I’m not usually one to write personal blog posts. This is my first. It might all come across as overly gushing, a bit clichéd in places, maybe a tad narcissistic and perhaps even garbled nonsense but I’m going to say it all anyway. It all comes from the heart.

It seems commonplace to reflect back on the year so although all the images in this post were taken this year, it’s more about the whole journey to this point in time. The images in this post are a mix of both personal shots and weddings, couple shoots and other stuff I have done for pennies, which I guess makes it professional work. 2014 has been a year chock full to the brim with changes and firsts, some easy, some terribly hard but all for good. I finally left my part time day job and threw myself full time into photography again (more about this in a bit).  We moved house twice, my husband left his job to work with bicycles, we adopted a little Yeti (a beautiful and crazy kitten who turned up in our garden) I did my first ever long haul flight to visit my family in New Zealand, I joined Mr and Mrs Unique after shooting with the lovely Laura Babb, I shot Set Adrift a styled shoot with the Blue Fizz team, I second shot for Anna, Sarah and Lucy, my work has been featured in Wed magazine and on some amazing blogs like Whimsical Wonderland Weddings and The Natural Wedding Company and I met some like-minded souls at Welcome Home which reassured me I was taking the right path (thank you Emma and Pete). So how did I get to this point?

It all started about this time last year when I decided that photography had to become my all. No more excuses, self doubting, financial fears or lack of belief. I was 30 and I needed to give it one last chance. You see I’ve been shooting weddings since I was about 20 and I was doing it full time, but I lost my nerve and confidence for one reason or another. I retrained to be a teacher but the education system didn’t suit my creative need and all along I was still shooting weddings. It would’ve been easier to continue teaching with it’s regular hours and guaranteed salary but I was addicted to shooting weddings. It was in my bones and niggling away at me.  So I rebranded, promised myself to just be true to my own sense of photographic style, what I felt wedding photography should be about, admit that I am actually a bit of an offbeat, quirkfest, kook of a girl and find couples who love my work for what it really is, not what I thought people wanted. So putting all that was left of my savings into new gear and a new website I set off in search of the like-minded out there and oh how I found you all… Or I guess we found each other. I am so utterly thankful to all the wonderful couples I have met since then.

So all I can end on is the biggest thank you to all my couples, who trusted me and let me in, who were both brave and vulnerable in front of the lens. This is for all my couples who let go and went with it, loosing inhibitions and showing their ‘soft under bellies’ no ‘selfie-faces’, just real faces with crinkled smiling eyes, wide open laughter mouths and kisses. All those kisses…Looking forward to 2015! Over and out xxxx