiful cherry blossom – which was fully in bloom when we were there.
One of my favourite places in Japan, Miyajima Island.
Audrey Fluffburn likes to help (read hinder) my work by standing in between my keyboard and screen. I just can’t get mad at her for it though, she’s just too cute!
I’ve been taking photos since I was at school, which feels a lifetime ago, but it was when I got my first digital camera having just left school that my interest and eventually passion in photography developed. I went to uni in Nottingham, where I studied nothing to do with photography, and my degree (which was in E-Commerce & Digital Business) led me to a job in the world of digital marketing. I did that for a few years, before moving over to Sydney, Australia, for a few years, which was absolutely brilliant. I’m often asked if I miss it, and why I came back. I loved my life out there but ended up coming home to London because it’s just too far away from my close friends and family. It was soon after I came back, after the incredible summer of 2012 with the London Olympics, that I decided it was time to give photography a go as a full-time job. I photographed a uni friend’s wedding and I loved it, so I started getting more wedding photography experience, helping out more seasoned professionals so I could learn on the job. But I found myself quite quiet during the week, so I started to do more corporate photography during the week, which I still do to this day and really enjoy. My corporate photography website is separate because I always felt that wedding photography and corporate photography don’t marry up well (excuse the pun!).
Outside of Rachel, Audrey, my family (of course) and photography, my other two loves are food and sport. Favourite food? Such a tough question. Japanese and middle-eastern food are probably my choices at the moment but it is subject to change! Tennis is my favourite sport to watch, though I will basically watch any sport on telly (excluding horse racing and golf). One of my prized possessions is a Wimbledon t-shirt signed by Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray. It’s framed and proudly on display in my home office. I grew up in Wimbledon, but I can’t say that’s why I love tennis! Nowadays living in north London I’ve taken to supporting Tottenham, and the timing is good as they have a lovely new stadium and an exciting team of players.