It's been a healthy five months since my last blog post. So, to make amends, I thought I would kick things off with a brief catch up on events since March and a barrel full of excuses as to why it has been a little quieter than usual so far this year.
First, work. This spring has been one of my busiest periods, with a lot of newborn shoots in particular taking me across the home counties and getting to meet some wonderful families. The extended face time I get with clients during these sessions and getting to know them over successive shoots is one of the best things about this job.
Second, travel. Since my last post I paid a short visit to Florence. It's been a few years since I was last there and seeing it all over again, free from the pressure of visiting the sights (and let's be honest, the whole city is a sight in itself), was such a pleasure. My friend, the writer Montague Kobbe - check out his work here - was a terrific host, guide, and drinking hole hunter-outer. Perhaps the nicest thing was seeing it outside of the peak season; the leilandi was out in force and added yet another shade to the palette of colour that is Firenze.
Third, more travel. I took a trip to the US in May taking in lots of California and a little of Nevada. It warrants a separate post but, in a nutshell, it was a lifetime ambition fulfilled. San Francisco, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Death Valley - it was tiring, inspiring, and staggeringly beautiful. Crucially though it got me back to doing some good old fashioned landscape photography - something that was lacking last year. In July I visited Glencoe for the first time which, off the back of my visit to Skye last year, has made me realise more than ever that you don't have to travel far from home to encounter some of the most impressive scenery in the world.
Fourth, this website. Hopefully you have noticed by now that my site looks a little different. I had been toying with the idea of giving it a facelift at the turn of the year and since April I have been doing just that. As always, these things take up much longer than originally planned and what I thought would be a "couple of weekends, tops" turned into 7 days a week of slog for the best part of 12 weeks. In all honest I started to burnout towards the end (now does all the travelling make sense?) but returned with a fresh mind to finish the job.
And here it is! I hope you like the finished product. I've cut the fluff and made the site as engaging, clean and approachable as possible. I also commissioned an old school friend to design me a new, bespoke logo and I'm thrilled with the result. Hayley is a seriously talented graphic designer so be sure to check out her portfolio if you're ever in need. To top it all off the eagle-eyed of you will notice that I have migrated the domain to .com from .co.uk.
As you can see, things have been pretty full on but in the best possible way. But enough with the excuses. Welcome to the new site, I hope you like it and be sure to stick around for new posts, photos, and updates.