Family MacInnes | Portrait

The other weekend I headed off to Sheffield Botanical gardens to spend some time with the MacInnes family.

What I love about photographing children, especially young children, is how it just doesn't work for me to have an agenda. When I do, things quickly unravel. The best thing to do is just turn up and capture whatever this small human wants to show me of who they are in that moment, without adult ideas of what makes a 'good' or 'proper' photo, or a 'good' or 'proper' child. Sometimes it's a story of curiosity that they want to tell, sometimes a tale of shyness, other times it's focussed concentration. Well with this young man of Nathan and Jo's it was the unbridled joy of being alive. Delight poured out of him all afternoon, beaming out of his face ... and to top it off he was very generous with it too. Each photo you see of him looking straight into the camera would be quickly followed by him tumbling into my arms for a hug, completely halting the photographic process but melting my heart so that I couldn't mind one bit. It's very hard not to fall completely in love with such behaviour! 

It was utterly delightful hanging out with the MacInneses for an afternoon. Much love to you all.

And then Nathan took the camera to capture a couple of me and my new beau ...

All images ©KateCooperPhotography2013

Jack and Corinne | The Wedding

So. The wedding of the wonderful Jack and Corinne. I travelled down to Duncton in West Sussex facing the trepidation of a whole day of forecasted rain and an outdoor based wedding ... but the delight of spending the day with Jack and Corinne who I'd met in London months before and really enjoyed the company of.

Well the rain held off just enough to get some outdoor shots (and then tipped it down later, just enough to make the dancefloor something of a flooded health hazard!)*.

So .... some of my favourite things.

1) The service. Often a vicar will make a point of talking about love ... obvious really since it is a wedding. But this vicar took a different tack and talked about how each person in the room had made these two who they are and how important those around us are to how we are able to do this. I LOVED hearing this.

2) The general bantery silliness of a lot of the guests. A totem of wedding was created (bride atop bride's brother, atop groom - nutters!). A lot of alcohol was consumed. A lot of laughs were had (often aided by the bawdy banter of Fay Presto doing table magic during the meal). A lot of teasing was delighted in during the speeches. A lot of shapes were thrown. And despite the rather alarming number of jager bombs that had already been downed by the time I left at 9pm, these troopers were still dancing (and drinking) at 3am. I doth my cap to such staying power. I wouldn't have been able to stand up.

3) The mother of the groom. Not only did she recommend me to Jack and Corinne in the first place, not only did she also looked absolutely resplendent in her 20's inspired outfit and general glowing radiance, and not only is she clearly adored not only by her husband and three sons, but by all their friends and family too, but she was so attentive to me all day checking whether I'd been fed, whether I'd been watered, and not letting me go back to the car in the dark without the chaperone of her youngest son. She was an absolute peach.

4) The dancing - ably facilitated by Tune after Tune. Apparently the DJ also did David Schwimmer's wedding. Who knew Ross from friends had such taste in music.

I absolutely loved sharing this day with this wonderful lot.

*crikey - am so British - I always contextualise a wedding based on the weather. Not sure whether to love or loath being such a cultural cliché.

All images ©KateCooperPhotography2013