Saturday morning saw me getting up at 6am to go out in a small boat. With 40mph NW winds and hail slamming against the windows I have to admit I did wonder what the heck I was heading out into!
The event I was photographing and filming was the Coastal Exploration Company’s 30 foot wooden whelker sailing up the River Glaven from Blakeney Pit to Cley Harbour (next to the wonderful Cley Mill). Salford was to be the largest commercial vessel to enter Cley Harbour in 60 years. The Cley Harbour Committee have been working hard since 2014 to clear the harbour after it had become silted up & overgrown to the point of being more of a stream over the last few decades.
A few hardy souls met in the watery dawn light to brave the elements and head out in Simon Read’s boat – Hesperus to meet Laura & Dom who had spent overnight on Salford anchored in Blakeney Pit ready for the final leg up the river into Cley Harbour. Luckily the rain held off for the journey and we met Dom & Laura and jumped on board. Below are few of my shots from the morning plus a short video I made from some footage I grabbed between stills. The light was pretty awful so apologies for the video but I think it captures the atmosphere and it was a pleasure to be able to record this historic event for Cley.
(The images are watermarked ‘Aquavisuals’ which is the marine-based/nautical side of my imaging business, for more on Aquavisuals click here.)
Below, the cherry on the top was seeing the Cley Harbour Committee receiving the NNDC Environment Award 2018, here they are with the Coastal Exploration Co. Team and their plaque…
Below is the short film I made of the event…
The story & photos have been really well received even making the front cover of today’s Eastern Daily Press and a full page on page 3. Plus a national news agency has been in touch this morning and will be pushing the story out to the national press so watch this space!
• Norfolk photographer • Photographers in Cley • North Norfolk Photography • Marine photographers Norfolk • Aquavisuals •
A wedding at The Reading Room, Alby – Daryl & Emma – Norfolk wedding photography
It was a gorgeous sunny September day for Daryl & Emma’s Norfolk wedding, one of many sunny weddings I’ve been lucky enough to photograph this year.
I’ve known Daryl for many years after I got involved with the Norfolk Movember fundraising about 7/8 years ago. Daryl was part of the team and it was lovely to catch up with the rest of the guys there at their wedding.
I started the day’s coverage with the ladies bridal preparations at the Black Boys Inn at Aylsham, where Emma, her bridesmaids and brother Ben were getting ready for their big day…
With the ladies all ready I headed down the bypass to the Reading Room at Alby. A really lovely little venue, this was the first time I had seen it and I was really impressed. Beautiful grounds, lovely inside and plenty of places for great photos. Plus there’s a church right next door (not that we used it this time but pretty darned convenient if you did decide to marry in the church at Alby!)
After an emotional service by the lovely ladies of Marry in Norfolk it was time for champagne & canapes…
I also took the opportunity to put the drone up for a couple of quick shots of the venue from the air. It’s included free in all of my wedding packages and can be a great way to show a wedding venue and it’s grounds in one shot.
The musical entertainment was provided by Tim & Chris Wall, again part of the Norfolk Movember team from a few years back. I was also lucky enough to photograph Chris’s wedding a couple of years ago at Blickling Hall, always lovely to see the Wall family!
After a quick shoot with just Daryl & Emma it was time to head inside of the speeches and wedding breakfast…
And so to the first dance, the end of an amazing day and the start of what I am sure was a fantastic night!
For the full gallery of Daryl & Emma beautiful Norfolk Wedding at The Reading Room click here.
• Reading Room Wedding Photographers • Wedding Photographers in Norfolk • North Norfolk Photographers • Wedding Photography Norfolk • Wedding photographers near Aylsham •
An autumn wedding at Holkham Hall – classic North Norfolk luxury with Rowena & Richard
It’s been a while since I have managed to post on here but after just finishing processing last weekend’s gorgeous Holkham Hall wedding photos I couldn’t resist sharing some of my favourite shots. Holkham Hall is truly a stunning location, set in the beautiful parkland grounds with their own herd of deer it is a photographer’s dream. The architecture is just breathtaking and the luxurious Marble Hall really must be one of the most impressive wedding ceremony locations in Norfolk.
I started the day’s wedding photography coverage at Row & Richard’s home just inland from the North Norfolk coast where I found Row & the girls getting ready on this beautiful, sunny autumn day.
Anyone for pizza?!
The incredible floral work for their wedding was created by the talented ladies at one of Norfolk’s top florists – Constance Rose. Such a lot of work had gone into these stunning flowers and the many decorations throughout Rowena & Richard’s Holkham Wedding. The colours Row had selected were absolutely beautiful…
With the ladies all set to head off to Holkham I jumped in the car & headed over to get some shots of Richard plus bestman (and brother) Martin and ushers Luke & Joe. Holkham Hall was looking majestic bathed in the autumn sunlight. Definitely my favourite time of year for photography with the low raking light and amazing colours of the leaves.
With everyone in place it was time for our bride’s arrival…
After a quick chat with the lovely registrars it was time to get the show on the road! So lovely to see Charlotte Martin (from Marry In Norfolk) was to be holding the ceremony. I’ve known Charlotte since she worked at Cley Mill, then had the honour of photographing her son’s wedding so it’s always lovely to find Charlotte is taking a ceremony I am to be shooting.
While Mr & Mrs signed the legal documents I got some shots around the hall – we are not allowed the photograph the register itself since it is a legal document so I always use the time to get some shots of the guests and the location.
After walking down the aisle, Richard & Row came back in for a big group shot of everyone on the steps before we released them to the drinks & canapes awaiting in the Lady Elizabeth Wing.
Amazing to think that we could all be outside in the courtyard enjoying the warm weather in mid October, it was genuinely like a Summer’s day!
After making sure Mr & Mrs Chantree had a chance to speak to their guests & enjoy the champagne & canapes we headed out into the grounds for some photos although with the meal looming there wasn’t long so I worked fast to get a selection of shots in the one location. It’s often the way with weddings – I will work with as long as I have available but my one rule is that I will never keep the kitchen waiting for us – if we have to be back at the reception for a certain time for the guests to sit down to eat then I will make sure we are back with time to spare. The chefs work extremely hard to make sure everything is ready for a certain time, the last thing they want is for the guests to be seated late because the photographer got carried away!
Back at the Lady Elizabeth Wing it was time for Richard’s speech before everyone sat down for the wedding breakfast…
The Lady Elizabeth Wing at Holkham Hall is a fantastic asset to this incredible Norfolk wedding venue – spacious, airy & light – perfect for photography!
With the main course finished it was time for Martin’s speech – heartfelt, funny and entertaining, everything a bestman’s speech should be (certainly not as cruel as some I’ve seen this year!)
Cake cut (and sampled by Edie) it was time for the last official duty of the day – the first dance…
A huge thank you to Row & Richard for having me as their wedding photographer, it was a fantastic wedding to photograph and they all made me feel so welcome.
For the full gallery of their Holkham Hall wedding click here. If you were guests at the wedding the reprints are available from the gallery at a 50% discount for the next seven days.
• Holkham Hall wedding • North Norfolk wedding photographer • Wedding photographers in Norfolk • Holkham weddings •
I got back last night from a fantastic few days photographing the action at Lendy Cowes Week 2018.
As part of my Aquavisuals maritime photography brand I wanted to get a good range of sailing photos and yachting photography for some magazine features so I booked a few days out in my diary earlier this year and made the trip down south. I had found a fantastic AirBnB place literally a stones throw from the quayside and about as central to the action as I could possibly get. I love it when a plan comes together!
I arrived on the Monday evening, Day 3 of Lendy Cowes Week and got straight to work catching some shots of some of the yachts crossing the finish line with their beautiful spinnakers bulging in the evening breeze, backlit by the setting sun…
While on the quayside I overheard someone saying that these boats had all their pennants up because the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, was in Cowes for the sailing. I then suddenly realised there were quite a few police around and some black cars parked behind me, seconds later I saw a small boat come into the marina and sure enough Princess Anne was on board. She disembarked the boat and walked straight up the jetty towards me, talk about right place, right time!
Biggest binoculars I’ve ever seen!
Gonna need a bigger boat…
For the rest of the week I had managed to secure a place on the Lendy Media boat which was fantastic, although the weather on Cowes Week day 4 wasn’t ideal initially with torrential downpours…
…but it soon brightened up and the sailors all seemed to be enjoying themselves on what was Cowes Ladies Day…
Cowes Week, Day 5 brought some great weather, sunshine, 25 knot gusts of wind and some good clouds in the blue sky to add some interest to the images. By far the best day for photography of the time I was there…
Fever Tree were handing out goodie bags to the yachts as they came back into the marina after a day’s sailing. Sadly they didn’t give any to the media boat!
RNLI Cowes Lifeboat were busy on the Wednesday with three shouts, this one made me smile – the Pig has gone belly up so who do you call? Cowes Lifeboat obviously!
Not a happy sight…
Cowes lifeboat off on their next shout…
So to my final day at Cowes Week, sadly another overcast day so I concentrated mostly on getting close ups of the action, trying to eliminate as much of the drab sky from the shots although I couldn’t resist still getting plenty of wider shots showing these beautiful boats in action…
Oops, slight touch there as some of the yachts struggled against a strong tide & little wind to get round one of the course markers…
Hauling in the spinnaker!
Joy at finally getting round the bouy after a tense few minutes of drifting the wrong way with the strong ebbing tide…
So there’s my favourite shots of this years Lendy Cowes Week, I’m already looking forward to heading back for next year plus a few other major yachting events in the diary.
I am open to commissions to any yachting events so please drop me a line or see my Aquavisuals site, aimed specifically at maritime & boating photography here.
For the full gallery of my 2018 Cowes week photos click here.
• yachting photography • yacht photographer • sailing photographer • sailing photos • marine photographer •
Last week with the fine weather and calm seas I decided to make a short film showing some of the beauty that lies beneath the waves just off our beach here at Sheringham.
In 2016 the unique chalk reef ecosystem stretching from Weybourne to Happisburgh was designated to be an official Marine Conservation Zone. The MCZ covers an area of 321 square kilometres and is home to a vast and rich diversity of sealife. The MCZ is apparently home to over 30 species of Sea Slug, I haven’t spotted any yet but I’ll keep looking!
The problem is that for much of the year the sea is stirred up so much that the water resembles a muddy gravy which is no good for snorkelling or scuba diving. Most years we have a few weeks in the summer when the sea is calm enough for the sediment to drop out and the water clears up providing some great visibility for underwater exploring. Last week was one of them and with the beautiful sunshine beaming down on us I couldn’t resist a venture into the water, I wasn’t disappointed. I don’t recall the water ever being quite this clear, the visibility was great!
Below is a short film I made using the drone for some aerial footage and a GoPro Hero6 for some 4K underwater shots. I think the results have surpised a lot of people as to just how clear the water can get and also how beautiful this environment is, just under our noses but often totally unexplored by the vast majority. At the time of writing the FB video has had over 30,000 views & 500+ shares on my Facebook page, plus an edited version appearing on the BBC East of England social media pages (another 33,000+ views) and stills/clips of it being used by the EDP & BBC in other areas. I’m due to be interviewed for a piece about the chalk reef for BBC Look East next week too. Jacques Cousteau was always my hero as a kid so this is my chance to emulate him!
Below are some still shots I took while down there, not as sharp as I’d like but not bad for a little GoPro I guess!
A wedding at Kelling church & Back To The Garden – Ben & Charlotte’s perfect day…
Another nice local wedding for me in a weekend of three weddings and it was lovely to see so many familiar faces at Charlotte & Ben’s wedding. I’ve known both Charlotte and Ben’s families for a number of years and being a North Norfolk wedding it meant I also knew a lot of the guests which is always great!
No preparation shots required today so I started the day’s coverage at Kelling Church and found Ben and his groomsmen having a cheeky snifter at this gorgeous VW Camper, one of Simon’s collection and part of the legendary Retro Campers fleet. The sun was shining, the spiced rum was flowing, all was well in the world!
The bridesmaids arrived in ‘understated’ style in this beast! Certainly took some skilled driving to navigate the little North Norfolk country lanes!
With everyone present and ready it was time for the service to begin. The church looked amazing with the flowers and floral arrangements provided by the lovely Karen at Blooming Blooms florists in Sheringham.
With the formal bit done, the guests all enjoyed some champers out the back of the camper van, while we quickly got the formal groups done, how cool is that?! Then I put the drone up for a few quick shots of everybody from the air with Charlotte & Ben in front of Henri’s (Charlotte’s father) awesome red Cadillac Eldorado…
After a really chilled time at the church in the sunshine we all headed off to the wonderful Back To The Garden for their wedding reception. Back To The Garden is a North Norfolk institution these days, a cracking deli & cafe during the week and a stunning venue for a wedding reception with the most amazing gardens and surrounding farmland not to mention the incredible food. It really has to be one of my favourite Norfolk wedding venues.
Ben & Charlotte were so much fun to work with, it’s always so lovely to shoot a wedding for a couple that are really into the photography, as a result our happy couple gave me a really good chunk of time to work with as we explored the grounds of Back To The Garden and we found some great farm buildings to shoot in. I always enjoy the juxtaposition of the rural buildings & barns and the immaculate wedding dress and suits (wow, that sounds awfully pretentious, don’t think I’ve ever used the word ‘juxtaposition’ on this blog before, sounds all a bit art critic-like!)
With some fun shots in the bag we headed back into the venue for some reception cocktails and this sumptuous feast awaiting…
Krispy Kreme doughnuts for dessert, now this really is my kind of wedding!!
The evening catering was provided by the lovely folk at Pie Central – I can honestly say that the steak pie & ale they gave me to take home is the best pie I have ever eaten (no exaggeration), the beef was tender, no nasty fat/gristle surprises, amazing rich gravy and a perfectly light & crispy crust. Exactly as a pie should be. I truly can’t recommend these guys enough.
As the sun began to drop I headed up onto the hill with the wedding party for a few more shots in the gorgeous golden evening light and we had some fun trying to get them to do synchronised jumping. Sadly I think the wine meant we didn’t quite get the same timing throughout but we gave it a go!
So there it is, Ben & Charlotte’s amazing North Norfolk wedding, it was such a fun wedding to photograph, I came home buzzing from such a great day. Thank you to Ben & Charlotte and their families and friends for making me feel so welcome, such a lovely bunch of people, I’d happily do it all over again!
For the full gallery of their Norfolk wedding photos click here.
• Wedding photographers in North Norfolk • North Norfolk photographers • Back to the garden wedding photography •
Laura & Ben – a sunny, summer wedding at Thurning Hall
Laura & Ben’s wedding was blessed with glorious sunshine from start to finish, and we started at the beautiful Dialhouse in Reepham for Laura’s bridal preparations.
All was calm and relaxed in the room where Laura & her bridesmaid Amy were getting ready, I love all the thought that has gone into the decor for the rooms at The Dialhouse, each so individual.
Laura & Amy were getting ready in ‘The Taj Mahal’ room, decorated in Indian-themed colours and objects.
With the ladies ready for their departure I headed off to Thurning Hall, a gorgeous North Norfolk wedding venue and the first time I had been there. Thurning Hall is an 18th Century georgian manor house set the most beautiful grounds & surrounded by woods & farmland. Proper North Norfolk style!
It was a great surprise to walk into the ceremony room and find the lovely Xenia Horne warming up on her harp. Xenia is always an amazing addition to a wedding day, a truly lovely person and highly talented harpist, from classical pieces to Coldplay covers, she can play them all!
With the formal bit done everyone headed into one of the walled gardens for cocktails…
As ever I put the drone up for a few aerial shots (all included at no extra price in my wedding packages)…
After some garden games everyone headed into the teepee (tipi?) for afternoon tea provided by the talented folks at Back To Your Place…
So I left them to it as the warm summer’s evening continued, a really nice chilled wedding in the heart of North Norfolk. For the full gallery of Laura & Ben’s North Norfolk wedding click here.
• Wedding photographers in Norfolk • North Norfolk wedding photography • Norfolk photographers •
Holiday property photography – stunning new B&B & holiday let in Sheringham
I’m pretty comfortable with my system for photographing holiday properties; from the specialised kit I use to the tried & tested settings and the proprietary method for post-process to really bring out the best. With this system I have found I can photograph the darkest, smallest places & still get great results but every so often I go to photograph a property and the place pretty much sells itself. This is the case for this gorgeous, newly refurbished holiday let plus two B&B rooms on Alexandra Road in Sheringham.
It’s so new that they are still finishing one of the rooms and the website is under construction but I wanted to share the photos of this beautiful North Norfolk holiday accommodation. Andrew & James have done a spectacular job on transforming this house into a lovely coastal holiday property, really tastefully done & every detail carefully considered. I’d be a very happy customer if I booked in to stay here!
Adjacent to the bed & breakfast is a self-contained holiday let with it’s own garden, once again beautifully decorated & furnished with a coastal theme running throughout. Right up my street for sure!
For the full gallery of photos of this stunning holiday let and b&b please click here. Their website is currently under construction but if you are interested in booking with them I’d be happy to pass on your details.
Saturday of this weekend just gone I had the pleasure of photographing Sally & Jon’s sun drenched wedding at the unique Firepit Camp Site just outside Dereham in Norfolk. As we didn’t get a chance to fit in a pre-wedding shoot Sally & Jon opted for a post-wedding shoot at the beach at Wells-Next-The-Sea.
As Monday mornings at work go this is up there with one of the best I’ve ever had, an absolutely perfect morning on the North Norfolk coast, sun shining, slight breeze, a high spring tide at Wells and very few people on the beach.
Sally & Jon are so easy to get on with, it was more like a walk & a chat with friends, stopping every now & then (OK, stopping every couple of minutes) to do some shots!
I won’t write too much more now as I have to get on with processing their wedding shots (I bumped this to the front of the processing queue as I knew we had got some lovely stuff) so here’s a sample of our Norfolk Norfolk photo shoot at Wells…
For the full gallery of Sally & Jon’s gorgeous morning on the beach at Wells click here.
Laura & AJ – a sunny, summer Voewood wedding in North Norfolk – Norfolk wedding photography
I do love a sunny wedding, and I love Voewood, so a sunny wedding at Voewood is a winning combination for sure!
In case you haven’t read about my raves about Voewood in the past it’s an incredible Arts & Crafts house just outside Holt in North Norfolk, set in incredible gardens the house is a visual feast of interesting art & objects collected from all over the world by the owner Simon Finch. I always find something I hadn’t noticed before when I am at Voewood, such an interesting place, totally unique and with such a great atmosphere, truly for that unforgettable wedding day.
At this time of year the gardens at Voewood look amazing so it was really lovely that Laura & AJ chose to have a Duo Ceremony, in which they can have the wedding service outside in the sunshine and then go inside to do the official bit of signing the documents. I’ve jumped ahead a bit there though, first of all there were the preparations to be done so I headed in and found everyone busily getting ready…
Meanwhile the guests were arriving and enjoying the sunshine on the veranda with a cool drink before heading to the area to the side of the garden that had been set up for the ceremony to take place.
Laura is a successful Drum & Bass artist (under the name of Riya) so there were plenty of D’n’B references in the wedding including these great posters showing some of their guests (also in the music business) who were performing/DJing later that evening…
With the ladies all ready it was time to head for the ceremony via a walk around the edge of the garden so that the guests didn’t get a sneak preview of Laura in her beautiful wedding dress…
I love that the guests were asked to turn away from the garden so as not to ruin the surprise of seeing Laura & her bridesmaids for the first time!
After a beautiful and emotional ceremony in the glorious North Norfolk sunshine Laura & AJ and their parents headed inside to do the official bit…
…and then back out again for the confetti!
After a few quick group shots while the guests enjoyed Pimms & lemonade I put the drone up for a few aerial shots….
…and before long we all headed inside for the speeches…
After a fantastic meal provided by the talented folks from Florentina Events I went for a wander around the grounds with Laura & AJ for some couple shots in the gorgeous evening sunlight, definitely my favourite time of day for photography.
…while the guests enjoyed the many garden games that Laura & AJ had thoughtfully laid on for them…
Followed by a few more drone shots now that the evening guests had arrived…
Then it was onto the cutting of the cakes, both expertly sampled by AJ!
And finally on to the first dance followed by a veritable feast of DJ’s and a whole range of music to get everyone on their feet & dancing the night away.
Many thanks to Laura & AJ and their family & friends, what a fantastic wedding day and so much fun to photograph! I always enjoy photographing weddings at Voewood, one of the top Norfolk wedding venues by far and less than 5 miles down the road from me which is always a bonus!
If you’d like to book me to photograph your Norfolk wedding please drop me a line using the contact form. I have a pdf of prices & info I can send out and booking is via a very easy online booking form.
• Voewood wedding photographer • Wedding photographers in Norfolk • Norfolk wedding venues • North Norfolk photographer • Weddings at Voewood •
