Most photographers seem to call themselves ‘award winning’. You’re never sure really what that means. Maybe that’s why we haven’t entered many competitions. Each month we see the results and think ‘we’ve got better shots than that’ yet we never seem to do anything about it. Until now. Lola decided it was time we entered a few images, a lo and behold we’ve won a few prizes. We entered  the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers’ monthly competition and we’ve won four gold awards. This competition differs from most because you are competing against other professional photographers. And it’s international (though most of the entrants are from the UK). We’ve won golds in four different categories so far.

First of the four is this shot of baby Mariella with dad, taken when she was six days old. I love this shot for its intimacy, and also the eye contact, which is hard to capture with a newborn baby. Although this looks like a studio shot it was actually taken at the client’s home, using window light only.

Next up is one of my favourite wildlife photographs. It’s not widely known that I lead photo safaris to Africa on behalf of a specialist USA-based photo tour company.  This one was taken on a tour to Tanzania. A few moments later and it was all over. Feel sorry for the frog

The next gold is a powerful and moving picture of a young Masai, also taken in Tanzania. The day before I’d run a ‘photographing people’ workshop for the tour participants, and one of the techniques I taught was shooting in to the sun when the the light is harsh and there is no shade. That technique works well here – I love the way the light rims her face. There’s a soulful look to her expression that really appeals to me too.

The final gold award (for now?) was for this image we took of Richard Ashcroft at a rock festival promoted by one of our clients. Photographing at a rock concert is a real eye-opener. You’re only allowed to be in the ‘pit’ for three songs so it’s a mad scrum with all the other photographers to get the best angles. Because Karen and I were working as a team the pressure was off slightly, so I could take a step back and look at what the lights were doing. Positioned myself carefully in a line with Richard and the backlight and this is the result. The lighting director should really get half this credit

These four pictures now go forward to the annual judging in January. Flushed with initial success I guess we’ll be entering a few more images next year

It seems incredible that the wedding show season is upon us already.  This year we are once again focusing our efforts on the prestigious National Wedding Show at London’s Earls Court.  We had one of the busiest photography stands at last year’s show and incredibly we sold out all the popular dates within weeks of the show.  We’re hoping for similar success this year and will have another tempting show offer to encourage clients to book early.

If you are coming to the show please do come and say hi!  We’re on stand K58.

We were lucky enough to photograph Alex and Evonne’s wedding at Woburn in 2007.  It’s still one of our favourite weddings and those of you that have been to the studio will recognise Evonne from the large canvas of one of Karen’s images from the day.

Evonne’s keen to remind me that she’s had the full set of photo shoots: pre-wedding, wedding, love the dress, bump and now their lovely new baby Kaian.

It’s always a thrill to photograph a new family and yesterday’s trip to their London home was no exception.  The unconditional love between parents and a new born is palpable, and that’s what I try to bring out in my photographs. Not to forget cute little hands and feet and shots to show just how tiny a new born baby looks. Won’t stay that way for long

Here’s a few of my favourite pictures from the day.