Puck and a Picnic

I’m typing these words with both office doors propped wide open and breathing in the last warmth of an autumnal afternoon and the scents of the season shifting.  

Cartwheeling children and, in the background, a spaniel and terrier cavorting on the lawn, this was my final family session of summer. The light was good and, when I rocked up to photograph them, the family 50% still in pjs. Which I thought brilliant. All relaxed and with a complete ease and acceptance of the lens.

There was plenty of outdoor shooting this month. Team headshots for a US/UK corporate wellness organisation, we captured these all outside and miraculously evaded sheets of rain which poured relentlessly for most of the day in question. 

My fir tree friends down at the Christmas Tree Farm hosted their first Wylds Wedding with a caravan of bell tents. These popped up across the field and looked so completely inviting under a clear and starry sky. The drone footage of the wedding procession is magical and the yard looked phenomenal once again this summer.

With a new website about to launch along with new zing brand colours, it was only fitting that I try them out and incorporate these into some vivid edits to populate said website. I am a big fan of the shades and the result. In fact, it was me that picked the zing limey lemon shade originally, some three years back, and we’ve had it hovering in a side folder ever since, awaiting the Wylds Events business to take shape.

As August began, the farmyard also came alive with faerie folk and laughter as the PSF wove their story ribbons with a midsummer production. The giant Red Oak – Quercus Rubris – turned green, brilliantly lit for the occasion. 

The weather for the performance which I covered, well, it held. On at least one other occasion, I know that twas indeed a tempest that did cometh and disturb the picnicking with Puck. That was such terrible Shakespearean English. Do you forgive me that? I hope yes. But the whole show was a feast for the senses and I captured lots of film also which the PSF will be receiving shortly.

On a side note, we welcomed a rescue pup into our home. His name ‘was’ Rolo but he is black and white with a pirate patch over one eye and doesn’t in any way resemble any toffee / chocolate confection. So he was renamed. To the phonetically very similar Roscoe. We are smitten and he is being photographed a fair bit. Of course he is. You wouldn’t expect otherwise. I can recommend the charity who enabled this very rewarding and heartwarming opportunity. A New Leash for Life is a locally based rescue charity.

I also stopped by The Kings Arms Project, a Hampshire-based youth charity, to capture their headshots and also a team picture. My youngest came along to assist as he himself is supported by the KA. Absolutely he managed to leap into the group image. And got the dog in the frame too.

Here are a few recent preoccupations …

• Open your Mind by Ward Thomas who happen to live quite close and once played a set at my local.
• Tiffany Francis-Baker for Equinox essay writing and delightful illustrations of the natural kingdom
• Pilea + Spider plants they’re taking over here.
• Feel Better, Live More the podcast by Rangan Chatterjee whose guests and conversations are teaching me a lot.

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