Paul's Blog

Originally I had been booked to provide some onsite portrait photography for the residents and families of the residents and guests attending the homes summer fete. The reason for the fete was to raise funds so that the home could develop a new sensory garden for residents to enjoy and families to spend time with their loved ones. ...more

A beautiful Saturday afternoon and it was off to Sturry just outside Canterbury to cover some child birthday photography and family portraits and hopefully a slice of cake. ...more

The Jenkins family in Deal held a leaving party for their daughter Denise who is leaving for a new career in Australia in a weeks time, invited me along to take some portraits of the family. ...more

On a beautiful August morning I set off from Deal for the trip to Groombridge, which took just over two hours owing to traffic and my sat nav finally finding the home of Chris the Groom. Caroline had headed in the other direction from Whitstable and met up with Rachel the Bride at the Spa Hotel in Tun Bridgewells before meeting me later at the Church. ...more

The City Gaol Cafe, which sits nicely next to the Westgate Towers, is the product of some very long hours and determination by local Businessman Charles Lambie, and its thanks to Charles that the Kentish Photography Club which I co-run with Jason Dodd has found a new venue for its meetings each month. As way to say thankyou myself and Jason covered some commercial photography on behalf of the club for the newly opened cafe. ...more

Today's wedding was in the lovely village of Boxley, Kent for Bianca and Stephen, with the reception being held at the Marriott Hotel, Bearsted just outside Maidstone. I met up with Caroline around 9.45am to go through the schedule for the day... ...more

I was contacted by bride Michelle back in July 2010, and had met the couple of times leading up to the big day. I had visited the wedding venue the week before, so the grounds and wedding venue only needed nice weather to ensure a lovely day. ...more

Recently I have started to work with Caroline Huff, helping each other with our weddings this year, primarily because having a second photographer at a wedding is a massive help to capture those additional moments. The wedding of Lucy and Matt was in fact Carolines Wedding, with Caroline Helping me the following weekend and then throughout August so it was a good test to see how well we worked togther as a team. The setting for today was the small village of Saltwood just outside Hythe, in Kent, lovely place beautiful houses with good green surroundings. The church was idilyc and the choice of the local cricket ground for the reception gave a nice variety to the day. ...more

I have worked for the Gaithwaite family for the last few years having covered one wedding, two christenings, a birth and a few portrait sittings, so I was really pleased to once again have my services called upon for a portrait of the families grand children. ...more

Caroline had asked me a little while ago to capture some light hearted and informal shots of her wedding with Jonnie, to show the day in a relaxed manner. Because I work with Caroline its been interesting seeing her excitement build as the big day drew closer over the last few weeks and many discussions about the day and what would be covered had been had. What helped was that I covered the Big Clean in Canterbury the week before and some of the areas covered then helped with ideas for images on the day. ...more

English Schools have certainly followed the American tradition and adopted the end of year Prom as a good opportunity for pupils to dress up and have a good time. This time last year I covered the Simon Langton school prom in Canterbury for Jason and I also did a private portrait session ahead of Walmer Secondary Schools prom evening. so I was pleased this year to receive a booking to cover another private portrait on a recommendation from last year. ...more

The Transmanche Enterprise Network (TEN) Project which has joint partnership between Canterbury City Council and Medway Council has recently launched a new office hub available to members to use as a means of exploring commercial office space to work from. ...more

And so 2011 begins, and what a better way to start the year than being asked to cover some family portraits for Sue and Bill. Starting to become the family photographer which is nice as this is the third job I have covered for the family. ...more

After a bitter cold day yesterday chasing winter landscapes, it was nice to get a bit more urban and meet up with Jason. Jason has been asked by a client to produce some city images for display, so lending a hand was a good opportunity to have a fun walk around the city and a couple of coffee stops along the way!! ...more

With the build up to the xmas break spent mostly editing images to meet deadlines, it was nice to finally get out of the house and meet up with members of KPC and head off in search of a winter landscape for the club meeting on the 14th January. ...more

After a relaxing week in Norforlk, it was a busy week ahead starting with Debra and Josh's wedding. The wedding was being held in St Margaret's at Cliff, and the weather forecast was for snow! Keeping things light I only packed the Sony A580, 24-70mm, 50mm and flash Gun. ...more

With winter weather forecast for this weekend, I finally took the opportunity to visit a field full of Hay Bales which I had been looking at all year. For me the vast rows of rolled bales have been present in the same field since first harvest earlier this year have presented a good photographic landscape opportunity. Yet for some reason I have ignored all instinct to visit and capture a lovely image. However the other week when the snow reappeared I decided to finally get out and take my camera with me. ...more

Prior to us heading to Sea Palling I had told Jason about the Horsey Wind Pump on the Hickling Broad. Its been widely photographed and appears in many local guides. During the summer months the area is full of boats but in the winter its well left alone making an ideal location for a spot of sunrise photography. ...more

Gone are the days when you could stroll down your local high street and visit a good camera retailer. Some towns are still luckily enough to support local independent stores however for the rest of us its either Jessops or a trusted online retailer. Nonetheless for me and Jason Warehouse Express based in Norfolk host an excellent on line shopping experience for all your photographic needs, but they also have an impressive retail outlet stocking 11,000 products. With our camera bags ready for a work out and our wallets ready to get hammered we set off in search of photographic heaven! ...more

This time last year myself and my wife took a short break to a cottage in Sea Palling, Norfolk. A beautiful setting for some scenic photography and a chance to visit Warehouse Express to purchase a new camera lens. It also presented a good opportunity to get together with good friends of ours and just chill out. ...more

The Bride Wendy is a friend of my wifes and they have worked together for many years, so I was only to pleased to offer my services as photographer for the day. And good fortune shone as the sun smiled for the first time all week! ...more

Following my success at the Kentish Photography Clubs November meeting with a winning still life image of conkers, I have decided to continue to produce still life photographic art as a side line to my work in the hope that I can build a selection of photographic Art that can be sold or exhibited. ...more

I was suggested to the Chartered Institute of Marketing to cover the first of what is hoped to be an annual meeting of the Institute at Old Sessions House, which is part of the Canterbury Christ Church University Campus. ...more

The final day of my photographic coverage of the Big Clean Project in Canterbury. I cant believe how fast the week has passed, but I have enjoyed the challenge that this project has given me. ...more

Day Two of the Big Clean Project in Canterbury, and this mornings brief from City Centre Manager Philippe Esclasse was to get images of Staff from McDonald's and retail traders from the Kings Mile. ...more

I was asked last week to act as official photographer for the Big Clean project in Canterbury, capturing images of various projects being undertaken by volunteers and businesses across the city to make an impact to help the city become a cleaner environment. ...more

Its always nice when other photographers contact me to assist, so I was pleased to receive a call from Whitstable based professional Tim Stubbings to assist on a job covering PR images of the Canterbury Multi Cultural Arts Festival at the Chaucer Technology School in Canterbury. ...more

Wednesday nights soon come around, and now the Deal and District Camera Club (DDCC) has started the 2010/2011 season competition evenings come thick and fast. Personally I feel that the club has too many competitions as its quite hard work keeping up with the submissions. ...more

After what seemed like ages in the preparation and organisation, the Canterbury Eurofair food and Drink festival finally arrived. The event ran for three days over the 24-26th September and last years event had good weather and an excellent attendance. I had organised a photographic stand with members from the Kentish Photography Club that I help run with Professional Jason Dodd. We selected a series of prints from club members and run the stand selling images which ere mounted and also framed. ...more

Wednesday nights soon come around, and now the Deal and District Camera Club (DDCC) has started the 2010/2011 season competition evenings come thick and fast. Tonight is the start of the colour print competitions, so there should be an excellent range of images from club members. ...more

My how fast time flys, and it only seems last week that the club took its annual summer break. However the club held its annual presentation evening last week and I received third place in the intermediate colour print aggregate competition. My competition work has been regarded good enough to compete with the advanced class this year so stepping up should be interesting. ...more

I covered the wedding of Kirstys dad warren to Nikki back in July 2009, although not the booked photographer it was this very event that everyone encouraged me to take up photography professionally after I captured some beautiful images of the wedding. On the day Kirsty was a bridesmaid. 12 months later Kirsty and her partner Ian contacted me for some fun family portraits following a new addition to the family in the footsteps of Ruby their daughter. ...more

August has been an unsettled month for weather and it only seemed 5 minutes ago that I was in Ashford to cover Ade and Phillips African Ceremony. However the weather was looking good and first stop was the Ashford International Hotel to cover some preparation shots.. ...more

It was at the begining of 2010 when I approached Ade and Phillip and offered my services as a photographer, little was I aware what exactly they had planned... ...more

The alarm sounded at 6am this morning, which could only mean on thing.. another early start for the Camera. Today was a mix of attending the Whitstable Classic Car and Bike show getting some stock images but also to continue with the Canterbury City Council Tourism photography project. I teamed up with Whitstable Photographer Caroline Huff and Canterbury based Anthony Hoile both attend the Kentish Photography Club but we also all work together so it was nice to meet up and get some images together... always nice to be out with another photographer to bounce ideas off one another. ...more

After our first outing for this project, we finally arranged another date that myself, Anthony Hoile and Caroline Huff could get together and get some more images for the Tourism Department of Canterbury City Council. We decided on Reculver as this had been specified by the Tourism department. The weather again all day had been very hit and miss and I was unsure how much clear weather time we would have at Reculver. ...more

I was recently asked at a friends social evening to take some portrait images of the families faithful friend. ...more

Unbelievably I have been so busy with work, photography projects and my club involvement that I had completely forgotten I had given away a free portrait shoot in a raffle last Christmas, and was suprised when Teresa contacted me about having a portrait of her Grandchildren. We quickly organised a date and decided that the Bandstand and beach at walmer would be the suitable location for the shoot. ...more

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I was kindly allowed to visit the church after service this morning to record an image of the main stain glass window, something I have never done before so a little bit of a learning curve which is never a bad thing!

My self, Caroline Huff and Anthony Holie are currently working on a new set of images of Canterbury District for Canterbury City Council's Tourism department. So today we met at a rather early time to look at the seafront, memorial, bandstand and flower beds at Herne Bay

Having heard yesterday that there was a selection of classic cars on offering at the event I thought that it was a good opportunity to get some more stock images of classic cars. With some of my images in the pipeline for marketing of the Whitstable Classic Car show in August its always good to top up with extra material ...more

I had been commissioned by friend and Canterbury based professional Jason Dodd to cover some portrait and candid photography at the Simon Langton School Summer Ball held at the Winter Barns, Canterbury. ...more

It seems like the summer has taken forever to arrive and now its here in typical British fashion its that dam hot we wish it wasn't!!! nonetheless ive been busy getting summer themed images from around the local area. ...more

As a photographer one of the creative elements of using a DSLR is the ability to play with the depth of field (depending on your lens capability) to produce images that stand out. Some of you may wonder what "depth of field" means. Basically its the portion of a scene that appears acceptably sharp in the image. In the two instances below a "shallow depth of field" has been applied to create a small portion of the scene which appears sharp. ...more

Penshurst Place, situated just down the road from Tonbridge was the setting for the film "The other Boleyn Girl". I have visited Penshurst Place twice before and knew that the house has lovely extensive gardens to walk around and hopefully get some nice floral images. ...more

An early morning meeting with DDCC members Chris Jones and Lesley Harrison at Grove ferry on the cards, not helped by a 6am meeting time. ...more

The June meeting of CSP formaly known as the Canterbury Photography Club was really well attended. The theme for the evening was Portraits. Although I once again was unlucky with the club members vote it was a fun evening with some suprisingly good portraits entered.. better luck next month!

This evening is the Annual Color Print Competition at the Deal and District Camera Club. I came third last year in the intermediate section and im hoping for similar success this time round but you can never pre judge these things and in the end its one persons opinion as to which image appeals the most.

With the portrait side of my business starting to build nicely I was pleased again to receive a commission to photograph a friends daughter. ...more

Friend and professional photographer Jason Dodd has been organising photography training courses for just over a year. Having attended a couple when I first set out to learn the trade, I knew it would present a good opportunity to gather some stock portrait images from the models attending and so offered my help. ...more

I had received a booking a little while ago to cover some portrait shots of Ashley in her prom dress before she headed for the Walmer Science College Prom night with friends. The Prom was held at Rivals Nightclub in Deal. ...more

If anyone enjoys gardening, then the Salutation Gardens in Sandwich are an absolute must especially if you enjoy your floral photography. Through out the season there is always a great array of floral displays that are a delight to capture... ...more

This evening was quite important to me, having spent my fisrt full season at the Deal and District Camera Club (DDCC) I had done well in the Digital project league competitions missing out on third spot by just 1 point. So the annual competition was a showcase of each members "best of the Best" images... ...more

Another month had passed since the club last met, and sadly due to the club being threaten with legal action owing to the name being used it was a rather subdued start to the evening. ...more

I had been commissioned by a work colleague of my wife to take some portrait images of her two grand daughters. We agreed to meet at the lovely Pines Gardens at St Margarets at Cliff which would be the perfect setting for the images required.

A beautiful warm Sunday Morning and an early start for me picking up Eastry based photographer Jenni Deakin for a trip to the Bredgar and Wormshill Railway for a Fashion Photography Shoot.. ...more

Having recently launched my new commercial photography service im hoping that this will prove to be a good venture and that my services become widely used by local businesses.

Canterbury Photography Club now resides at the Howfield Manor Hotel, this is a great location with splendid grounds and good facilities. Future club evenings will now benefit from practical sessions. Jason Dodd who is the club organiser has now established a nice number of 25 members who benefit from his experience as a professional and the training he provides. I have been fortunate to land the role of club secretary and assisting Jason in its development and direction. ...more

My alarm very kindly woke me at 5am this morning, being a bank holiday weekend most people would have simply turned it off and gone back to sleep, however I was due to meet with members of DDCC at Pegwell Bay for a hopeful sunrise photography session. Considering the weather in the last 24hrs I felt that it was going to be a very wet and unsuccessful early morning!! ...more

An area of the photography services that I offer is attending special family occasions, birthdays, gatherings etc to capture precious moments. This evening I was invited along to an 18th Birthday to cover some family portraits. ...more

Deal and District Camera Club held a practical Portrait evening for members to come along and learn about studio setup, lighting techniques and an opportunity to get some portrait images for personal portfolios. ...more

March is always an exciting time for flower lovers, Crocuses are normally in bloom and in my opinion they are simply beautiful to photograph. ...more

Dover based drummer Jack Kennett recently followed in his fathers footsteps adopting the Latin phrase "Don't let the Bastards Grind you down" tattooed on his upper left arm and wanted some moody style portrait shots to show off his new Tatt. Having known Jack for just over a year and having heard him play some local open Mic evenings with various local bands, I happily took the opportunity to take some different portrait images. ...more

Following a recent article in Digital SLR Photographer on HDR Portraits I though that I would try my hand at this post photography process. ...more

I was invited to cover a special family gathering at a local restaurant and the brief was nice and simple to capture the relaxed atmosphere of the dinner and afternoon ...more

After the last few weeks photographing various locations and modes of transport it was a welcomed break to get back to the home studio ...more

Competition and club evening in Canterbury ...more

Having spent saturday collecting images of the seafront at Deal I thought I would return early on Valentines Day to get some further shots of the fishing boats. ...more

After two days couped up inside due to the snow it was off to Deal Seafront to work on my Nautical images for CPC ...more

Competition evening in Canterbury ...more

Girls on Film ...more

A chance to gain some portfolio images for the Website ...more