FAMILY
FILM
TRAVEL
(AND LOVER OF 90’S MUSIC, NOSTALIGIA AND AFTERNOON TEA…)
Looking back it turns out film and photography have been a love in my life. It’s always been about being behind the camera, I have never been a fan of being in front!
Despite years of working in film and TV it still makes me squirm. I can totally relate to any worries you may have about being in front of the camera too!
Here I am hating being centre of attention when I won ‘Miss Golden Sands’ at Butlins in Skegness. Clearly REALLY happy about being on stage as you can see. Maybe the moody model look was all the rage in the 80’s?
“We do not remember days; we remember moments”
MY JOURNEY
From college to making my own wedding video…
Uni. Camp. Future Husband
My love of film took me from college in my hometown of Nottingham on to University in Liverpool. Uni wasn’t really for me (long story) so I took the opportunity to escape to Minnesota in the U.S and work as a Camp Counsellor. And that is where I met Lee!
I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced camp life but a few months there feels like years and relationships form quickly compared to ‘real life’! Our parents couldn’t believe our little love story. Even more so when a year to the day we met Lee proposed!
Rekindled my love of film
Thanks to Lee’s support I was able to rekindle my love for film and TV. I made the right connections, put my hand up at the right times and was soon ‘running’ on local TV and Film sets for Channel 4 in Liverpool and London.
Editing and making great tea
With a positive attitude, great tea making skills and occasional polite stalking I was very fortunate to work alongside some incredibly talented film editors who nurtured my excitement for Post Production.
My favourite was working on Mr Bean’s Holiday and providing Rowan Atkinson with lots of Pret Crayfish and Rocket sandwiches. That’s us on the ACTUAL RED CARPET for the film premiere!
Our turn to get married!
When it came to our wedding day I knew it had to be filmed. Persuading Lee proved the biggest challenge.
He had preconceptions that wedding videos were all about soft focus and cheesy fades. What worried him the most was the idea of being followed around by huge cameras all day.
I wanted (and knew it could be) anything but! I’m sure some of you know how hard it is to persuade someone when they have their wedding heels digging in…
Fast-forward to a few months after the wedding when I showed him our finished wedding highlights film (that I’d edited myself) and it turns out he actually loves wedding videos, well, at least my wedding videos!
He is now adamant that it is better than our wedding photos and it’s something I hear A LOT from my couples now too.
Independent Film
Working in London was a bit too fast paced for me so I moved back ‘up north’ to Liverpool and fought my way in to some local film companies edit suites (which proved difficult as a female editor)!
It was there I was honoured to be asked to edit the feature film Charlie Noades R.I.P working alongside some Liverpool comedy legends including Neil Fitzmaurice and John Thomson.
I definitely felt drawn to comedy over the years and it’s no surprise really that when it comes to your wedding day I look for the fun and laughter hidden between those moments of romance.
Starting my own business
I spent a good few months editing my own wedding around editing films for Film, TV and corporate, not realising where that path would lead me. But I’m so glad I persevered, despite many of my peers in the industry thinking I was just clinging on to the wedding bubble…
Mr Anti Video To Biggest Fan
Lee liked our final wedding DVD so much that for our first Christmas together as a married couple he bought me a web address named after the song we shared our first dance to…Love Gets Sweeter.
All to inspire me to start up as my own business in 2010, making wedding films for other couples who want to relive the fun from their wedding day.
Even as someone who LOVES video and really wanted a wedding video, I don’t think I could even predict how important and special it’s become all these years on…
Photo credit: Kelly Clarke Photography
When it came to our wedding I knew it had to be filmed. Persuading Lee proved the biggest challenge.
Despite being a film fanatic, my future Husband had preconceptions that wedding videos were all about soft focus and cheesy fades. What worried him the most was the idea of being followed around by huge cameras all day.
I wanted (and knew it could be) anything but! The problem was, all I saw and experienced reinforced his idea of how it would be! I’m sure some of you know how hard it is to persuade someone when they have their wedding heels digging in…
Fast-forward to a few months after the wedding when I showed him our finished wedding highlights video (that I’d edited myself). Turns out he actually loves wedding videos, well, at least my wedding videos! He is still adamant that it is better than our wedding photos, something I hear A LOT from my couples now too.
Have a peek at our wedding highlights video below, from way back in 2009. We celebrated our big day at the Hillbark Hotel in the Wirral. It’s crazy how much my style, both personally and as a filmmaker, as changed since then!
FAMILY + PHOTOS
Family Life To Award Winning Family Photographer
Starting our own family in Lancashire drew me to document even our every day in a more honest and natural way through photography and videography.
From our eldest first words to first steps, family holidays to bigger milestones. It soon be became clear I’d rekindled my early love of photography with photobooks full of family memories.
Within a year of launching my family photography and film side of the business I had won numerous awards within the British Institute of Professional Photography, Family Photojournalists Association and This Is Reportage: Family.
In 2021 I went on to formally qualify as a Social Documentary Family Photographer with the British Institute of Professional Photography. Recognising my skill and high standard of work.
I LOVE capturing real life and connections between people so it seems the perfect follow on from documenting couples to capturing family life too!
Years of Experience : filming weddings since 2010
If you include working in London and Liverpool in Post-Production with the film and TV industry, I’ve been a professional filmmaker since I was 19! From making videos in my bedroom to making Hollywood films and now wedding videos, film-making has been a part of my life for forever!
Now a Mother of two wonderfully energetic children, we love nothing more than going on adventures together and, of course, filming and photographing them all…
You’ll find me at our family home in Burscough (near Ormskirk in Lancashire) having fun juggling family and work as well as enjoying live music, great food, drinking tea, making and eating cake and finding any excuse to film and photograph people who I love.
I’m as passionate about film-making as I am about helping other couples have an incredible video to help relive their favourite wedding and family memories!