Dawn and Anthony - Tenterden Steam Railway: Kent Wedding Photography

Good Afternoon,

I recently photographed a few images of Dawn and Anthony; this mini-session was sneaked in ahead of Anthony's return to work in India. We had great fun at the Tenterden Steam Railway and I was particularly taken with Anthony's hat. I told him not to put it down anywhere as it might go walkies straight into my studio!! Their wedding is going to be at the gorgeous Great Barn in Rolvenden and this venue enjoys typical views of the gorgeous countryside that we have in Kent. The Tenterden Steam Railway has many nooks and crannies in which to photograph; I love it because you just cannot beat a good steam railway, and on a personal note, my Father taught the drivers here when it first opened as a steam railway attraction. The train scenes in the Darling Buds of May were also filmed here; this is one of my favourite programmes so lots to love.

This week's blog post is a little late because things are hotting up here at Woodland Hill Photography as wedding season is about to go into full swing. It was a fun packed weekend both in the studio and on location on Saturday and Sunday. I have been working away to get all my edits completed ahead of this week's wedding.

Enjoy your week and seeing all the trees bursting into bud is brilliant; come on Spring show yourself :)

Claire

116 Pall Mall Wedding Showcase!

Good Morning Folks,

Just a quick blog today to let you know that I will be exhibiting at the IOD, 1116 Pall Mall in London on 25th March. There are all sorts of things going on at the showcase including some very interesting workshops. The building is just gorgeous with the most fantastic staircase and huge chandeliers dotted everywhere.

I hope to see some of you there for a good old chat.

It is another busy weekend for me starting with two days in the studio followed by a location shoot so lots of variety, which they say is the spice of life; how fab!

Have a great weekend,

Claire

Grace: West Sussex Children's Photographer

Good Morning Folks,

Recently I photographed Grace's 3rd birthday party, and what a lucky little girl she is to have a lovely Mummy and Daddy to make such special memories for her.

It really was a children's paradise with bouncy castles, ball pools, slides and bouncing thingys (not sure of the correct technical term). Mummy had prepared tons of food for both the children and adults and it all tasted fab... a little too fab I think! Auntie Kirsty made the birthday cake, there is a picture here so this masterpiece will speak for itself.

The DJ played some 'banging tunes' along with a bubble and smoke machine; yes folks this was a 3rd birthday party, I bet you are all jealous now!

I have posted two images of beautiful Grace along with that magnificent cake; yummy.

I hope you all had a great weekend and enjoyed the warmth. I can see the trees starting to wake up now; you can almost hear them yawning and stretching their branches in readiness to give us a magnificent show of blossom.

Enjoy the rest of the week and look forward to catching up with you again in a few days.

Claire

Sweet Little Blings: West Sussex Product Photography

Good Afternoon,

In a trice here we are again at Friday and what another busy week, but more of that later. Recently I photographed the amazing sweet trees for Sweet Little Blings. This is a new company and they are building up a really lovely range of products. The aromas wafting around in the studio were lovely and I this is why I opted for pink and blue tones to compliment the trees. I am posting three images today and just looking at them makes my mouth water!

So this week at Woodland Hill Photography has been very busy; I have been booking weddings for this year and I also had the most productive admin and editing days. Wednesday saw a trip to Focus, which is one of the two must do trade events for photographers. I commented on my Facebook page that the show should be re-named 'covet' as there were lots of amazing things for me to drool over.

It was lovely to catch up with my album suppliers and they won best stand at the show. The stand for this year was a real showpiece and showed their products off beautifully. I also trotted over to see my supplier of my wall art. They had some beautiful products that were unveiled. I knew their plans for some of them, but wow I was bowled over when I saw the rest. I now need to see what I am going to introduce into my product menus; this is going to be hard.

Have a great weekend everyone, I am seeing clients tomorrow, followed by a childrens' party and then a day off on Sunday. I think it is due to get warm...happy days.

Claire

A day off in Rye, East Sussex

Good Morning,

I hope you all had a lovely weekend; as promised I thought I would post something personal today. Last week I had a really lovely day off and we decided to pop over to the ancient town of Rye in East Sussex. This area is very familiar to me as I spent all my childhood holidays in and around the Rye area, and I have so many fond memories of some wonderful family times here.

We visited a spice warehouse just along the harbour road; when you arrive and park, the pungent aroma of the many herbs and spices just tickle your nose buds continually. They have a brilliant array on offer with very competitive pricing so a few purchases were made! They are a family company and so nice too, so if you are ever in the area pop in and have a smell!

We then had a lovely lunch and this stained glass window caught my eye. I also found another location for my secret project and visited a venue that is coming up for a wedding in May. All in all a very good time was had by all.

I had a very pleasant day in the studio on Saturday followed by two wedding fayres on Sunday. I attended The Spa Hotel in Tunbridge Wells and my fantastic assistant Lorraine attended Lansdowne Place Hotel in Hove. Both these venues are lovely so if you are getting married be sure to check them out.

The images today show one of the cobbled streets for which Rye is so famous, a stained glass window from the restaurant and a memento of our visit to the spice company.

Enjoy your week although not sure I am liking the cold but having read the latest newsletter from our 'rent a cherry tree' they say we need a few more chill hours. I think I am happy to suffer it if it means lots of cherries in July!

Claire

No10 Bridal Launch Party

Good Afternoon Folks,

Well here we are at the end of another week and I have loved being able to smell the freshly cut grass.

On Wednesday I attended the No10 launch party with the amazing Emma Tindley. The boutique is arranged over three floors and is beautifully presented. We walked into the ground floor reception area to be greeted with pink champagne and it was then up to the middle floor to see the dresses on show. No 10 are the latest stockists of Emma's collection and it was really good to see them in their new environment. No10 had showcased one of Emma's blush pink designs too.

The third floor was amazing; it had a candy bar! Oh dear what a thing to put in front of me! Apart from being a mecca for sweet lovers on the night, the third floor is dedicated to the bride. It is her area to try on dresses with sumptuous furnishings for her guests to sit on whilst they wait for the grand unveiling.

There were beautiful canapes on offer, lots of wonderful champagne but it that wasn't enough we were all given a goody bag and a posy of flowers beautifully arranged by Evelyn Cole Flowers.

I had a lovely chat with the most wonderful fudge maker and you really must give her fudge a try, it is sublime. Liz, you are really talented so pop along and see her website Mummy makes Fudge.

I am still eating sweeties and marvelling at the goodies we were given; how lucky am I.

So this weekend sees me at both The Spa Hotel Wedding Fayre and Lansdowne Place Wedding Fayre. I will be on the stand at The Spa and my lovely assistant Lorraine will be at Lansdowne Place. Both are amazing venues and if you want a wedding in beautiful surroundings you cannot go wrong with these venues that have fantastic coordinators; Ula at The Spa and Jo at the Lansdowne. I love popping in to Brighton to have a Choccywoccydodah with Jo from Elegant Stationery and Jo from the Lansdowne....yummy :)

Have a great weekend all.

Claire

Donna and Craig - Spa Hotel, Tunbridge Wells, Kent: Kent Wedding Photography

Good Afternoon Folks,

Recently I had a fun packed pre-wedding shoot with Donna and Craig at the lovely Spa Hotel in Tunbridge Wells. The weather was lovely during our time there albeit a little windy. We had a lovely stroll around the grounds and planned some exciting shots in the orangery, it was then off to explore the inside; and it did not disappoint!

We had a good old laugh and chat as we wandered around this goregous venue and I can really see that the big day is going to be enormous fun too.

I will be exhibiting at the Spa Hotel and Lansdowne Place Hotel Wedding Fayres this coming Sunday 4th March. Both venues are just beautiful and I am equally excited to have the honour of exhibiting at both. Ula will ensure your day runs smoothly at The Spa and Jo is your excellent events manager at Lansdowne Place.

The Lansdowne is not adverse to the odd celebrity or two and Jo was photographed with one of them last Saturday...lucky Jo :)

Have a great week all and I am looking forward to posting again soon; I think I might make the next one a personal post to add a little variety.

Claire

Red Squirrel Arts: West Sussex Commercial Photographer

Good Morning Folks,

Well it has been a very varied week so far at Woodland Hill Photography with pre-wedding shoots, bridal dress shoots and the artwork of the very talented Rich Spicer.

I travelled to Rich's studio in Worthing earlier this week to photograph his collection, which has been titled 'the look up series'. Rich has drawn his inspiration from the beautiful tree canopies that we have in this country and his aim was to encourage people to look up and see the beauty that exists above their heads.

The whole collection is going to be exhibited at the St Paul's Centre, Chapel Road, Worthing from 5th March until the 2nd April. Rich is going to exhibit in the most unsual way and I cannot wait to see the whole series in situ.

I am posting a couple of images and a portrait of Rich, but if you want to see some more ahead of the exhibition then I will be posting some extra ones on my twitter account if you click here it will take you straight there.

My next post for this week is going to be some more artistry but of the sweet variety from Sweet Little Blings; the studio had the most fragrant aroma during this shoot....yummy!

Enjoy your week and hope you all enjoyed pancake day; I like mine simple with just lemon juice and sugar:)

Claire

Flowserve Annual Party - Effingham Park Hotel: West Sussex Event Photography

Good Morning Everyone,

Recently I had the pleasure of photographing the annual Flowserve Party at the Effingham Park Hotel and what an amazing event that was. Reveries had dressed the room beautifully in a circus theme and it literally took my breath away when I first walked in; the attention to detail was just amazing. During the evening the guests were entertained with a magician, jugglers, fireaters, plate spinners and to round everything off a spectacular routine by one very talented trapeze artist. I had great fun taking lots of pictures of the guests too.

The imagery here today is of the room by Reveries, the jugglers doing a wonderful routine in very, very low light and the grande finale, which was the trapeze artist, so I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Happy Friday to you all and have a lovely weekend. For me I have another pre-wedding shoot and then I am going to treat myself to a day off. Incidentally if you are looking for an alternative to what used to be cameras on the table, then try out Coco Photo Booths. It is enormous fun and I stumbled across it yesterday and had a really funny five minutes in the taxi taking silly photos :)

Claire

Jan and Alan - Nutfield Priory, Redhill, Surrey: Surrey Wedding Photography

Good Morning All,

Well it's official my wedding season has started with the first pre-wedding shoot of the year! Jan and Alan are having a boutique wedding the beautiful setting of Nutfield Priory in Surrey. This venue has some amazing windows, which I am hoping to use on the day. As you can see from the imagery it was crisp to say the least, but proved to be a very beautiful backdrop for the imagery.

Jan was very nervous to begin with and this is not uncommon for for a lot of couples at the thought of being the photographed and the centre of attention at their wedding. This is one of the reasons why a pre-wedding shoot is an important part of the photographic coverage for me. It was not long before we were all giggling and laughing like naughty school children and I think the last shot says it all. I now know that Jan will be much more relaxed as she marries the man of her dreams; as for Alan he was great and so relaxed from the off, and I think they make a splendid couple.

I am really looking forward to capturing the story of your wedding, and to see all the plans you have been making come to life on the big day.

I think is due to warm up a little this week folks and for all you secret valentines out there, have a wonderful day tomorrow.

Claire

Paul G Smith Fabulous Toastmaster: East Grinstead Portrait Photography

Good Morning Folks,

I recently had the honour of photographing the President of the London Guild of Toastmasters, Paul G Smith. Some of the imagery is being used for his website and one of the images will be his official portrait in the President's book.

I love working with Paul, he has that wonderful mix of a consummate professional without being stuffy. If you have him at your wedding it will run like clockwork and be enormous fun too. I think I can safely say that he is nothing like the impression that people have of Toastmasters, so if you are thinking of having someone to ease the pressure on the day; Paul is the one for you. It is happy days for me because he will be at a few of my weddings this year.

The weather looks set to stay cold and my chicken is not liking it at all and to watch her trying to walk in snow was quite a sight I can tell you!!

Have a great weekend everyone and wrap up warm.

Claire