Working for yourself can be a lonely business sometimes so I’m really chuffed to be part of a fantastic network of photographers.  Every so often we get together to chat about photography and life over a coffee (or normally something slightly stronger with a cherry on the top!) and take the opportunity for some new shooting challenges.  I’m a massive fan of natural light photography but look the love of high fashion flash so jumped at the chance to take some images alongside the very talented 3B Media boys.  The canal development around the new City Inn hotel in Leeds was the location of choice – it was pretty much dark when the cameras came out so getting creative with available light sources and the all important off camera flash was the order of the day.  Here are some of my favourites – a big thank you to our fab models Steph & Charlotte…

I’ve just completed a lovely shoot with a beautiful little girl called Mia and her family. I thought I’d upload a handful of images to showcase what stunning results you can achieve with available light. As I’ve highlighted before, working with little people in their own environment is so much more rewarding and relaxing for all involved.

I love to photograph tiny hands and feet – babies shoot up so quickly and I think these images are such an important document of your growing child.

Enjoyed hanging out with Sam and his family yesterday to capture some everyday at home shots – had great fun at tea time playing dodge the yogurt! I love these kinds of sessions – for me kids need to be photographed in their own environment where they feel most comfortable. It’s about taking time too and not expecting them to “perform” in an allotted time slot as is often the case with a studio based shoot.

I can always tell when the “wedding season” is coming to a end as I start to discover weekends again and am able to start taking on more diverse commissions… This Saturday was pretty busy catching up on wedding processing tasks and 2 photography sessions. The first was a family portrait session involving 6 kids.

The evening saw me heading over to The Academy Health Club in Harrogate to document their annual tennis club awards evening – the theme was James Bond and all of the guests had gone to town with their outfits. Flash cars, fire eaters, martini cocktails, silhouetted dancers and the all important casino made sure everyone had a fantastic evening.