They were all taken on the five year old IXUS as I didn’t want to get my lovely Leica compact trashed. Completely forgetting that the battery has nearly died and doesn’t hold much charge anymore was an error. I had to treat it like the old film days and not take too many photos to make it last. Also, the old IXUS’s low light capabilities are pretty much useless, so that’s why there are no band shots in case you’re wondering!

Glastonbury virgins arriving all nice and clean at the car park. Little did we know that we could have climbed Killi in the time it took us to get from the car park to setting up a tent!

The first of the wellies, nice and shiny.

Click here for a larger view of this one.

Making the most of the sun, we weren’t sure how long it would last.

Trekking through the mud…

The iconic Pyramid Stage.

What an end to the weekend, sunset at the “Other Stage” through the flags.

Well, I’ve finally done it. You can see the new portfolio on my main website by clicking here. I have chosen photos from each and every wedding I photographed as I think it’s important as a professional wedding photographer to show consistently high quality work. I photograph weddings on beautiful bright sunny days as well as in the depths of winter when it gets dark at 4pm, whatever the weather.

Thanks to my amazing couples, of course I wouldn’t be able to do what I love and capture such wonderful moments without you!

Click here to see my new wedding portfolio.

Cake with my favourite Pantone espresso cup, Yum!

They didn’t last long!

Know anyone that would like a class or need cakes for a special occasion? Head over to the excellent Magenta Cakes website.

Then off oop North, first to Hai Phong and the beautiful sights of Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage sight. The amazing karst limestone scenery here has been millions of years in the making; trying to capture the immense scale of the caves is so difficult, you really have to see them.

Last stop Hanoi, where we ventured into the mountains and paddies by motorbike, went on a cookery course and spent a lot of time wandering through the maze of streets.

Thanks to my travelling buddy Rory, who knew lots of people there, for getting us off the beaten track, and guiding me through the crazy streets of Hanoi on a motorbike in one piece!

Inside one of the caves in Halong Bay.

Who knew there were so many types of noodles?

Had to get a sterotypical photo of “lady in conical hat”.

A small village outside of Hanoi on our way into the mountains

Paddy fields, the colours really were that vibrant.

The floor of the old colonial post office building.

Mmmm… steaming pho bo, beef noodle soop with lime and chilli. A real Vietnamese staple, delicious.

It’s amazing any of this works!

There’s a B52 wreckage here but I thought the hat was more interesting.

A bit of shoot-from-the-hip-without-looking street photography

Paddy fields at sunset.

We had a day’s stopover in Kuala Lumpur on the way home, here’s the Petronas Towers taken from KL Tower.

KL Tower

Thanks to the awesome Annemarie for the portraits of me and the groups below

Some of the gang letting me practice my group portrait photography…

The house we stayed in had a very regal feel so I tried to reflect this in the portrait of the lovely Hayley.

The super talented Lawsons – wish I knew what the joke was.

Getting a little more romantic…

There were so many fantastic backgrounds and textures to choose from, and gorgeous light.

I didn’t have my camera with me, so this was taken on my iPhone, and I think it has done a pretty good job (obviously my expert composition and waiting for the seagulls to get in the frame has helped!). I have posted it here as taken, with no post processing at all. As you can see there’s a little bit of lens flare in the centre, but I think that adds to it.

You will probably notice sunsets never as good on your camera as they do when you’re looking at them. Apart from getting the exposure wrong, this is likely because you’re wearing sunglasses. So, why not put sunglasses on you camera?! I shot this through mine to act as a filter; the blues deepen and the yellows/oranges become more saturated. The effect is even better if you have posh polarised sunglasses! Of course this will only work if your lens is fully covered by the glasses, so your SLR lens will probably be too big (you can buy a polarising lens designed to fit).

Explaining the golden rule of thirds, one of the fundamental composition rules in photography. You may find your eye takes photos in this way naturally. If not, you can always crop. Here’s the same image with a grid overlay, dividing the image into thirds horizontally and vertically. As you can see, I have positioned the horizon on the bottom third vertically, and the pier leg on the left third horizontally. Of course rules are there to be broken, so don’t be afraid of experimenting!

I’m looking forward to an exciting year, hope you are too

Here’s me in the snowy woodlands (taken by Hannah, with expert tuition of course).