Post Office Hero
What exactly do heroes look like? Well, here's one!
Meet Bipin Patel, he's been a postmaster for 30 odd years in Ecton Brook in Northampton. Nothing heroic about that maybe, but next door to his post office lay an empty pub for the last 9 years.
This bothered Bipin so much, that he decided to use his own money to buy, renovate and turn the pub into a community centre. The guy spent half a million pounds and when I questioned him whether this was a business venture, he said, 'No no just for the community, make it cheap to hire for the people all the drinks everything should be as cheap as a working mens club.
And then, his phone went off, it was a text message from someone asking if they could borrow some money!You may think how cheeky? Bipin mumbled something along the lines of 'I like to help people where I can in life'.
The guy was an inspiration, and you could see from the locals how much they loved him.
The place is amazing I mean first class for the community, well done Bipin, it was an honour to meet you and your lovely wife.
Talent International Corporate Photography
I was asked to do some corporate photography at Talent International's Awards a couple of weeks ago at Birmingham's Custard Factory.
They held it at The trendy Mockingbird Pub & Cinema.
Sounds great doesn't it ? An Awards do with booze, great food and great people!
Except that cinemas are lacking one vital thing - LIGHT! I had to use all my skills that day, I was shooting on d750's which are pretty good in low light however I needed to use prime lenses all day as the 24-70 and 70-200's wouldn't cut it. You can always push he iso on your cameras but essentially the primes will focus a lot quicker in low light. Here's the day below.
A Dream Wedding at Ettington Park Hotel
In July I was asked to photograph Philip & Sarah's dream wedding at the prestigious Ettington Park Hotel in Stratford upon Avon. These guys were just so so nice I can't tell you, Sarah was the absolute perfect bride, chilled and happy - she was walking on cloud 9 that day you could tell by her huge smile.
For the bridal preps I met Sarah at Ettington and ran into my old friend sorry young friend Naomi Mckeever doing make up, we've worked on many a wedding together and productions and she's just tip top!
Phil's a proper car enthusiast in fact even the speeches were all themed around his motoring history complete with a COOL WALL!!! (Top Gear)
He had some great motors over the years aaaaand some not so great motors, at least I think that was his excuse for crashing most of them ha ha!
After I'd got some lovely shots of Sarah at Ettington, I headed to the church in Harbury where unfortunately I wasn't allowed to shoot the ceremony.
Always fun!
I managed to grab a few shots in stealth mode before we whizzed off to Chesterton Windmill for some intimate shots.
I especially love the black and white one of them walking towards the Windmill.
Rather than taking couples off for ages at a time
We had an absolute blast at this wedding thank you so much for letting me be a part of such a special day.
If you're planning a wedding at Ettington Park?
Why not pop in to see the beauty of this wedding in our gorgeous sample album below.
Below you can see a sample of this gorgeous wedding in print
A Beautiful Garden Wedding in Royal Tunbridge Wells
I was really lucky to be asked down to Mark & Cassie's Wedding down in Penshurst near Royal Tunbridge Wells.
It's a bit of a trek from Leamington Spa and it was right out in the sticks but what a gorgeous place when I arrived. The views from the house were simply breathtaking.
The family had travelled from all over to be at this prestigious wedding and it was so worth it.
They had gone to so much trouble to make sure everything was just perfect.
When I turned up at the house the day before to do a recce, low and behold there was Barbara and Eric our old family friends from Cornwall
It was lovely seeing them again and I mentioned to Barbara, do you remember when I was born you gave me a blue elephant? 'Yes she said, well my youngest is playing with it to this day'!
I'm so lucky to do my job I as I get to see families coming together from all over the world for such special times, it's a real genuine privilege.
Mark and Cassie had a tremendous wedding and I thought I'd share some of my favourites with you as their Kent Wedding Photographer before they partied the night away. David Henley's band were simply on top form, well done all!
A Quintessentially Beautiful Wedding at Fawsley Hall
I was honoured to be asked to photograph the very special Wedding of James & Samantha at Fawsley Hall.
Samantha and James knew exactly what they wanted for their wedding at Fawsley and boy did they deliver.
I won't do too much talking here but it was a real hoot to be chosen as their wedding photographer at Fawsley Hall. They had clearly planned this to the ninth degree and when it came to the day they were the perfect couple, so much love for each other and and they were ready for a party!
Quintessentially this was a right old British knees up!
Big thanks to Fawsley Hall for keeping up their high standards and to Gareth who assisted me that day.
Also to The Cover Ups band who played a blinder of a set I honestly don't think the dance floor was ever quiet!
