I met up with Liam & Cat  for a pre-wedding shoot before they get married in 2 weeks time. How exciting! We headed to the newly restored Barnes Park for the shoot. I haven’t been in this park for a while so was excited to see what had been done. I was so pleased the  Victorian bandstand was still there and now looking quite dapper. From there on, our shoot took us all the way round the park.

Liam & Cat…

"Clouds and occassional showers" declared the weatherman on the morning of the 7th April. With umbrellas in tow, I headed to Andrew & Laura's apartment. As I entered into the front room, Laura, her mum and bridesmaids were getting their makeup done. It was a warm relaxing atmosphere in the "Hall to be" residence, with croissants warming in the oven and Ollie the cat snoozing on top of the boiler. Laura looked so calm you wouldn't have believed it was the morning of her wedding. Yet I still enquired, "are you nervous?". "No", she replied with a smile, "it all just feels right".

From that moment on, every time I looked at Laura she was beeming. Every second of the day she had a huge smile on her face. The ceremony was held at The Salvation Army in Letchworth. It has recently been refurbished and it was a delight to shoot in. We then headed to the beautiful Tewin Bury Farm. It is a lovely place and has plenty of spots to shoot. We were so lucky the rain held off. Although with grey clouds hanging over us it must have been the quickest family shots I've ever done! But after the wedding breakfast the clouds rolled back to reveal a beautiful sunset. A perfect ending to a perfect day. 

Andrew & Laura...

I met with Craig and Jayne at Grinkle Park Hotel for a pre-wedding chat and mini love shoot. They get married one month today. Jayne – eek!! Jayne filled me in with all the exciting details she has planned for the wedding and I’m really looking forward to shooting them. After our chat we headed into the grounds of the hotel for the shoot. It was a rather drizzly spring day, but Craig and Jayne are such a lovely warm couple, which brings out a great contrast in the photographs. ]]> http://www.vaphotos.com/2012/03/17/craig-jayne-love/feed/ 0 http://www.vaphotos.com/2012/02/28/andrew-sarah-engagement-party/ http://www.vaphotos.com/2012/02/28/andrew-sarah-engagement-party/#comments Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:11:13 +0000 VA Photos http://vaphotos.com/?p=2373 NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

When I suggested the idea of a photo booth at their engagement party, Andrew and Sarah were all over it! Andrew and Sarah are going to get wed abroad, so what better than a beach theme for their photo booth. I literally can’t wait for their big day! Here’s a few of my fav’s…

My fella bought me these flowers the other week. It was the usual thought process: what did he want or what has he done! With no real reason into the purchase of the flowers, into a vase they went and then popped onto the windowsill. They lasted for ages and they were really beautiful. They really did brighten my day when I saw them. My fella received a well deserved 10/10 for spontaneity and romance.

I have since found out the reason behind the purchase. All I can say is: love is for me….an out of date bunch of flowers for 35p!

Happy Valentines Day xx

Just after I posted Andrew & Sarah’s Love shoot I received a text from Andrew: “Omg!!!! Them pictures are absolutely unreal. You have done a mint job! Absolutely brill V. I’m over the moon!”. SWEEEEETTTT!!! Ahhhh they are such a cute couple. Andrew & Sarah ordered some prints. I thought I would take some photos before they got sent off. So here you go….

Off into Leeds we headed for Andrew & Sarah’s engagement shoot. We were lucky the weather was on our side but that didn’t stop us dodging under the covers of the Corn Exchange and through the arcades to snap some photos here and there. I’ve discovered lot’s of nooks and crannies in Leeds. We didn’t get to visit all of them, but we covered quite a huge area in an hour and a half! Andrew and Sarah were great in front of and off the camera. We had such a giggle. Can’t wait till the big day xx

]]> http://www.vaphotos.com/2012/01/25/andrew-sarah-love/feed/ 0 http://www.vaphotos.com/2012/01/24/andrew-sarah-peek/ http://www.vaphotos.com/2012/01/24/andrew-sarah-peek/#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:30:39 +0000 VA Photos http://vaphotos.com/?p=2225 NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

First shoot of the New Year and what better than a love shoot with a newly engaged couple. We headed out and around the centre of Leeds for Andrew & Sarah’s shoot. This city has some great spots and I’ve been dying to do a shoot here. Here’s a peek of what’s coming up on the blog tomorrow.

Luckily we heard about the Pipeline Masters early enough to catch the first day of surf. It was that good we then spent three days of our honeymoon here. It was amazing! We have never seen waves as high. Pipeline Masters is a huge surfing competition. All the best surfers in the world were here.  This is just a small collection of the photos I took.

We arrived at Pearl Harbor 3 days after the US commemorated the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. It was quite surreal being in this place. Even though it’s still used as a naval base today, it was really quiet and peaceful. We managed to arrive early and get tickets for the USS Arizona Memorial.

The USS Arizona was in harbor lined up in Battleship row when the Japanese fleet stuck on the 7th December 1941. It still remains in the harbor today, underneath the surface of the water, entombing 1,177 of it’s crewmen.

We headed on a boat over to the Memorial, which has been placed over a proportion of the ship. Arriving at the memorial, the sight and smell of petrol still leaking from Arizona, really put the experience into perspective. ]]> http://www.vaphotos.com/2012/01/13/pearl-harbor-oahu-hawaii/feed/ 0