My Favourite Pictures #1- Diving at Sipadan
An occasional look back at some of my favourite professional and personal photos
Sipadan is a renowned island on the east coast of Borneo. It is known for its exceptional marine life and is considered one of the top diving destinations in the world. The island stands on top of an underwater mountain that rises from the ocean floor, creating an ecosystem which is rich in coral reefs and is teeming with spectacular marine life.
Sipadan gives divers the opportunity to observe diverse species, such as green and hawksbill turtles, reef sharks, barracudas, and a multitude of colourful coral inhabitants. The picture above was taken on an old point-and-shoot Sony camera in a waterproof casing. It shows a school of Jackfish that engulfed us while swirling to the surface. The original file was washed out and unusable upon first inspection. However, Photoshop came to the rescue and brought clarity and contrast, and cleaned up a lot of the noise.
Exploring Lightroom - Brighton Property Photographer
Is Adobe’s Lightroom & Photoshop package the best value for professional photographers?
Adobe Lightroom has long been a photographer's favourite for its powerful editing tools. As a professional property photographer who also shoots weddings, events, and portraits, I have used Lightroom for approximately 15 years, from the early standalone programme to the recent monthly subscription package. Bundled with the equally powerful Photoshop, it costs slightly under £10 a month. There are many notable alternatives, including the excellent Capture One and Skylum Luminar. However, when you take into account the sheer volume and power of the tools included in Adobe’s offering, plus the regular updates, it’s hard to look beyond Lightroom as the best premium package.
Let’s look at some of my favourite latest Lightoom tools:
1. AI-Powered Masking Enhancements
Lightroom’s AI tools have reached new heights with improved masking capabilities.
As a professional property and interiors photographer, the new selection tools have been a godsend. The new subject and sky refinements allow for more precise selections, making isolating subjects or skies for accurate editing easier. Whether you're trying to adjust exposure, apply colour grading, or add in effects, the enhanced AI ensures accuracy with minimal effort. Being able to darken the sky above a property or isolate a model from the background with a click of a button is truly a game-changer for me. The amount of time saved is genuinely remarkable.
2. Content-aware removal and healing tools
Another massive update in Lightroom are the much-improved Removal tools. As a professional property photographer, the importance of being able to quickly remove unwanted items is truly essential. For example, I was tasked with shooting a beautiful mansion in Worthing for a rendering company. When I arrived at the house, it soon became aware that there was still considerable work going on around the property, with bits of scaffolding, power tools, waste materials, plus piles of gravel waiting to be laid over the driveway. With the shoot being weather dependent and the forecast looking bleak for the coming days, I decided to plough ahead and take my chances with post editing, and Lightroom didn’t let me down. It was impressively easy to remove everything and deliver a set of clean images to the client.
The healing tools in Lightroom are now far more intuitive, with a new Content-Aware remove feature that rivals Photoshop’s Spot Healing Brush. It is now much easier to remove unwanted objects or dust particles in a matter of seconds.
3. Improved Batch Editing
Batch editing is an incredibly important feature. For example, as a professional Wedding photographer the ability to add a preset and other adjustments to the first picture and then quickly synchronise those changes across hundreds of pictures is essential. The latest update allows you to synchronise not just global adjustments but also masks and localised edits across multiple images. This is a game-changer for photographers working in large volume fields such as Weddings, Events or Property.
4. HDR Optimisation for Raw Photos
HDR editing capability is particularly important to interior photographers trying to balance strong outside light coming through windows with darker ambient light inside the room or an external shot of a building partially lit by strong sunlight with areas of deep shadow.
Lightroom now strongly supports HDR editing directly in RAW files, making it easier to preserve maximum details in both highlights and shadows. The enhanced HDR workflow is genuinely beneficial for photographers capturing high-contrast scenes.
5. Adaptive Presets
The latest adaptive presets use AI to apply edits based on the photo’s content intelligently. For example, you can now use presets explicitly designed for portraits or landscapes, automatically adjusting settings like tone, contrast, and colour to suit the image type. Batch editing a series of photos with consistent yet nuanced adjustments, such as wedding or event photography, can really benefit from this update.
Final thoughts
For pure bang for your buck, it’s genuinely hard to see beyond Adobe’s package of Photoshop and Lightroom at £10 per month, especially if you do photography for a living. For me personally, having all the features listed above (plus many, many more), along with regular updates makes it an absolute no-brainer.
The Big White House - Hastings Property Photographer
A truly unique property set on Hastings’ beautiful Pett Level seafront
While searching through my property photography folder, I came across a shoot I did in Hastings, East Sussex.
The house was showcased in a well-renowned episode of Channel 4’s excellent Grand Designs and many newspaper and magazine features.
The outside of the property is a tribute to the 1930s German Bauhaus (translated as ‘Building House’) movement. It is one of the most interesting and inspired houses I’ve shot.
Walking inside is like entering a pop culture art installation, where Roy Lichtenstein clashes with Superman and Mickey Mouse. A professional property photographer’s dream! The kind of home where there is another picture to be made every time you turn around. The sea views weren’t bad either.
Capturing exceptional, iconic venues like this makes my job an absolute pleasure.
Capturing Emotion in Wedding Photography
The beauty of documentary style Wedding Photography
Wedding photography is about so much more than posing couples in beautiful settings. My favourite wedding photography is all about about telling the story of the day through images. What sets apart great wedding photography from the rest is its ability to capture the emotions of the day—those fleeting, genuine moments and interactions that the happy couple weren’t even aware of; laughter, hugs, tears, and the long-overdue reacquaintances. Here are some tips on how to capture these moments:
1. Build Trust with Your Clients
One of the most important things a wedding photographer can do is build trust and rapport with the couple. A wedding day is deeply personal, and emotions can be high. The more comfortable the bride and groom are with you, the more likely they are to let their guard down and allow their true emotions to shine through.
The ability to be discreet is essential. Sticking your lens in a guest’s face in an obtrusive way will only make them uncomfortable. Mingling and chatting with guests is also a great way to gain trust.
2. Anticipate Moments, Don’t Stage Them
Emotion happens naturally, and the best wedding photos come from genuine moments. While some posed shots will always be part of a wedding album, it’s the unposed, candid moments that often resonate the most. As a photographer, you should constantly be on the lookout for these moments.
Some of the most emotional moments occur unexpectedly:
The bride’s father seeing her in her dress for the first time.
A candid exchange of glances between the couple during the ceremony.
A tearful embrace between family members during the reception.
The explosion of laughter at the end of a funny story.
The uninhibited joy of guests letting loose on the dancefloor.
3. Focus on the Details
Emotion often reveals itself in the smallest of details: a slight touch, a stolen glance, the way a couple holds hands. These subtle signs of intimacy can add depth to your wedding photography.
Pay attention to the body language of your subjects. Keep your lens trained not only on the big moments like the first kiss but also on smaller, more intimate gestures.
5. Capture the Emotions of Everyone, Not Just the Couple
While the bride and groom are undoubtedly the stars of the day, wedding photography should tell the full story. Often, the most emotional moments come from family members, friends, and guests.
Imagine capturing the teary-eyed pride of the bride’s mother, the groom’s nervous laughter with his groomsmen, or a flower girl twirling in her dress. These images add layers to the wedding story and give the couple a fuller picture of their day.
Keep an eye on the crowd, especially during key moments like the ceremony, speeches, or the first dance. Sometimes, the emotion of a wedding day is best seen through the eyes of those who care most about the couple.
Beautiful Isle of Wight
Professional holiday homes photography in Ventnor, Isle of Wight
As a professional Interior & Property Photographer, one of my favourite types of assignment is shooting holiday homes. I am lucky enough to work with a fabulous company called Classic Cottages. They mainly get me to photograph properties around Sussex, but occasionally they send me to the beautiful Isle of Wight.
I’ve recently been lucky enough to photograph a glamourous Yurt, a converted barn & a wonderful shepherd’s hut, all in Ventnor, to the South of the Island.
Established in the Victorian era, Ventnor became extremely fashionable as both a health and holiday resort in the late 19th century. It was described as the 'English Mediterranean' and 'Mayfair by the Sea’, with great attractions such as Ventnor Botanic Garden, which is located on the site of the former Royal National Hospital, and showcases rare and exotic plants due to the town's unique microclimate.
The shepherd’s hut was located on a hillside overlooking miles of forestry. Being able to stay in the hut over night, using the hot tub whilst watching the sun go down, is definitely a perk of being a professional Air bnb photographer!
Some of my favourite images from the shoot are below.
Embracing the benefits of professional event photography.
How hiring a professional event photographer can enhance your company.
We all love capturing memories, right? Well, event photography takes that to a whole new level.
Imagine having a professional event photographer present to shoot all those priceless moments you might miss while you're busy hosting or mingling. The quality of these pics will be way better than what most of your attendees can manage with their phones.
But it's not just about the memories. Think about how awesome those photos will look on social media. If you're running a business or planning future events, these pics are gold for marketing. They show off what a great time everyone had and make people want to come to your next event.
Oh, and here's something cool – event photos can actually help boost your guests' experience. Ever been to an event with a photo booth? So much fun, right? Plus, people love being able to relive the event through great photos later on. For businesses, it's a no-brainer. These photos can tell your company's story, showcase your culture, and even help with networking.
Imagine sharing a great shot from your last conference and catching the eye of a potential client or partner. And let's not forget the artistic side of things. Professional event photographers have this amazing ability to capture the vibe of an event in a way that most of us just can't. They know all about lighting, composition, and how to tell a story through images.
So, consider hiring a professional event photographer next time you're planning an event, big or small. It might seem an unnecessary cost at first, but trust me, you'll be so glad you did it when you see the results. It's like investing in memories and marketing all at once!
The importance of styling a property for interior photography.
As a Brighton-based professional property and interior photographer, I know the importance of property styling. This is particularly important when photographing a holiday home or Air bnb.
Property styling for photography is a crucial aspect of marketing properties for sale or rent. This process involves preparing and decorating a property to make it look its best in photographs, often the first impression potential buyers or renters have of a home.
Dressing a property can be a simple process. For example, you can set a table with glasses, a jug of water, and fresh flowers. You can also drape a throw over the side of a chair, place a bottle of wine and two glasses on an outside table, or put a magazine or a book with a pair of glasses on a cushion. Some board games are a great way of creating a cosy and fun atmosphere when shooting a holiday home. Using natural light rather than flash or artificial lighting also helps enhance a room.
My work as a property photographer takes me all over Sussex, which means I get to photograph lots of holiday homes, old & modern. The basic rules of property photography dressing remain roughly the same regardless of the type of accommodation: make it look as welcoming and natural as possible,
f you require a photoshoot with additional dressing, add it to your request for a quote, and I’ll do the rest.
Are Fujifilm Cameras suitable for professional use? (Of course they are).
An ongoing debate in photography circles that rages constantly with no sign of abating any time soon, is whether or not Fujifilm cameras are suitable for professional use. The answer is of course, yes! In their first iteration, the X-T1 & the X100 , the argument could be made that these cameras, whilst producing lovely looking images, were not up to scratch in terms of focusing speed. Since then, however, Fuji have produced a whole range of excellent cameras, many of which I have used in my 12 years of working professionally as a Sussex-based Property Photographer, Event Photographer, Wedding Photographer & Portrait Photographer.
Many more professional photographers have successfully adopted Fujifilm systems for various genres, including wedding photography, event photography, portraits, and more. Here are some key points about using Fujifilm for professional work:
High-end Fujifilm models like the X-T5, X-T4, X-H2, and X-H2S are well-suited for professional use. These cameras offer features and image quality that meet easily meet professional standards.
The image quality of the X-T5, for example, offers a 40MP sensor, providing high-resolution images suitable for professional work. The RAW files from Fujifilm cameras offer great dynamic range and colour profiles, allowing for amazing flexibility in post-processing.
While Fujifilm may not always be at the cutting edge of autofocus technology, their recent models like the X-T5 and X-H2 offer advanced autofocus capabilities easily suitable for professional use.
Fujifilm offers a range of high-quality lenses suitable for professional work, including prime lenses and zoom lenses with constant apertures. Some of my favourites include the legendary 56mm 1.2, which is awesome for my work as a professional portrait photographer, the 35mm 1.4, the fantastic workhorse 16-55mm 2.8, which is a must for my work as a professional wedding and event photographer in London, & for my property & interior photographer work in Sussex, the classic 10-24mm. None of these lenses have ever let me down. A great recent development is the adoption of the X system by 3rd party manufacturers such as Viltrox & Sigma, both companies releasing very widely regarded lenses.
Ergonomics and design: Many professionals appreciate the compact form factor and intuitive controls of Fujifilm cameras, which can be advantageous for genres like wedding and street photography. And there is no getting away from the fact that Fujifilm are making the best looking cameras on the market.
While some professionals may prefer full-frame systems for specific needs, many have found success using Fujifilm's APS-C and medium format systems. The suitability of Fujifilm for professional work ultimately depends on the specific requirements of the photographer and their genre of work
It's worth noting that professional photography is more about the photographer's skills and vision than the specific brand of equipment used. Many successful professionals have demonstrated that Fujifilm cameras are capable of producing high-quality results in various professional settings. As a skilled Brighton-based Property and Interiors photographer, an experienced Sussex based Weddings and Events photographer, not to mention my portrait photography work, I love using Fujifilm cameras and would recommend them to any professional photographer looking to change up their system.
The joy of Staycations in beautiful Sussex
Professional Holiday Home photographer
Sussex is a wonderful place to live, as it has a holiday-like feel all year round. As an interior photographer residing in Sussex, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to photograph some truly stunning holiday let properties. Sussex has a diverse range of locations, offering visitors a plethora of options, ranging from city breaks and beach holidays, to peaceful countryside retreats.
Starting from the east of the county, the historic town of Rye boasts beautiful 14th-century listed houses, while the Camber Sands, one of the few sandy beaches in Sussex, offers breathtaking views. Moving further west, we come across Hastings, Eastbourne, and Seaford, each one with its unique charm. The first two are famous resorts with a rich history, while Seaford, a hidden gem, offers miles of lovely beaches and the stunning Seven Sisters cliffs that take you all the way to Beachy Head.
If you head even further west, Brighton & Hove, with its vibrant city life and beach culture, provides an ideal destination for visitors. Shoreham and Worthing offer additional beach opportunities, while Arundel and Chichester provide endless opportunities for the history and culture buffs.
Mid Sussex is rich with incredible towns and villages such as Lewes, Midhurst, and Petworth, each with its unique character and charm, offering great pubs, restaurants, and walks to enjoy.
It's no surprise that there are many amazing properties to stay in, and I have been fortunate enough to photograph many of them, armed with my trusty Fujifilm X-T3 coupled with a 10-24mm lens. Here are some of my favourites, taken over the years.
Lago Maggiore, Italy
Professional Event Photographer
One of the best things about working as a professional events photographer is visiting unique locations.
Lago Maggiore is a stunning lake situated in northern Italy, stretching from the Piedmont region to the Lombardy region. The lake is the second-largest in Italy, spanning about 65 kilometers in length and offering breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains and lush greenery. Its crystal clear waters provide opportunities for various water sports and activities such as boating, sailing, and swimming. The charming towns and villages that line the lake, such as Stresa, Verbania, and Pallanza offer visitors a glimpse of Italy's rich cultural heritage with their historic buildings, elegant gardens, and lively markets.
I was, therefore, very lucky to be asked to photograph an event in this gorgeous location. Taking place over three days, the delegates were treated to a wide range of activities: dirt biking on day 1 (in a serious deluge of rain!), yoga, dragon boat racing, group dancing lessons, kickboxing, and water sports. The big nighttime event was a Great Gatsby-themed dinner on the incredible island, Isola Bella. The event was expertly arranged by the brilliant Pure Events.
Costa Rica!
I was lucky enough to be able to take my family on a dream 4 week holiday to the wonderful country of Costa Rica, and what a trip it was!
The holiday got off to a weird start though, as we had 24 hours in Montreal, which was in the middle of a blizzard with temperatures of minus 2! It was a massive relief to land in the more tropical climes of Costa Rica the following day.
I initially planned to travel light with my photography gear, using only my Fuji xe3 & the standard 18 to 55 lens. However, realising that most of the wildlife lives high up in the trees, I invested in the much underrated and reasonably priced Fuji xc 50-200 millimeter lens. Paired with a Fujifilm X-T3, which worked beautifully.
This lens was a godsend. The wildlife in Costa Rica is truly incredible. As are the landscapes, the food, the people, and of course the beaches.
Wasing Park, Aldermaston, Berkshire
Professional Event Photographer
Doing professional Event Phtotgraphy, I have had the pleasure recently of photographing two events at the beautiful Wasing Park Estate, which is set in miles of beautiful countryside in Aldermaston, Berkshire. The events were organised by the ever-excellent Lucy Claire Events. It’s locations like this that make working as a professional Event Photographer a real pleasure.
Wasing Park Estate is perfect for all kinds of events; Weddings, Corporate retreats, Well-being activities such as wild swimming, yoga, and even a forest sauna.
The event started in the evening, starting with a meet & greet drink, dinner, and marshmallows on an open fire. An early night was required as the delegates were up at the crack of dawn for a choice of wild swimming with a sauna, or outdoor yoga. The swimming took place in the most amazing forest lake, which in the dawn sunlight, and the autumn leaves, made for a magical scene.
Other activities throughout the day included lots of breakout sessions, where delegates got to share ideas and brainstorm. The most fun came at the end of the afternoon when the delegates were invited to don crash helmets, and jump on to Segways and go careering through the forest.
The final activity before dinner was some candlelit yoga to unwind.
Moshimo, Brighton
Professional Food Photography
I recently had the pleasure of doing a food shoot for one of Brighton's great culinary institutions, the Japanese restaurant Moshimo.
It initially seemed that this was going to be a tricky shoot. The interior of the restaurant is fairly dark with red walls, which meant that unless I used continuous lighting (I prefer to use natural light whenever possible).
Luckily, outside they have these lovely dark red tables under a weatherproof cover. Perfect! The red really made the dishes pop, and fitted in beautifully with the colour theme of the restaurant (red and black).
The shoot happened on two different days; 1st up was the hot / cooked dishes, including well-known staples such as Katsu Curry and Chicken Teriyaki, as well as lesser-known but equally delicious treats such as Cod Cheek Tempura, Salmon katsu burgers and Chicken Kang Jung.
One of the perks of being a professional food photographer able to take some food away to eat, and I can confirm that it tastes as good as it looks.
