The Boot Room

One of my favourite local restaurants is The Joiners Arms, at Bruntingthorpe and I've got to know Stephen, the chef owner, after a number of visits to eat there over the years. He kindly hosted a charity dinner for me several years ago when I was raising money for a charity trek in Vietnam, and a couple of years ago I was delighted to photograph his family.

Recently Stephen has launched a new restaurant in the centre of Leicester, The Boot Room in Millstone Lane, and I was delighted to go down there and photograph the restaurant and a small selection of their dishes earlier in the week. And a bit of action in the kitchen, too!

Here is a small selection of the images and I can confirm that the 'props' tasted as good as they looked!!





















If you're going in to Leicester and want to try somewhere new with fabulous food, look no further than The Boot Room.

Clare and Paul

Earlier in the week I caught up with Clare and Paul for a pre-wedding portrait session.

We'd had to cancel a previously arranged session when the weather was dreadful, but this time we were lucky with a sunny, balmy summer's evening (not many of them this year!).

We met in Leicester and had a little wander down by the canal across from the Abbey Gardens.

Here's a small selection of images:











Clare and Paul are getting married at Beaumanor Hall, and we're looking forward to being with them on their big day!

Ellie and Andrew

I met up with Ellie and Andrew this morning for a portrait session.

They're planning a lovely country wedding next May and I'm looking forward to it already as they're planning plenty of time for photographs! Today's session was to 'break the ice' and we started at their home and then went for a wander along the canal path and across the fields.

Here are a few favourites:

Meet the Simpsons

I spent today in the company of the delightful Simpson family, down in deepest Buckinghamshire.

Mum and Dad, Veronica and Richard, had successfully, and very generously, bid for one of the auction lots at last year's Dreamflights charity ball. I had teamed up with (well piggy backed on to their idea really!) my wonderful canvas supplier, Artspec, to provide a photographic session with Artspec agreeing to turn one of the images into a large canvas.

So today it was down to Buckinghamshire to meet up with Veronica and Richard and their children Felicity and Danny, and their monchrome dog, Zak, and... their chickens.

We had great fun and, hopefully, I've got lots of images for them to choose their canvas from.

Here are a few early favourites:









And, especially for Richard, Zak in action (obviously a great fan of 'One Man and his, er, chicken'?):

Wedding photography, Noseley Hall - Caroline and Darren are married!

Romance was quite literally in the air today as Caroline and Darren were married at St John the Baptist Church, in Billesdon.

Their reception followed at Noseley Hall and, thankfully, we missed the worst of the rain during the group photos and even managed to avoid it later on as we went outside for a few photos after the wedding breakfast.

Here's an early sneak peak of a few favourites, starting with a bit of 'romance' (!):



















Congratulations, to you both! We shall look forward to catching up with you when you're back from your fabulous sounding honeymoon!

Wedding photography, Northamptonshire - Gurj and James are married!

Gurj and James had a fabulous wedding today, marrying at All Saints Church, Harpole, with their reception following at Kislingbury.

Gurj looked absolutely stunning, closely followed by her four bridesmaids who all wore matching saris.

The weather stayed nice and (too!) bright, certainly a change from the last few days, and we even managed to take Gurj and James off down the road for a few pictures of the two of them between the end of the wedding breakfast and the arrival of their evening guests.

Here's a sneak peak of a few early favourites:















Congratulations Gurj and James. We hope you have a fantastic honeymoon, and look forward to catching up with you when you're back!

Abbie

A couple of days ago it was up to Cripwell Farm in North Leicestershire to meet up with Abbie.

I took a couple of wedding dresses (!) and went up with Northampton based photographer Sarah Vivienne for a fun shoot using the farm and stables for a bit of variety. With blustery wind and constant changes in the weather - one minute bright sunshine, the next pouring rain - we had great fun, especially with the billowing veil.

Here's a small selection of images











Abbie, you were a natural, and I can't believe that you haven't done anything like this before!