While I was editing Jemma & Andy’s engagement session I started thinking about how important these shoots really are.

Imagine having a whole set of photos of your own parents taken just before they got married. Pretty priceless I’d say. Many couples have never had professional photographs taken of them before and these shoots are totally different to what we’ll capture at their wedding. It’s also a good time for us to get to know each other a little better and for the couple to see that it doesn’t have to be stressful at all having their photo taken. In fact, most couples agree that it’s actually good fun and that helps them relax on the wedding day, and that leads to better wedding photos. Everyone’s a winner!

For Jemma & Andy’s session we met in the Cotswolds and went for a pub lunch first. As it was Mother’s Day, I decided to make a day of it and brought the family along too.

We ended up back at Broadway Tower just as the sun decided to do some pretty amazing shows..

Oh look! It’s Evelyne, Elliott & Isaac. This photo is already on our wall

Elliott was determined to be in more photos!

There’s that cheeky little boy again!

The wedding is in 2 weeks. Photos here soon…

Yesterday was Mother’s Day in the UK and the weather was glorious so we took the family down to the Cotswolds where we had dinner and enjoyed the spring sunshine. We were also down there to shoot an engagement session which I’ll be posting on the blog soon. It was a great day.

By complete contrast, the evening was spent with 3000 metal fans at Birmingham Academy where Florida’s A Day To Remember were playing. I was much more interested in the two support bands, Your Demise and Architects.

Unfortunately, I got there just too late to shoot Your Demise but they put on a great show. Architects were on great form and, although the lighting was tricky, I was pleased with the images I captured.

We only got to shoot the first two songs for each band so the pressure was on! Here are a few pictures from last night…

Firstly, Architects

A packed house at the Academy

and headliners, A Day To Remember

Long-time readers of this blog may vaguely remember a great wedding we shot at the Buttermarket in Newark. The couple were Emma & Pete so it was great when Emma’s sister, Ruth, booked us to shoot her & David’s wedding in Leeds.

Emma & Pete have since started a family so it was amazing to see their gorgeous little boy as well as catching up with Emma & Ruth’s parents.

The ceremony was held at the impressive Temple Newsam House before heading to the Thorpe Park Hotel for the reception.

I was ably assisted by Mr Chris Barber. Here are a few images we came back with…

Ruth looked amazing with a little vintage twist.

Emma waits for her sister to arrive at Temple Newsam…

Thanks to Ruth & David for having us there to photograph their day. Thanks to Emma & Pete for putting us in touch with them. Thanks to Chris for helping on the day. And thanks to whoever took this photo of the four of us at the end of the night

Ok, so let’s get one thing straight…

My music taste is extremely varied. I love my punk & metal. I love mellow singer-songwriters. I used to be a house DJ and I listen to some pop music too. I’ve seen Michael Jackson, Madonna, Kylie & Prince live but my musical tastes do not reach as far as Peter Andre! Sorry Pete.

I do think he’s a genuinely nice guy though and he’s obviously a major celebrity, at least in the UK. So when I got the chance to photograph his Birmingham gig this week, I was happy to do so. I only got 2 songs to do my thing but managed to get a few good shots…

This is Pete’s brother, Michael Andre who acted as warm-up DJ and did a good job too.

And then the screams were deafening as Pete appeared… The audience was predictably 98% female!

In amongst the post was a card from the parents of a recent bride. Things like this make our job all the better

Second City Soul are a fantastic covers band playing classic and contemporary soul, funk and R&B.

They contacted me a while ago about doing some new promo photos and last week our schedules finally aligned to allow us to get together for the shoot

Here are a few images from our time together…

It seems the bands I’ve been shooting recently all fall into the heavier end of the musical spectrum.

This gig was no different.

The mighty Lamb Of God were ably supported by fellow Americans Job For A Cowboy, August Burns Red and Between The Buried & Me. I was shooting the gig for Rock Sound magazine. Here’s a few of my fave images…

He/she may look like an alien life form at the moment but here’s the latest addition to the Gerrard family.

We won’t get to meet the baby til the end of August but, after today’s scan, I can assure you that, all being well, there will be plenty more photos of this little person on the blog in the future…

Only 8cm long but everything seems to be in the right place

We’ve had lots of great feedback after posting Lauren & Ashley’s wedding.

But people have been waiting for the Fun Booth pictures and here they are. I apologise in advance for the last one!

Parental love…

Remember Joy & Richard’s white wedding?

One of our fave couples ever and they didn’t let us down with the Fun Booth either.

Enjoy!