Light first.
Everything else
follows.
I photograph people in open country — ridgelines, tree cover, long grass, weather that changes its mind. Sessions are slow, planned around one hour of usable light, and you leave with frames that look like the day actually felt.
Ridge, 6:40am — scouting frame, low cloud holding
Open shade — no flash, reflector off the path
Backlight — shooting into the gap in the canopy
Four ways people book
Every session is quoted on location and season rather than a fixed package. What follows is what each one actually involves, so you can tell which one is yours.
Single portrait
One person, one location, walked at your pace. Good for anyone who has not been photographed properly since a school hall and would rather not stand still for it.
- Location scouted first
- Two looks
- Natural light only
- Time
- 90 minutes
- Delivered
- 25–35 edited frames
Couples on the ridge
A walk with a camera along it. We climb for twenty minutes, talk about anything other than posing, and shoot the last of the light on the way back down.
- Route planned to the forecast
- Weather-moved dates
- Print pair included
- Time
- 2.5 hours
- Delivered
- 50–70 edited frames
Family, outdoors
Built around whoever is smallest. Short bursts, somewhere they can run, and no attempt to get everyone looking at the lens at once — that photograph is usually the worst one.
- Morning slots
- Dogs welcome
- Grandparents included
- Time
- 2 hours
- Delivered
- 40–60 edited frames
Working portraits
For makers, growers, guides and anyone whose work happens outside. Photographed where the work is, in the clothes it is done in, with frames sized for press and web use.
- On-site shoot
- Landscape and upright crops
- Licensed for business use
- Time
- Half day
- Delivered
- 30 frames, two crop sets
Recent work, with the conditions
Captions name the place and the light, because the light is the part you are really choosing.
There is always more than this
Six frames is a sample, not a portfolio. Ask for a full session gallery in the style you are considering and I will send one across.
How a session actually runs
Nobody is naturally comfortable in front of a lens for two hours, so I do not ask for that. I ask for a walk.
Before the day I scout the location at the hour we have booked, so I already know where the light lands and which way the wind comes across the ridge. That means no standing around while I work it out with you in the frame.
On the day we start with easy things — walking, talking, hands in pockets — and the camera stays busy through all of it. The frames people keep almost always come from the middle of the session, once the self-consciousness has worn off and before anyone gets cold.
Editing is quiet. Colour is corrected, skin is left alone, and nothing is smoothed into something you would not recognise in a print on a wall.
A portrait should look like someone remembered you, not like someone retouched you.
- Light
- Natural only, reflector when needed
- Lenses
- 35mm, 55mm, 85mm primes
- Backup
- Dual-card in camera, copied same night
- Gallery
- Private link, yours for two years
- Files
- Full resolution, print and web sizes
Choosing your hour
Session times are not interchangeable. This is roughly how the day reads out on the ridge, and what each slot is good for.
Cold, low and soft, often with mist still sitting in the valley.
Couples who want the place to themselves, and anyone who photographs better before the day gets loud.
Bright and rising; shade under tree cover is clean and even.
Small children and dogs, who are at their best early and rarely negotiate at sunset.
Even, shadowless, forgiving. The whole day becomes usable.
Working portraits and larger family groups, where nobody should be squinting.
Warm, directional, disappearing fast. We move with it rather than wait.
Portraits and couples wanting warmth and long shadows across the grass.
Cool, quiet and dim; slower shutter speeds and stiller subjects.
A short add-on at the end of a couples session, for two or three frames worth having.
Before you book
What happens if the weather turns?
Rain is not automatically a cancellation — overcast and drizzle can be the best light of the week, and a jacket fixes most of it. If conditions are genuinely unworkable, such as high wind on an exposed ridge, we move the date at no cost. I watch the forecast from two days out and message you the evening before with a plan either way.
What should we wear?
Clothes you already like, in colours that belong outdoors: greens, rust, cream, denim, grey. Avoid bright logos and very fine stripes, both of which fight the background. Bring one layer you can add or remove so we get variation without a change of location, and wear shoes you can walk twenty minutes in.
We have young children — can this work?
Yes, and it works far better in the morning. I plan for roughly forty productive minutes spread across a two-hour booking, with breaks built in. Snacks are encouraged, bribery is permitted, and I photograph through the chaos rather than pausing it. Nobody has to make a toddler sit still.
When do we see the photographs, and how?
A short preview of six or so frames goes out within a week. The full edited gallery follows within three weeks as a private link you can share with family, download from at full resolution, and come back to for two years. There is no proofing fee and no limit on downloads.
Can we print them ourselves?
Yes. Every gallery includes full-resolution files sized for printing, so you can use any lab you like. If you would rather not choose, I can prepare files to a specific lab's colour profile on request, and I keep a short list of frames I think are worth printing large.
How far do you travel, and is there a fee?
Anywhere within about a two-hour drive of the ridge country and coast range is included in the session. Beyond that I quote travel separately and honestly — usually fuel and, for very early starts, a night nearby so I can scout the location the evening before rather than in the dark.
Tell me about the day
A few lines is plenty. I reply with availability, an honest read on the light for that month, and a quote for the session you actually described.
- Reply time
- Within two working days
- Holding a date
- Dates are held once you confirm, not on enquiry