Friday Night Confessionals - first of 2021!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Wishing you all a peaceful, safe and happy year ahead xx

After my morning walk and coffee this morning I made a short video of my NEW 2021 Calendars and I am thrilled to share it here too!!!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJgQDErB8lR/

I collated the beautiful Peony images I created in Lockdown 1 last year to produce a gorgeous calendar and I am super thrilled to share fine art prints from the series will be available soon too!

Last night as I pondered the previous 12 months and reflected upon my photo clients and the sessions I had captured, I wistfully remembered a time when marriage proposals would book end each year and just what a high it is to end and begin each year with the pleasure an joy of capturing these incredible moments. JUST as I was reminiscing a Blog post popped up from Flytographer with their Top 30 Proposals of 2020 and I was BEYOND THRILLED to be included with this fun proposal of Christine + Ann Marie back in earl yMarch <3

https://www.flytographer.com/blog/top-30-proposal-love-stories-from-2020-during-the-pandemic/

Happy January everyone, here’s to a peaceful year ahead xx

International Women's Day 2020

Celebrating ‘Friendship’

March 2020

I couldn’t let this year pass without celebrating - every year I capture portraits of women which then become an exhibition with the idea of inspiring younger generations.

This year the arts project in Croydon is taking a break + I thought it would be great to do something a little more casual with the end results being shared online during the day of International Women’s Day. I set about thinking of friends who work in central London so I could be in one spot and it wouldn’t be too tricky for them to come to me with the theme ‘friendship’ + ask them for their own interpretation, feeling, word, colour - whatever it was that resonates with them.

• so Friday 6th these gorgeous ladies below swung by for chatter, tea, pictures + let me take their photo.

I also had in my mind that I’m trying something new….challenging myself + stepping out of my comfort zone to shoot in a different way, to step back slightly, to allow the images to sit together, to continue for the month of March, to include portraits where the sitter isn’t smiling - I CANNOT even BEGIN to tell you HOW HARD that was!!! + produce a lovely project + as it turned out, was a very poignant theme.

Above a screen shot of my final selection of images, Below the final cut (or so I thought!)

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I loved how everyone’s response was very different.

I wanted to bring people together with this project, to share their individual interpretation of “friendship” + to create portraits where I challenged myself in the image making. I am really good at getting right up close to people and in to their space to capture their essence + to be honest this has turned in to a process of challenging normality for me, for sitting on my own hands when I wanted to move in closer or select the happiest photo in the selection + publish on socials only my finely curated selection of happy.

What transpired was me forcing myself to choose images I loved but were perhaps a little more sullen than my usual work. Not soley to challenge myself but to look at the images with a different perspective, a different vantage point. That in itself challenged me to let go and reconnect to being happy with the images myself, whichever ones I chose + trusting the ‘process’.

It’s also been about a conversation Tanya and I had about the viewers experience and ‘seeing’ as the artist or photographer was at the precise moment in time and layering on top of that what we bring in the form of our own interpretation/feelings/emotions/life events to any art at any given moment.

My normal way of working is interacting, observing, creating ease between me, my camera and my sitter, recording just the right representation that I see in any given moment that I feel is an accurate representation of them - on Friday, I stepped back, I deliberately created space to see if it impacted the images I created, if it brought something else forward. So a project based on friendship and exploring how we see.

It’s interesting that looking through the selected images of each of my friends , the versatility of their emotions and our conversation serves as a great mixture to capture slightly different feelings in each picture + the selections below are to appease my controlling mind and show the fun we had!! :-) They also work really nicely as a set of images.

I’m continuing this project and excited to capture more friends through March - over on instagram you can also hear everyone’s interpretation of ‘friendship’ . Have a fab March + enjoy x

Keeping Warm in Winter!!

Happy Tuesday everyone!!

I am SO thrilled to share this awesome session with you from just before Christmas in South Kensington, London. We had perfect photo weather!!! A little overcast meant that the light was beautifully diffused + there were no harsh shadows going on :-)

In town celebrating their anniversary, Peyton + her husband chose this gorgeous route + we had a lot of funI For #vataionphotography I work with a company called #Flytographer - such a cool concept whether with friends, couples, families, solo travellers you can choose a photographer in their destination city + your holiday destination to capture your time and memories in a favourite part of town. South Kensington is one of my favourites, it’s buzzing and pretty at amy time of year but I really love the peacefulness of Winter and the colour pops of berries or decorations against the white wall buildings.

Enjoy + have a great evening! x

“Jackie was all around amazing. She was unbelievably flexible with the weather and truly went out of her way to bring our vision to life. Our anniversary photos will be something we cherish forever and we are so thankful to have had Jackie capture those memories for us. Her eye for photography and natural light are unparalleled. We couldn’t recommend her enough!”

Friday Night Confessionals.....

OOhhhhh Back at it!!

Right after Joe + Joanna’s wedding I took some time off to recharge and celebrate my birthday - a complete treat + such fun :-) I ate cake, saw photography exhibitions and got super inspired, hung out with friends, disconnected from work + hit the gym in an invigorating, right back at it kinda way - it felt amazing + refreshing. I swam in warm outdoor pools, pondered life in sizzling hot sauna’s and slowed down enough to regain that sense of presence, It was such bliss and set me up perfectly for getting back in to work for the last few weeks of the year and Winter.

Mum makes an epic cake + this beauty was totally #Vegan! She even made vegan lemon curd for the filing!!

Duffy at Mottisfont Abbey! An amazing and inspiring exhibition to catch on the last day :-)

Yes there’s no escape lol there’s frost on my car right now + for once I’m hybernating on a Friday night tonight cooking yummy food and delighted to be in out of the cold!

This week I have been chatting over on instagram about getting the most out of your session in WInter and Top Tips on ‘What to Wear’. Not only does this time of year make bright colours pop a little bit more it also can create long shadows + soft golden hours at each end of the day - just like D’s session above as we rambled around London to celebrate her 10 year wedding anniversary!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5QzRwlh5I_/

More on both of these to follow this week!

Have a super weekend everyone x

Sunday Sass

Just for this week, Friday night confessional moved to Sunday Sass!

Whoooo-eeeee I’m sitting here, Sunday night, Mothers Day, full of delight at having spent a fun, laughter filled day with my parents. Sunday roast, a little trip out around the countryside and a nap when I got home lol well, I did do a ‘Blaze’ class this morning before all this exuberance and I am feeling it tonight :-)

This past week has been full of family photo sessions mostly in London and with gorgeous families with teenagers (as opposed to teeny people) + the energy of London mixed in with young adults really sets you up to have perky, energised interactions and days - up in a super fun way!

On Friday after a session near London Bridge I caught the overland down to Croydon to say Good Luck to Jack at Lives Not Knives. He has been such an amazing influence within the charity with all his work on the schools roadshows and mentoring young people + is leaving to pursue other interests which I just know he’ll be amazing at!!

Whilst in Croydon AND with it being sunny I took advantage of the visit to swing past Katharine Street and check out the Ladies First exhibition opposite the Library. It looks fabulous! and I made a little video for instagram which I’ve shared above :-)

Happy Sunday everyone, Happy Mothers Day + have an amazing week ahead!!

Destination Wedding <3

#ThrowbackThursday 

August 16th 2016 Destination Wedding: Florida * Happy 2nd (cotton) Anniversary Gilly & Jon!!

February - Month of LOVE

#Instagramtakeover 

I'm celebrating February and the month of love over on my Instagram page!!

I see so many forms of love every time I pick up my camera that I wanted to share this throughout February + each day I'm posting a new image + adding love to my 'instagram story'. From weddings across the spectrum to friendship - it's all pretty magical!

This is what happens when your two loves merge!

Last week on one of the hottest days of the year I had a great time photographing for a wonderful Yoga centre in the middle of the countryside. We were bathed in great vibes and amazing weather and had such fun!

I'm so excited to share the final re-brand and images when they are ready!

LOVE seeing how clients use the images we create!

I'm always so thrilled to see how our images integrate into a clients promo and these beauties made me beam!!!

Ernest and Matilda and I worked together on their lifestyle and fabric ranges and had great fun creating these images below and many more gorgeous ones :-) 

To be Instagram

My weddings and in fact all things I photograph wedding-y (I just made that word up) can be found on my instagram feed - just search for peonybrides