This beautiful home is called Long House because, well, it is just that!

Definitely one of the longest homes I’ve photographed. I only just managed to fit it all in using my wide angle lens and I could only go back so far given the road behind me was a thin country lane.

I made two visits to this house because the owners weren’t ready to list their home yet but wanted to have the exterior photographed in good weather. Then, when they were ready to sell their home I returned to photograph the interior some months later, when they had decluttered and the weather wasn’t so great at that time of the year. This is a house with lots of cosy rooms, beautiful fireplaces and details that gives you a sense of an old family home with lots of history the moment you walk through the front door. Architecture like this is so much fun to discover and photograph.

A stunning new build home in the village of Boothby Groffee in Lincolnshire

A beautiful newly built home in the village and civil parish of Boothby Groffee in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire. The weather was changeable so there was a little stopping and starting with the outside shoot but it’s all part of the job. Both the developer and I are really happy with the final images. 

New builds that haven’t been ‘dressed’ are less complicated to shoot as there’s no furniture to have to work round. However, it’s then all up to the prospective buyers to visualise themselves in the house and think about how their furniture and personal belongings will fit in. How to bring the best out of their new home to make it comfortable for them and welcoming for family and friends?

Some people have the gift of just knowing how decor, furniture and artwork all work together but others will consult with interior designers to help find the best ideas and colours for each room. It’s exciting to start with a blank canvas and I imagine the person who buys this house will have a lot of fun creating a wonderful home.

Always a joy to see my work out and about!

I walked past the bus stop directly outside my home a couple of weeks ago and suddenly realised that the images on display on one of their electronic displays was from a shoot I had completed last year. I had the pleasure of photographing the show home for the Pelham Waterside Development which is a one minute walk from the River Trent. The images looked great and I felt really happy to see them being used to promote the new development. It’s always so rewarding to see my images in print, either in a magazine, on the back of a bus or on a bus stop. Then a few days later I was walking along the High Street and saw yet another set of images for the same development on another bus stop. Obviously, that made my day and I couldn’t help photographing the photographs with my iPhone from both bus stops!

A beautiful family home full of character in Lincolnshire

As soon as I arrived at the gates if this house I knew it was going to be a great shoot. Luckily there was some sunshine on the day so I got to work quickly as I didn’t want the weather to turn before I could photograph the dining area with a lovely view of the garden. All the rooms had great light flooding in so nature did most of the lighting work for me. Stunning rooms and tastefully decorated I was spoilt for choice with the angles I could shoot from and I love artwork that’s well positioned and draws the eye around the room. Helpfully the mother had taken the children out while I worked so I had dad around who very kindly helped me with the poles for some of the exterior shots. It took a good three hours to get all I needed and the vendor, estate agent and I are all really happy with the shots.

An impressive barn conversion in Nottinghamshire

I loved the entrance to this beautiful barn conversion. Discretion is clearly very important to this family as I drove through, once the electronic sliding gate opened fully, to allow me to drive about a mile before I reached the farm. This is yet another example of a home which is understated from the road and it’s only when one walks through to the back that the sunken courtyard comes into view and you get the wow factor of the exterior. The interior didn’t disappoint either. The walkway over the kitchen leading to the bedrooms is so elegant and the traditional kitchen is simple and uncluttered. I loved the grey cupboard doors on the island and the huge wooden sliding door that separates the kitchen from the dining area. The original building was far more modest and derelict until this family saw the potential to increase the footprint of the building and opted to make this farm their new home. Even the horses looked happy although they were moved on to another field as I was told they would find my tripod way to interesting and would not have left me alone!

A barn conversion in north Nottinghamshire

I’m always a bit apprehensive about finding new homes because the satnav doesn’t always quite get me to where I need to be and that can be a little frustrating when I have a client waiting for me to appear! This was not such a difficult find in the end although I did wonder if I had found the correct barn. It’s a trend at the moment to make the part of the barn that can be seen from the road, really unassuming and quite ordinary, which means you have to walk to the side of the building to get to the front door and then start to see the beauty of the place. It’s a clever way of not having a dwelling draw too much attention to itself and so largely go unnoticed by anyone walking or driving by. Once I was given the tour of the barn and garden I realised this was going to be a great shoot because I had good weather on my side (no small feat in this country!) and the conversion was a wonderful example of maximising space innovatively. I also loved that, wherever possible, old bricks and walls were retained and merged with new new bricks.

Pelham Waterside Development

These are some of the images I shot of a show home on the Pelham Waterside development near the River Trent in Nottingham. The architects have done a great job on the layout, across three floors, complete with a private terrace outside the master bedroom. I loved the way each room has been styled and how the space worked so well as I moved from room to room. It was a dream shoot and it’s wonderful to work with a team of professionals who give me the freedom to think and shoot so that we have a selection of images that give a sense of what it would feel like to live in this house. I’m already looking forward to the next project.

Architects: www.cpmg-architects.com

Styling: www.claudehooper.co.uk

PR: www.bigoldhouse.com

Design work: www.simpkinburley.com

Small really is beautiful

Images from a show home on a brand new development in the centre of Newark in Nottingham. This house has two bedrooms and is an excellent example of well planned layout and bold interior design. Any home, no matter what the size, can look beautiful and feel luxurious. It was wonderful to be working on this project with a progressive housing association keen to build such great homes for people to live in. I had so much fun walking around and shooting this home. I was lucky to have a good weather day with lovely diffused light coming through the windows. I can’t wait to start the next project with them and share it with you.

Corporate shoot for Parkgate Financial Services

As an extrovert, it’s always a pleasure for me to meet new people, which is very fortunate in this job, as sometimes the first time I meet the clients I’m photographing is on the day of the shoot. This shoot was one of those occasions and happily the team at Parkgate Financial Services were a great bunch to work with.

We started with individual headshots for the whole team and a full team photo, then I moved onto shooting meetings which were happening throughout the day.

It can be a little daunting to arrive at unfamiliar offices, then to quickly scope locations for the headshots and team shots. Also, to assess the offices I would be working in, to check the brightness and consider where to set up additional lights, if necessary. The key is to work quickly and keep talking to people, so that everyone knows when they will be needed and what they will be doing.

Instead of sharing the images in the usual way, I thought it would be a good idea to show how they work on the new website, so check out the screenshot below.

Headshots for a dream client

When I arrived at the house and Manju told me she had prepared a playlist for our shoot (what a brilliant idea!) I knew we were going to make some great images together. Manju introduced me to some new music (which I’m keen to add to my library!) and we had a fun and relaxed time. It’s always great to work with someone who has a natural warm smile and is full of joy. It’s wonderful to watch someone really enjoy a shoot and collaborate with me to achieve the most authentic representation of who they are as a person. We're both really happy with the results and here are some of my favourite images from the day.

A shoot of a show home in north Nottinghamshire for a housing association

I was really impressed with the quality of accommodation on a recent shoot working with a housing association on this site is in north Nottinghamshire. I was blessed with a lovely sunny day so wherever possible I showed off all the natural light pouring into the different rooms. It was a little tricky with the site still very much a construction site so I had to contend with machinery and builders darting about the place outside the windows but I managed to avoid most of it. I'm looking forward to working on more projects with the team in the coming months.

Middlesex University Mauritius campus images at dusk

It’s no secret that this is my favourite time of day to shoot no matter where in the world I may be. My Instagram posts are full of images taken around sunset and sunrise. Photographers love this time of day and also the blue hour. It’s so satisfying to stand and watch the light changing and different colours appearing and disappearing. The campus was very quiet during this time so it allowed me to get around and work quickly to photograph the different buildings in the ever diminishing light. The university were very keen to get some images in the early evening given how well situated the campus is in lovely grounds and close to the beach. This is the time when my tripod and remote shutter release come into their own and I can concentrate on finding the best angles to shoot from and play with long exposures. I can’t wait to go back to the island and do ultra long exposures to capture the stars in the sky!

Sports Facilities at Middlesex University Mauritius

Part of the shoot brief for the university was that I worked with students in the sports complex where they could use the gym and olympic size swimming pool. The Medine Sparc Uniciti is a modern complex and the university wanted to show students using and enjoying the facilities available to them. The marketing team at the university briefed me to provide images which would be used on publicity materials such as the annual student guide which is sent out all over the african continent in the form of a handy sized brochure. The images are also for use on the university website and social media. These are a small selection of the images I was asked to provide. All the students were great fun to work with.

Photographing for Middlesex University Mauritius

After a twenty one year absence I finally decided to visit Mauritius and I was very excited to be commissioned by the university to spend an entire day photographing for them. Different subjects were outlined in their detailed and comprehensive brief which I was happy to complete. I met and photographed a range of staff and students on campus who were all lovely to work with and very accommodating. The campus is near one of the most popular beaches on the west coast of the island and I was very pleased that the day was a little overcast at times, so I could get some respite from the warmer temperatures I would normally be experiencing, which made the job a little easier. Lots of beautiful light to work with and I couldn’t help thinking what a wonderful place it is to study. These images are ones I shot of the library and I will share other images from the shoot in future posts.

National Youth Orchestra at the Nottingham Emmanuel School

I had an amazing day photographing for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain earlier this week in Nottingham. Eight days a year some members of the orchestra travel across the country to work with schools to help them to engage young people with music and hopefully encourage school children to pick up instruments and start taking lessons. Members of the NYO play at a very high standard and had just completed performances in Berlin and at the Proms in London.

School children attended performances by the orchestra in their school hall and had smaller music sessions where the musicians talked about their instruments and why they loved playing them. As ever in schools lighting was tricky and, understandably, the NYO didn’t want flashguns going off as this would distract the audience so everything you see here was shot in available light on a high ISO. I confess by the time I got home I was exhausted as I moved constantly from one room to the next to photograph the different sessions.

Photographing the Big Lunch for the Eden Project and the National Lottery

The Big Lunch is an annual event promoted by the Eden Project and the National Lottery which aims to improve the happiness and wellbeing of people across the UK by helping to build more resilient and better connected communities.

Eden supports and encourages people all over the UK to take positive actions that strengthen local connections and build stronger communities.

The desire was to bring people together to build their confidence and grow and share their talents. We support individuals and communities as they create positive change to tackle local issues that matter to them most.

The idea was very simple: one day a year when, for a few glorious hours, communities in the UK come together in the street to meet, greet, share, swap, sing, play and laugh for no reason other than that we all need to.

And so The Big Lunch was born. Since it began in 2009, The Big Lunch — the UK’s annual get together for neighbours — has grown ten-fold and each year gets bigger and better.

This year, I was asked to photograph the Nottingham Big Lunch in Sneinton, on a beautiful summers day. There was a fantastic atmosphere and a real sense of community spirit as people ate, talked and laughed together. There was plenty of entertainment for both children and adults and it was a real privilege to photograph the event. These are a few of the images from the day.

Always a pleasure to have my property photography work featured in a magazine

Hot off the press in this month’s edition of Nottinghamshire Pride I was delighted to see one of my property shoots featured this month. The shoot was back in March and I was lucky with the weather as it was a clear and bright day which meant I could show how much natural light comes into the house with its large windows and open plan kitchen and lounge. I was pleased to see the magazine used lovely matt paper, which I prefer over a gloss finish, and the images do look great. Even if I do say so myself!

A dream property shoot of a converted church

Although I love all my property shoots because I get to see some amazing homes, once in a while I come across something a little quirky and really interesting to photograph. These are a few images of St Margaret’s House in Lincolnshire where I was lucky to find myself on a what turned out to be a gloriously sunny day. The drive through the Lincolnshire Wolds was beautiful and somewhere I will return to in the next couple of months so that I can explore and photograph the area properly. The sunshine really helped me to produce some of the best exterior shots I have delivered so far on my property shoots. The owners were super helpful on the shoot and helped me to carry equipment from one place to another and told me lovely stories about the history of St Margaret’s along the way. The church was originally converted to a residence back in the 1950’s and has had various iterations over the years as new owners have moved in and made alterations to suit their tastes. It was a real pleasure to make these images and also hear all the stories about the building’s history.

Headshots for a virtual PA re-branding her website

I’ve photographed Victoria Tretis before when we worked together on her first set of headshots back in 2017. Now she has changed her hair colour and style, moved to new offices and hired an assistant as business is booming and there’s way too much for her to do without help!

We started at the new premises and then did a few shots outside around the corner from her office continuing the theme of really relaxed and informal images showing Victoria’s open and warm personality. She isn’t happy to be the centre of attention and would describe herself as quiet and introverted but I needed to make sure she felt comfortable about the shoot and have some fun in front of the camera. It helps that she has such a wonderful smile, of course, but as with anything Victoria does, she applied herself to the task at hand with complete professionalism and a determination to get the right type of images for her re-branded website.

It was, as ever, a real pleasure to work with Victoria again and I’m really pleased with the way she has used the images on her website to tell the story of her business. If you’re curious to see how the images work then feel free to take a peak: https://www.myva.rocks

Photographing the conference facilities at the National Justice Museum

The National Justice Museum in Nottingham has recently refurbished a number of rooms around the building which form part of their excellent conference facilities which are available for hire by businesses, charities and individuals.

I was commissioned to photograph numerous rooms, the impressive entrance called the Shire Hall, the beautiful Grand Jury Room in different layouts and the Victorian Civil Court, built in 1889. I was very pleased to be asked to do this work and knew the rooms well as I had attended a number of meetings in the building the year before. The images will be used on the website to promote the rooms and make people aware that conferencing facilities exist at the National Justice Museum and so help increase income for the charity.

The large windows allowed lots of natural light to flood into the rooms and there was constant juggling with exposures as it was sometimes overcast and cloudy which gave a lovely soft light but at other times the sunlight was strong and so quite harsh at times.

I took it all in my stride as the key is to be patient and work with whatever nature decides to throw at me and simply adjust the settings accordingly. It’s a wonderful building and well worth a visit given all it’s different uses over the hundreds of years and do check out the old prison cells which are really creepy!