It’s been a long, eventful summer and I’ve kind of been putting off writing this post. If you follow this blog or my other social media channels you’ll know that I really dislike the online pressure to present a picture perfect life. I’ve talked openly about my struggles with mental health in the past and that was fine, but when you have a whole load of other personal stuff going on it can be hard to be open and honest. I’m going to be though, so bare with me and keep reading.
The biggest thing
There have been some big shifts this year but I guess the biggest, which has been the catalyst for all sorts of other stuff, has been the breakdown of my marriage. Photographing weddings while going through a relationship breakup, especially when your partner shoots with you, is a unique challenge. A reallllyyyyyyy unique challenge.
I made it through though and the saying ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ has applied massively over the last 12 months. I’ve come out of it feeling like a different person and, having turned a corner, I’m excited for the future. I have bad days, of course, and there will, no doubt, be challenging times to come but for the most part I feel fairly at peace with things at the moment.
What this means for my business is that I’m mostly going back to photographing weddings on my own. There’ll be an option for my couples to add a second photographer and anyone who has a second shooter included in their package will still have a second photographer on the day. I have a brilliant pool of people who I work with regularly. They all have their own wedding photography businesses, so you’ll be in good hands. If you just want to work with one photographer, though (i.e me!) that also works really well. I didn’t work with a second photographer for the first 4 years I was in business so I’m really happy shooting solo.
If you’re thinking of booking me for your wedding photography I’ll be happy to chat through your plans, to see whether I’d advise you book a second shooter. 
Some pictures from an Anthony Gormley exhibition in Cambridge.
On the road
I’m currently a digital nomad. I really hate that phrase – it sounds pretty pretentious – but telling people I am homeless sounds much less positive (!), so I’m going with it. I basically decided not to settle anywhere for a few months after leaving Bath, and I’m using the money I’d be spending on rent to do some travelling over the winter. I’m writing this from New York (where I’m doing a roadshow with QT Albums) and in the last few months I’ve walked the Cotswolds Way (more on that shortly!), visited Ireland, Somerset, Iceland, Brighton, London, Beachy Head, Norfolk, Dorset, Cambridge, The Peak District, the Lake District and some other places. My next stop is Thailand. It’s very, very exciting and I absolutely love travelling. The freedom of not living anywhere for a while is the perfect tonic after a hectic year.
Again I don’t expect there to be an impact on my couples, other than the need to skype at slightly unusual times, to account for time differences. If you want to keep up with my travels you can follow my personal instagram.
Some Instagrams from my Cotswolds Way walk
100 Miles
Last month I walked the Costwolds Way to raise money for Mind. My mental health is in a really, really good place at the moment but I had a rough start to 2018 that saw me having regular anxiety attacks and one of my worst periods of depression ever. One of the positives that came out of it was a newly discovered love of walking, so I decided to challenge myself, while raising money for an amazing charity. You can read the full story here.
I only (only!) ended up walking 93 miles in the end, as I managed to injure myself on the first day and bruise all of the tendons in my foot. By day 3 I needed some recovery time, so I skipped a section but I plan to return in the New Year to finish the job.
I’m also planning to walk another long distance route next year so if you have any suggestions let me know.
Some other things that happened
I went to Iceland. I attended the Women’s March. I went to The Do Lectures which gave me lots of fab ideas for SNAP Photography Festival. I spoke at Learning to Fly in Ireland (and crashed the camper van I hired for the week – don’t tell my mum!). I went to Westonbirt Arboretum . I went camping with some of my SNAP friends. I had a cliched post-break-up hair cut that I love. Some other things probably happened too but I’ve forgotten them. To keep up with my life lately, swing by my personal Instagram.
That’s all for now. I won’t leave it so long next time, I promise. And hopefully my next few months will be waaaaaaay less eventful!
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