Since I first started wedding photography back in 2016 every year has been an improvement on the previous year. Certainly 2023 was no exception as it was a really terrific year for me.

I had some really wonderful weddings re-visiting some of my favourite venues such as Bannatynes Hotel in Hastings, The Powdermills Hotel and The Pilgrims Rest, in Battle, and Swallows Oast in Ticehurst. Its always a pleasure to work at weddings Im familiar with, because I know from experience which areas work well for Bride & Groom portraits, and Group portraits. However, its always exciting to try out new spots as well, which is what I did in all of these venues, and this gives me new options and ideas for future weddings. 

But what I really love, is the opportunity to work at a venue where I’ve not shot a wedding before. And in 2023 year I had the chance to photograph weddings at some really stunning venues which were new to me, such as Hayne House in Hythe, Kent, with its large and spectacular gardens, and picture perfect white gazebo. Another favourite was Kingdom Penshurst, also in Kent, with its fairytale woodland setting.

 This proved to be one of my favourite wedding of the year. Ive done a ‘Real Weddings’ blog showing the photos from this wedding .  Finally, there was Gildredge Manor, Eastbourne, in East Sussex, a spacious and opulent Georgian Mansion, with incredibly stylish interiors.

All of these venues were an absolute joy, offering some incredibly charming and beautiful spaces, for creating stunning Bride and Groom portraits (and Bride & Bride!) I should also mention how warm and welcoming the staff were.  I had a wonderful time at all three of these venues, and would highly recommend all of them to any couple who are still looking for their perfect wedding venue. I very much hope I get the opportunity to work at all of these places again in the future. 

One of the weddings at Gildredge Manor was a same-sex wedding, and in 2023 I photographed two same-sex weddings, which is always very special to me, as an ally of the LGBT community.

I have two more same sex weddings booked in for 2024, and Im very much looking forward to those.

I did more portrait shoots in 2023 than in any other year, which is so gratifying, because portrait photography is something I have always loved doing. Ive been taking portraits all my life, and this is what led to me becoming a wedding photographer. Mostly these were shoots in my home studio, in Hastings. But a few were on location, for example, just before Christmas, a professional diver came down from London for a shoot. He wanted shots on a beach with the sea, and rugged coastline in the background, so that was really exciting to do. Ive been working on my lighting skills, refining my beauty lighting, as this is quite a fine art, but so important when photographing women. 

Also I began a new collaboration with a company called Dobell, based in Eastbourne. They make mens suits, and sell all over the world. They have a huge range, and the suits themselves range from very classic, to modern and fitted. Dobell sell quite a few really cool tweed suits, very much inspired by the ‘Peaky Blinders’ style, which I see alot of young and style conscious men wearing at weddings now. Im quite partial to a tailored tweed suit myself! I have now done four shoots with them now, three in their studio and one very recently, on location at Plumpton Racecourse, using the Eastbourne Football Club players as models. That was such a great day, and we created some really cool images.

On the technical side I invested in a fantastic new top of the range camera. It’s a camera I’ve been wanting to buy for some time, ever since it came out, because it offers excellent lowlight capabilities, which really helps when photographing a ceremony in a dimly lit church, as well as in the evenings.  The camera also delivers very sharp and detailed high quality images. My previous camera was an excellent model, but this new one does raise the bar even more. I have really enjoyed using it, and certainly it allowed me to create images of exceptional quality. Not that they weren’t great quality before.. but now they are even better! 

As always, my editing style is constantly involving. I’m always working on how I edit my images, reading articles and watching YouTube videos from other high end wedding photographers, picking up tips and inspiration. All of this allows to me constantly improve and refine my skills.  Looking back at the work I did this past year, I genuinely feel that both my wedding photography, and my portrait photography, is better than ever. I absolutely love the images I created in 2023. So now as I look ahead to 2024, which is shaping up to be a very busy year for me, I’m feeling super motivated and excited!