The session was a christening gift from friends of Sophy’s almost a year ago, so it was nice to finally meet Harry and his Mum.

The rain of April had continued into May meaning that our planned outdoor session had be turned into an indoor session instead, but Harry’s Gran’s house was perfect, with nice big rooms and lots of Harry’s favourite toys around.

Harry was almost instantly comfortable with his new photographer friend, in fact so comfortable that at times he wanted to play with me and share his toys to the point where I had to stop photographing him! A confident and inquisitive little boy, Harry was a joy to meet and photograph.

As you can see for the sneaky peak images above, Harry’s interests (at 22 months,) are varied, ranging from doing his Auntie’s puzzles, to looking through the wrong end of binoculars, to hoovering with his favourite hoover ‘Henry.’ We also managed a few minutes with bubbles. All of these activities were led by Harry, and he was allowed to explore and play as I photographed around him. This combined with the minimum of artificial lighting, helped to keep the session relaxed, and the resulting photos as natural as possible.

If you know this great little boy, or his Mum Sophy, please leave them a personal comment below. If you would like to be notified when all of the images from this location-based family portrait session are available to view on-line, please leave a comment so that we can send you an email.

Phoebe was four just a week before the session and an ‘experienced’ model in front of my camera, as I’d photographed her as a flower-girl when she was two at her Aunt Laura’s wedding in 2010.

Phoebe and her Dad (Rob,) arrived at Laura and Arwel’s house (the location of my morning session on Saturday,) armed with outdoor toys hoping that the ‘dry break’ in the weather on Saturday, would hold long enough for us to shoot the session outside.

Although it was the house and garden of her Aunt, Phoebe is very familiar with the fantastic back garden at Laura and Arwel’s house, and even has her own tractor and bike there for her visits. This meant she was instantly comfortable and at ease as she proudly showed me around the garden and introduced me to her new cricket and golf sets.

After the wettest April for over 100 years, Saturday although extremely windy and chilly for mid-spring, had started dry with sunny spells. Fortunately the weather held for the afternoon and lasted for our 60 minutes in the garden, as Phoebe had huge amounts of fun ‘teaching’ Rob how to play golf and cricket, and how to lose ‘graciously’ as a Dad to his daughter in running, bike and tractor races!

The resulting images are 100% un-posed, completely natural and relaxed, and some of my favourite outdoor session images with a child of this age ever! To make this session even better from a personal point of view, Phoebe thoroughly enjoyed herself, loved spending time with her Dad, and was completely unaware that she was being photographed. If Rob and the family like the photos too, this would have to be as close to a perfect family portrait session, as a photographer can get!

If you know this wonderful little girl and her Dad Rob, please leave them a personal message below. If you would like to be notified by email once all of the images from this fantastic session are ready to view on-line, please leave them a message so we know how to contact you.

If it’s been some time since you had your own family photographed, (or perhaps you have never been photographed together professionally,) and like the natural, relaxed and creative look of our on-location shoots, why not call us today and book your own session for half-term or the summer holidays this year?

The first of two location-based family portrait sessions for me on Saturday, meeting Owen was especially exciting for me as I had photographed Laura and Arwel’s wedding almost two years ago. It’s always a great privilege to be asked back to photograph a former wedding couple once their family starts to grow, and it was great to catch up with the family again almost two years after I’d last photographed them.

We set up a simple ‘studio’ lighting rig in the same room Laura had used to get ready for her wedding, but as always kept things as natural as possible by using the room itself as the backdrop for this session, including it and Owen’s home environment in the images, instead of the sterile look provided by a traditional studio set-up. This kept things natural and relaxed and allowed Laura and Arwel to play with their special little boy in exactly the same way as they do on a daily basis.

Owen was a delight to photograph and seemed to enjoy being with Mum and Dad, but was also entertained by his Nanna (Carolyn,) who did a fantastic job singing and interacting with Owen to get him looking n the right direction at opportune times.

After 60 minutes and a few changes of outfit, Owen decided he’d had enough time in front of the camera, so we ended the session with him in his Welsh rugby kit with a ball tucked under his arm. Usually at this point in a location-based family portrait session, I’d say my goodbyes and leave. However Carolyn had cooked a wonderful lasagna for lunch and invited me to eat, while we waited for my second family (Laura’s brother Rob and his daughter Phoebe,) to arrive.

If you know this wonderful family please leave them a personal message here. If you’d like to be notified by email once all of the images from this location-based family portrait session are available to view, please leave a comment below, and as soon as Laura and Arwel have been into the studio for their viewing session, we’ll email you when they are on-line.

This time the question relates to the idea of having a ‘friend’ photograph your wedding.’ This is an issue we deal with on a weekly basis, usually at the point where someone is trying to save ‘ruined’ wedding photos that can never be repeated.

You can read the full article here, or buy the current edition of the magazine from any good book shop, newsagent or supermarket across Wales for £2.95. If you’d like to read the many back editions of my Q&A’s, please click here.

If you’d like to read some of our own FAQ’s in relation to wedding photography please click here. If you’d like more information on wedding photography investment and what to expect, please click here.

Thanks as always must go the couple featured in the photos in the above article, Lisa and Darren, from my first wedding of 2012, their winter wedding at the Coed-y-Mwstwr Hotel in Coychurch near Bridgend, in Fenruary this year.

Thanks guys.

The story of the day began at Fiona’s parent’s home in Swansea with Fiona’s preparations. Fiona’s bedroom at her parent’s house still has her name badge on the bedroom door, so this was the perfect place to start photographing the finer details of her gorgeous wedding dress, as it hung on the back of her old bedroom door next to her name.

Fiona returned from the salon with her friend Emma, and after the ladies had finished their make-up, Emma assisted Fiona with her dress. Once dressed we had a few family photos in the newly landscaped back garden of the house, before I left for the short trip to St. Catherine’s church in Gorseinon.

Once at the church Ade arrived with his best man and ushers and in-between the heavy April showers, we managed to capture some relaxed images of the guys together before the majority of the guests started to arrive, including page-boy Ben and flower-girl Sophie.

Fiona arrived at St. Catherine’s with her Dad, to be greeted by her brownie troop, before dodging another heavy shower and making her way inside the church for the wedding ceremony.

On leaving the church the brownies were assisted by other guests in creating a fantastic ‘confetti tunnel’ for Ade and Fiona, who left absolutely covered in petals!

On the way to the King Arthur Hotel Ade and Fiona had previously decided to stop off on the top of Cefyn Bryn, in order to visit ‘Arthur’s stone.’ This is something many of my couples from previous weddings at the King Arthur Hotel have planned to do over the last 7 years, but to date none had actually managed to get down to the stone, usually with the weather upsetting their best laid plans.

The wait (for me to photograph a couple at Arthur’s stone,) and the walk for Ade and Fiona was certainly worth it, as the increasingly volatile April weather, added to the dramatic rural Gower landscape with views over Oxwich Bay in one direction, and the Loughor estuary in the other direction, provided some amazing backdrops and contrasting weather conditions for the 20 minutes we were at Arthur’s stone.

The resulting images of Ade and Fiona were truly special, and those above are just a small example of some of the varied, creative and natural images we were able to create of them together. All made possible by Fiona and Ade who had made the effort to pre-plan the long walk down from the car park, (with Fiona bringing along a pair of ’weddingtons’ to change into in the wedding car,) and had scheduled enough time into their day for us to have 20 minutes at the stone to make the most of the dramatic Gower landscape.

Once we had returned to the cars in the Cefyn Bryn car park, it was a short roll down the hill to one of my favourite Swansea wedding venues, The King Arthur Hotel. On arrival we took advantage of the continuing dry spell and quickly set about capturing the carefully selected group photos that Ade and Fiona had requested, starting off with the popular group shot from the Kitchen rooftop.

Once these were swiftly and efficiently completed, Ade and Fiona had almost a full hour to relax and mingle with their family and friends, but decided to use a little of this time to also explore the beautiful grounds, gardens, lake and meadow of the King Arthur, with me. We only spent 15 minutes in the grounds together, but managed to create another varied collection of images of the two of them relaxing together.

After our tour of the grounds Ade and Fiona were announced into their wedding breakfast for a fantastic meal. The staff at the King Arthur worked their ‘wedding day magic’ ensuring that everyone enjoyed the fantastic food and beautiful surroundings of the Avalon banqueting hall. At the end of the main course Ade and Fiona cut their wedding ‘cheese’ cake, before enjoying their dessert which was followed by speeches.

If you know this wonderful couple please leave them a personal message below. If you’d like to be notified by email once all of the images from this special day are available to view on-line (after Ade and Fiona have returned from honeymoon and been into the studio for their champagne preview session,) please also leave them a message below. You can also share the images above with family and friends by clicking the Facebook ‘Like’ button below.

PS: It was also lovely to see two past couples of mine, Claire and Mark who got married in December 2010, and Faye and Andrew who got married in September 2009. I hope you guys enjoyed the day, this time as ‘guests.’

My day began as it often does, with my trip down the M4, heading for the four star Park Plaza Hotel in central Cardiff, to meet Rosie and her bridesmaids and friends in her room for the preparations.

After 90 minutes I walked the short distance across Cardiff city centre to reach Cardiff castle, to meet Ade and the guys who were due to arrive in a gorgeous blue and white VW camper van named ‘Sid,’ the same name as Ade’s Father.

Guests soon started to arrive after we had a finished photographing the boys with the VW camper van, and soon Cardiff castle’s ’under-croft’ was filling up in anticipation of Rosie’s arrival.

Rosie arrived with her Dad, bridesmaids and three year old flower girl Grace in the same gorgeous camper van, and was ‘fashionably late’ before walking down the long candle-lit isle with her Dad to meet Ade for a beautiful candle-lit civil ceremony.

After the ceremony the guests collected their celebratory drinks and headed outside to the courtyard to cover Rosie and Ade in confetti, before venturing into the stunning Castle grounds for a few carefully selected group shots.

With time running out before the reception meal was due to be served, Rosie and Ade accompanied me for a quick tour of the castle grounds, including the hike up the steep steps of the ruined castle building itself, for some dramatic views and memorable images of the two of them together.

We finished the ‘bride and groom’ photos off with a few more shots including the VW camper, before heading inside with light fading and food waiting.

Before Rosie and Ade were introduced into their reception meal in the beautiful Banqueting Hall at Cardiff castle, we stopped for one last photo opportunity on the astonishing spiral staircase. Food was followed with cake cutting and speeches, before guests returned to the Park Plaza Hotel to continue the party on into the evening.

If you were at this wedding and/or know this lovely couple, please leave them a personal message below and/or click the Facebook ‘Like’ button. If you would like to be notified by email when all of the images from Rosie and Ade’s special day are available to view (after they have been into the studio for their champagne preview session,) then please leave a comment below.

Tracey and Rob are planning their wedding at the beautiful Oxwich Bay Hotel in June this year, so decided to use their wedding venue as a backdrop for this pre-wedding shoot, which gave them a great opportunity to explore all of the amazing places that the beach has to offer couples planning their big day at Oxwich Bay Hotel.

Tracey and Rob were spending the Easter weekend on Gower, visiting family and getting their wedding plans underway, so away from their home in Yorkshire. This meant that their 2 year old Labrador ‘Ozzy’ was spending the weekend with them. This of course meant that Ozzy was included in their pre-shoot, and he didn’t disappoint as he splashed about in the surf and tried his best to get us all wet when he shook himself off!

Tracey and Rob explained to me earlier last week when we met at the studio to discuss their wedding photography, that they had been searching for a ‘natural’ and ‘creative’ photographer for their wedding day, and wanted photos that would capture the environment that their wedding day will be set in. Hopefully this is something we managed to achieve with these pre-shoot images too.

With sunny spells mixed in with amazingly stormy looking skies (but thankfully no April showers,) we had a variety of lighting and weather conditions for this pre-shoot on the beach, and despite the tide being far out, made the most of everything that Oxwich beach has to offer a location-based portrait session.

After a walk down the beach and a chance for Ozzy to get wet, Tracey and Rob ventured back up the beach towards the sand dunes. We then headed back along the beach towards the iconic Oxwich Bay Hotel wedding marquee, stopping off for some photos under the Oxwich beach sign.

On leaving the beach Tracey and Rob wanted to explore the tree-lined path up to the ancient 12th century Oxwich church, which again provided a great opportunity for some lovely images, with Ozzy getting in on the pictures too!

If you know this lovely couple, please leave them a personal message below. You can view all of the images from this fantastic pre-wedding from this page.

I’d had the privilege of photographing Jake when he was just a few weeks old, almost a year ago to the day, when I photographed him in an indoor lifestyle, newborn portrait session.

Just a few days after his first birthday, Jake’s Mum and Dad (Michelle and Karl,) had invited me back to photograph their little boy. The cold April weather continued, meaning the first half of the session was photographed indoors, but Jake was surrounded by his favourite toys and the room was still filled with his birthday cards, adding a real personal feel to the images, something which is an intentional part of my location-based family portrait photography.

With minimal lighting equipment and lots of bright window light, we kept the images looking very ‘natural’ as Jake enjoyed showing me his favourite strollers/walkers and ride-on toys. For a one year old on the verge of walking, he could certainly move quickly on his favourite car!

Towards the end of the session with the sun making a welcome return outside, we moved the session outside into the garden, where Jake played on a simple picnic mat with a few toys, enjoying the warm spring sunshine.

If you know this wonderful family, please leave them a personal message below. All of the images from this location-based family portrait session in Swansea will be available to view from this page, once Michelle and Karl have been into the studio to select their favourites.

With Anya’s 1st birthday just a few weeks ago, this was the perfect time to capture the spirit and personality of this wonderful little girl with her Mum and Dad. A gift for Adrian’s 30th birthday last year, this location-based family portrait session was planned many weeks ago, with Fiona and Adrian planning to make full use of the wonderful garden.

After BBQ weather for 10 days just a week ago, Thursday was cold with a brisk off-shore breeze, making it impossible to get outside, apart from the last 10 minutes of this session. Not to be outdone by the weather we used the wonderful indoor space, and in combination with some technical studio lighting set-ups, managed to create some fantastic shots that look very natural, and include the wonderful house.

Anya was a natural in front of the camera and with Fiona and Adrian happy to sing along and get involved, this 90 minute session passed by in a fun-filled flash!

If you know this wonderful family, please leave them a personal message below. If you’d like to view all of the images from this Llanelli family portrait session, (after Fiona and Adrian have been into the studio to see them first,) please leave a message below and we’ll email you a link when they’re ready to view on-line.

This time the questions relate to ’vintage wedding themes.’ I’m always on hand to provide any advice I can to our couples, and it often relates to questions about how to ensure a specific ‘theme’ is captured in the style and content of the special images from the day.

You can read the full article here, or buy the current edition of the magazine from any good book shop, newsagent or supermarket for £2.95. If you’d like to read the many back editions of my Q&A’s, please click here.

If you’d like to read some of our own FAQ’s in relation to wedding photography, please click here.

Thanks as always must go the bride featured in the photo above, Claire from her winter wedding to husband Mark, at Miskin Manor near Cardiff in December last year.

Thanks guys.