Sarah Cameron Photography Blog — Wedding Photography, Portrait Photography and Family Photos in and around: Bristol, Bath, Gloucestershire, Cotswolds and Somerset.

Teri and Matthew’s Wedding in Cheltenham

May 13, 2013 By sarahc View Comments

After what feels like an awfully long winter and a very hectic period recently at an international photography convention and working on the new website (more on that very soon!) the Summer wedding season kicked off in fine style for me over the bank holiday. A stunning setting, spring flowers in bloom and glorious weather combined to make the perfect backdrop for Teri and Matthew’s wedding at Ellenborough Park in Cheltenham.

I had photographed Matthew’s cousin, James and his wife Laura’s wedding a few years back so it was lovely to catch up with them again and to see some other members of the family. Teri was a very organised bride (with a true love of spreadsheets!) but despite working very hard before the day, she seemed very happy to relax and enjoy getting ready with her Sister, Mum and Niece during the morning. Matt had a very civilised chat to guests in the bar before the ceremony and then we all walked over to the ceremony room – a lovely building with a feel a bit like a chapel, alongside beautiful lawns. After the ceremony, everyone made the most of the fabulous weather and soaked up the sun, before sitting down to dinner. Later on, the evening light was just beautiful and I took Teri and Matthew outside for a few shots of them together in the lovely grounds.

Here are a few of my favourite images:

Nicola and Justin’s Wedding in Thornbury, Bristol

January 18, 2013 By sarahc View Comments

Just before the end of the year, I photographed Nicola and Justin’s wedding at Thornbury Church and Thornbury Castle. It was a pretty mild day for the middle of winter and also dry when I arrived at the castle and met up with Nicola and her bridesmaids. Nicola and Justin live in Hong Kong and lots of their friends and family had flown over for the wedding including her little flowergirls who were getting ready with her in the castle. There was a bustle of activity with hair and make up being done, dresses put on and sashes tied.

Over at the church, which is very conveniently next door to the castle, guests were arriving and greeting Justin and the boys to the sound of the bagpipes – so it was all very atmospheric. When everyone was ready, Nicola and the girls were piped over from the castle – what a nice way to arrive at church; on foot and to music!

After the ceremony, we did some family photographs briefly before heading back around to the castle for drinks and canapes. As it was getting dark I took Nicola and Justin off for a few romantic portraits using the castle’s lovely grounds and they then sat down for dinner. The Tudor Hall at the castle looked wonderful with coloured uplighters, candles and rich red flowers and berries – a great way to decorate tables for winter weddings.

After the meal. we had a lot of fun outside with sparklers (not the easiest things in the world to photograph!) and then headed back inside for the dancing – which kicked off with a rousing version of Gangnam style!

Here are some of my favourite images:

Luisa and Gareth’s Wedding at Ston Easton Park

January 10, 2013 By sarahc View Comments

As usual at this time of year, it already feels like a lifetime ago since Christmas and New Year! The week before Christmas, I photographed Luisa and Gareth’s wedding at Ston Easton Park, which is just up the road for me and probably my favourite venue locally. The house looks lovely all year round, but is wonderfully twinkly and cosy in the middle of Winter.

Luisa is Brazillian so she had a lot of her family and friends fly over for the wedding, which made it a particularly special day to have the English and Brazillian contingents meet each other. Luisa and her bridesmaids Nadine and Larissa were getting ready upstairs when I arrived so I spent some time with the girls as they chatted and finished off their hair and make up. Luisa’s Mother had made her wedding dress which was a fabulous lace gown and, as is traditonal in Brazil, had the names of Luisa’s single friends pinned into the lining, which I thought was a lovely touch.

I then headed downstairs to see Gareth and the boys who were chatting and greeting guests before the ceremony. The ceremony iitself was quite emotional and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the whole room (including me!). Afterwards as it was a pretty nice day we managed to do some family photographs outside and also a few couple shots of Luisa and Gareth, before heading inside for the drinks and then the wedding breakfast.
Guests then had some absolutely beautiful traditional Brazillian sweets set up in a huge buffet and decorated like little flowers (they also smelled amazing – a mixture of fruits and chocolates!).

After dinner, I took Luisa and Gareth outside for a few minutes to do a few shots with the house lit up before coming back in to photograph their first dance. This was also an opportunity to say hello to the Moon Loungers – a fantastic band I have known for ages but hadn’t seen for a while (www.themoonloungers.com)

Here are a few favourite shots from their day:

Suzanne and Mike’s Wedding in Bristol

December 20, 2012 By sarahc View Comments

Last week I photographed Suzanne and Michael’s lovely Christmassy wedding in Redland church, just around the corner from where I used to live so it was a bit of a trip up memory lane. Beforehand, I drove over to Old Down Manor (www.olddownmanor.co.uk), where Suzanne was getting ready, to capture some of the preparations and catch up with Suzanne and the girls. It was a pretty wet day so I had the wipers going full tilt in the car and was hoping the roads would not be flooded. Fortunately, Old Down Manor is up on a hill above the Estuary (with amazing, sweeping views towards Wales) so there was no risk of a flood there! Inside the Manor, there was a lot of excitment upstairs – especially from Suzanne’s gorgeous two flower girls Darcey and Lucy.

Over at the church, guests were brollying themselves to the door and chatting away inside – which looked very atmospheric with all the Christmas decorations. I wasn’t able to take many shots during the service due to the church rules but I did the best I could shooting up the aisle and from the balcony. Its actually really nice to see a wedding service from above as you can see the whole congregation.

It was too wet afterwards to do any photographs outside the church so we headed back to Old Down Manor for the drinks reception, along with some very festive mulled wine, warm mince pies and also a magician – a great idea for winter weddings as its really fun for guests and works well inside. For anyone looking for reception entertainment have a look at Darren’s website (www.darrencampbellmagic.co.uk).

After dusk, I took Suzanne and Michael off for a few photographs using the beautiful staircase and their technicolour bar. Couples often ask me what do you do when it’s dark and/or raining. In fact, I love winter weddings because you can be so creative and use the different types of light – just scroll through the images later on in the day to see what I mean.

Here are a few of my favourite images:

Pippa

December 15, 2012 By sarahc View Comments

Last Saturday we had one of the rare crisp cold sunny days that people always talk about wanting to have in Winter. As the lake area has been so wet recently I met up with little 15 month old Pippa and her parents Amanda and Fergus in Bristol for their shoot. The bright colours and interesting backgrounds in town are wonderful at this time of year and Pippa had a fantastic pink hat and mittens that she looked a treat in! Here are some favourite images:

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Baby Jacob

December 12, 2012 By sarahc View Comments

I think photographing newborn babies has become even more special since having my own little girl earlier this year – its such a special time and they are so tiny and gorgeous when they are born. You can definately see why people say the first few weeks is like another trimester because they are very womb like still and quite folded up! Baby Jacob and his mum Liz came over for a shoot last week and after Jacob had kept us busy with fresh nappies and fits of laughter for a while, we got some gorgeous images of him. Here are a few favourites:

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Baby Elsa

December 10, 2012 By sarahc View Comments

A couple of weeks ago I photographed the lovely Elsa for her 6 month shoot – we had been waiting a little bit later than that until Elsa could sit and crawl so it was great to get such a variety of pictures. Elsa is a very happy little girl and especially loves her pig toy – so we had to get a few shots with him in too!

Here are a few favourites:

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Two Gorgeous Girls!

November 30, 2012 By sarahc View Comments

Last week I met up with Karen and Julz and their little twin girls Olivia and Mimi, Will and Freddie the dog – so it was a real family affair! The girls were born the same week in the Spring as my little girl Lara so it has been really nice to share the past while with Karen and Julz and we were saying that this time last year we were comparing bumps when Karen had some pregnancy photographs done.

The last time I saw them, Mimi and Olivia were only a few weeks old and now they can both sit and crawl about – a great time for another set of images capturing this lovely stage. We managed to get a few photographs done outside the studio using natural light (not leaving out Freddie the dog!) and also some crawling pictures inside. Here are a few favourites:

Filed Under: Portraits Tagged With: baby photographer bristol, baby photography bristol, bath family photographer, bristol baby and child photographer, maternity and baby photographer bristol, portrait photographer bath

Baby Sophia

November 14, 2012 By sarahc View Comments

I am not sure whether it is a greater honour to photograph a couple’s wedding day or document their tiny newborn baby during those precious first few days. I definately feel very lucky to be a part of those big moments in life and to share in them with couples as they become a family.

I have known Jo and Tim for a couple of years now since I photographed their wedding and it was such a pleasure to see them again last week when they drove up from Gatwick especially to have ten day old baby Sophia photographed. I was amazed they were able to make such a big trip like that with a tiny baby when most people would still be in their pjs but they arrived looking great (not even an under the eye bag in sight!) and already seemed like natural parents. Sophia was determined to stay awake for the first while but after some milk, dropped off so we were able to get a lovely mixture of awake and sleeping shots.

Here are a few of my favourite images:

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Baby Matilda’s first year shoot

November 12, 2012 By sarahc View Comments

Last week we had the first crisp bright morning of the winter – at long last after all this rain! After all the recent flooding here in the valley, I suggested meeting up with Katherine, James and Matilda in Bristol so that we could do her first year shoot with plenty of space for her to run around without falling into puddles! It was amazing to think that in just 12 months she has gone from a beautiful tiny baby to a gorgeous, happy and confident toddler and really lovely for me to have been a part of that.

Regular blog readers will know I am a big fan of the waterfront for portrait shoots and Matilda loved it too – having a great time exploring and keeping us all on our toes as she ran about! I love taking photographs of children where they can have fun and be themselves – to me that’s what its all about.

Here are a few favourite images from their session: