Hi! Welcome to my first ever blog post.
I know, I know its 2019 how did you not blog the noughties away like every other normal 20 something? I managed to avoid the blogging bug for a full 27 years so having watched ‘sex and the city’ multiple times as well as ‘Julie and Julia’ I figured it was about time to give it ago. And what better to blog about than what you love!?
For me that thing is Photography. (and my husband but a blog about my husband has a fairly niche market and I’m trying to appeal to a wider audience here)
So during this inaugural blog post I will tell you a bit more about me, my business, my style and what to expect from me should you decide to get in touch.
I want to start by telling you about the name of my business, some of you will have seen the facebook post on this subject, but unlike a facebook post, this will stay on my website forever and I feel it’s important, so here we go...
Yes the name of my business is just my maiden name, however as some of you will have noticed, it changed after I got married. It used to be Ohana events but I wanted to make it a bit more personal, because I’m very proud of what I do and I didn’t want to hide behind a generic name (albeit a brilliant Disney inspired one.) A few weeks before our wedding my grandfather passed away. He was a real inspiration to me, the son of a displaced Irish dentist and an English confectioner, as a new born he was left in front of the fire to die because they didn’t think he would make it. Needless to say, he did make it and went on to be a sailor in the merchant navy, where he met my Nanna. He travelled the world, bringing back interesting objects from mysterious places (including, for some reason, an African fertility doll that now sits in my front room, much to the despair of my poor husband).
As you can imagine, the stories from his time at sea kept the family entertained for many years to come, my personal favourite was the time he was required to feed a very large python. Another thing about my grandad that kept us all endlessly entertained was his curiosity about people. He was known for his interrogations, although this probably seemed a little intimidating to new comers to the family, he was really just interested in them. So when it came to renaming my business, I considered my married name, but I thought what better way to remember my Grandad than by giving his name to a business that celebrates adventure, curiosity and most of all – family.
With that in mind, I want to move on to tell you a little about my style of photography. I love natural moments, a shared look, a smile, a belly laugh, a little bit of mischief. It’s what makes life interesting and I happen to think that it’s what makes photography interesting as well. Whilst I have nothing against posed shots, and I am more than happy to arrange them (switching it up now and again never hurt anybody) I prefer to capture people as relaxed and happy as possible. I also think it better captures emotions which is especially important on your wedding day. You want to remember how you felt rather than what a photographer was telling you to do. I aim to take candid shots but in a creative way, getting different angles, considering different compositions, trying to get in the middle of the action so when you look back on your photo’s it’s like you’re back at the happiest time of your life, maybe seeing some moments you didn’t even realise had happened.
My clients can expect lots of these lovely candid moments. With the couples shots, I may give you some directions for posing but then I’ll stand back and try to capture natural moments between the 2 of you. One of my personal favourites is to get you to go for a walk and follow you around at a distance with a long lens. I think this is a nice way of doing it because this may well be the only time you get as just the 2 of you on your wedding day, so you can have a little debrief about the ceremony, talk about how nervous you are about the speeches or even have a bit of a practice for your first dance (ok, I might ask you to do this one!) .
My ultimate goal as your photographer, whether it’s for a wedding or a family shoot is for you to enjoy being photographed rather than wanting to get it over with as quickly as possible.
Having covered the name, my style and what you can expect as my client, the only thing left is a bit more about me. Now, if you want to cut off here, I’ll forgive you. If you’re sticking with me then I admire your commitment to finishing this post filled with my ramblings.
I’m going to ease into this in true dating profile style…
My likes include Friends, Gilmore girls, all things Disney, Stationary, retro camera’s, not-so retro cameras, Coffee (black please), anything French, Dog videos (My favourites are the ones where they talk) and travel.
Dislikes include mushrooms, liquorice and snakes (sorry reptile lovers)
My now husband bought me my first camera several years ago and I LOVED it. I would drag him to zoos, aquariums, castles, ruins, parks, literally anywhere that would let me bring my camera. I knew I was interested in photographing people but never took the leap until he volunteered me to fill in for another photographer. I was terrified, and so excited but once I arrived at the venue I didn’t stop smiling and I felt in my bones that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. In large part, this is all down to him (this is where it gets a bit soppy) I would never have taken the leap otherwise and I would certainly never have believed I could actually make a living out of it if he wasn’t there cheering me on every step – he’s my lobster.
Nowadays, whenever I pick up my camera it just feels like an extension of me (a bit like the episode of friends where chandler’s teaching Joey how to smoke- no more friend’s references, I promise).
The future of this blog includes blogs about specific shoots including wedding shoots and portraits and pretty much anything else I am photographing professionally. It will no doubt cover some tips for wedding shoots, engagement shoots etc. Maybe some business –y posts if there’s something I think is interesting. But for now that’s it.
Thank you for sticking with me!! For more information about my photography or if you have any questions about this post just use the contact us link up top : )