Happy Caroline Day to you all! :)

Today is my birthday, woohoo! 28 for anyone that wants to know. Just wanted to do a quick blog as I am a birthday lover. It's been a bit random as there is so much snow in Cirencester, I did manage to get into town though with my Mum which was nice. I've had some cool presents and then I was given my cake(s) - my brother of Yipori fame had made me cupcakes for my birthday, I thought I'd share these with you, how awesome are these?!!






I've also had a lovely evening with a friend so all in all it's been a good day. I hope everyone has enjoyed their Caroline day! :D

Why I Photograph

I wish I could say that I’ve been a photography enthusiast all my life, but I haven’t. I have however always been passionate about art. I love intense colours, interesting shapes, smooth textures, light, and how objects and people interact with each other. I like to touch and smell things to really appreciate them, we are surrounded by beautiful objects, both natural and man made and I wish everyone stopped to appreciate them more.

Although I don’t feel qualifications are particularly important in this field as to an extent, you either have it or you don’t, I do feel that it was very worthwhile for me. It gave me a chance to experiment while being able to learn with and from my peers. I studied art and design and art history A-levels, here I developed my love for painting further. I also got to study great works of art and buildings which helped my understanding of composition and light. I initially planned to study painting at degree level so took an Art Foundation which was mandatory to do this. It was here that I first picked up an SLR camera, I loved it. I like to work fast and so to an extent painting slowed me down so I loved the new freedom I had to create what I wanted at a much faster pace. I was lucky enough to have a supportive and enthusiastic teacher who saw my potential and encouraged me to pursue this. I decided to do a photography degree at the internationally renowned Falmouth College of Arts (now University College Falmouth). Here I was encouraged to explore the concepts behind the images more to create more depth. I quickly realised that my main interest was in photographing people and the human form and so that is what I then concentrated on.

When I first finished my degree I was unsure if I wanted to pursue a career in photography, I was worried that it could take away the enjoyment of it so I took time to reflect. I then took a few portrait jobs, the joy that I brought to these people with what I not only found quite natural but enjoyed also was immense and I knew that I should continue. I then photographed a wedding for a friend of my brother and I loved it. Even with my love for photographing people I had not considered photographing weddings before this, I think this is because I had a misconception as to what wedding photography was, I thought of the stale formal photographs of our past which still have their place for some people but is not for me. I entered a new world of wedding photography as art and documentry and started to see the wonderful things people were creating with their wedding photography for their clients and I found this really exciting and decided that this was definitely for me. I now never fail to be excited by the images I am producing at weddings and revel in my awesome client’s enthusiasm for them.

Theresa and Chris Full Post - Gloucestershire Wedding Photography, St. Peter's Church in Cirencester and The Swan Hotel in Bibury

I've been really looking forward to blogging these photos as love them! I had such a great time photographing Chris and Theresa's wedding just before Christmas, I think their joy and enthusiasm really shines through the photos. The ceremony was at St. Peter's Church in Cirencester, it was nice to be doing a wedding in my home town as I don't often. It's such a lovely church and is actually where I shot my very first wedding so was good to be back. The reception was at The Swan Hotel in Bibury which is only just down the road with lots of great places to take photos as you can see from their engagement session On with the photos:

I met Theresa at The Swan Hotel in the morning, they had a little cottage to the side of the hotel (part of the hotel). Here is her gorgeous dress which is winter tastic with its grey/silver antique lace and her super fun silver shoes.

A couple of the flowers which were done by her brother Chris


Theresa getting ready


Two of Theresa's six bridesmaid, (including her sister on the right) helping each other out.

Meanwhile downstairs the other bridesmaids were getting ready, Theresa had bought them long gloves to help keep them warm.

I love this one

Theresa's Mum did up the back of her beautiful dress

Finishing touches




We then left for the Church, Chris was waiting patiently already with Bob, his best man

But she didn't keep him waiting too much longer

There sheer excitement wasn't just radiating but leaping out of Theresa before she went in, it was infectious

Inside St. Peter's Church, pretty cool



I love both of these so they're both here :)


It's the roof that I like the best


So many really great confetti moments once we were outside, everyone really went for it and it just kept coming


We then went back to The Swan Hotel, we took this fun photo of of all the bridesmaids and ushers on one of the bridges in Bibury, the houses on the right are the famous houses that you will always see on a postcard from the Cotswolds

A little while later we then went back out (it was freezing) to do some shots of them alone around Bibury (you may recognise the bridges from the engagement shoot).









It was now time for them to sit down for their wedding breakfast, I ate in the bar and I would highly recommend that, it was so good!

While they ate I resisted eating all the sweets and Christmasy things they had put out in another room

And made their rings look festive


After the meal they had the speeches


Theresa's Dad finished with a joke :)

Then it was time for Chris

And then finally it was time for Bob, the best man


I don't usually put up cake cutting photos but this time I decided to photograph the masses, it's one of the most photographed parts of the day, along with the register so thought this was fun, I like it


Chris and Theresa's first dance was to The Kings of Leon




I don't usually post photos from after the first dance but thought I'd put a few up because they're cool. The DJ was Bonehead Productions, this is not the first time I have photographed a wedding they have done and they put on some good stuff that has people dancing from the start.



So there we go, I had a great time with you Theresa and Chris and I'm looking forward to seeing you and showing you the rest when you get back from your amazing honeymoon!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. It was a quiet one for me, but quiet in a good way.

I was going to do a best of 2009 post but then it ticked over into new year and I felt I wanted to focus on the new stuff going on now rather than look to the past. I would like to take this opportunity though to thank everyone that supported me in 2009 and to all of my wonderful clients, I enjoyed each and every wedding I shot in 2009 and met so many lovely people. I really feel like I achieved a great deal in my wedding photography and I'm very excited about where this has brought me too. I'd like to thank all my portrait clients from 2009 as well, I don't post that much of my portrait work in this blog but I have worked with some great people and some really fun families and loved every second of it.

So we're already a few days into 2010 and new things are about to happen. My site has gone under a revamp and will be up very soon. I call it a revamp rather than a whole new site as the basic concept is the same but it's much slicker and more stylish. I've re written it as well so that you can get a better feel for the type of person that I am from it. Also in 2010 I hope to share more of my thoughts on this blog, things that I hope will be of interest to you.

I'm very excited about everything I have coming up this year so I hope you'll keep checking back to see what's going on! Have a good one!