It’s wonderful to be shooting a maternity session for a repeat client! Laurence and Adele from Beautiful Tribe are expecting their third girl.

As part of the shoot, the girls also looked at a beautiful knitted baby jumper that their dad already wore as a baby! It’s lovely to involve a few meaningful items in the shoot.

I can’t wait to photograph baby number three when she arrives. Until then, enjoy a few images from this lovely maternity session!

Spring is finally here, and last week I had the immense privilege of photographing Jack and Sophy’s spring wedding in Bristol. Sophy’s hair and makeup were done by the wonderful Skai Beauty and Sophie Mocharrafie. They got married at Woodlands Church, and we took their portraits on the Clifton Downs, exactly at the spot where they got engaged!

The reception was at Kings Weston House, a stunning estate in North Bristol with the most magnificent staircase in the middle. Sophy works in a flower shop in Bristol, so the floral decorations and bouquets were done by her and her team at Roots Floral Design. It’s so lovely when the details are personal like that. Speaking of which, their gorgeous wedding cake was made by Sophy’s mum!

What’s more – Jack organised a surprise vintage car to pick up Sophy, her face when her bridesmaids told her is priceless!

Here are a few shots from the day. Congratulations again Jack and Sophy x

This is a bit of an unusual blog post for a photography blog, but a few people asked me to write up my recipe for a gluten/dairy free cake I recently made. And I guess this post does have some pretty cake pictures… So here it is!

Blood orange upside down cake is one of my favourite winter treats, mainly because of that beautiful bright red colour you get from the oranges. Aren’t they gorgeous?

I made a gluten free and dairy free version, combining an adapted gluten-and-dairy-free cake by the ultimate domestic goddess Nigella with the original upside down cake recipe I’ve used previously (which is actually from a blog called “not quite Nigella“).

Ingredients:

4-5 blood oranges
2 cups caster sugar
200g ground almonds
50g fine polenta (not instant)
1tsp GF baking powder
180g caster sugar
6 large eggs
3 tsp lemon juice
1. Preheat oven to 180C, or 160C fan, gas mark 4, 350F. Line the bottom and sides of a 20cm tin with greaseproof paper.

2. Thinly slice 3-4 of the oranges, like in the picture above.

3. Combine 2 cups sugar with 1 cup water and boil until sugar is dissolved and the syrup is bubbling. Add the orange slices and cook for 10-15 mins until the slices are starting to get a bit translucent.

4. Take the slices out with a slotted spoon and cook the syrup down a bit more. When the slices are cool, line the bottom and sides of the tin with them, using the syrup as glue if they don’t stick to the sides. You could also add some syrup to the bottom of the pan before adding the oranges – this will caramelise the oranges a bit more, making them more sticky on top of the cake, à la chunky cut marmalade. Keep the leftover syrup for later.

5. Chop the remaining fresh blood orange into small-ish chunks (skin and all, but take any green tops off) and weigh – you should have around 130g. I used 1.5 small oranges. Pop them into a smaller pan with half an inch of water and a bit of sugar, and simmer for 10-15 mins, until the orange pieces are tender. The water should have reduced and turned into a thin syrup.

6. If you’re lucky enough to have a food processor, throw the stewed oranges with their syrup into the processor and blitz. If you have to use a hand blender, that also works. You’re looking for a porridge-like consistency. Add almonds, polenta, caster sugar, baking powder, eggs, and blitz / mix again. Finally add the lemon juice and mix in briefly. Pour this carefully over the orange-slice-lined tin and bake for 40 mins or so. It’s ready when the top is golden and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean, or just with a few crumbs on.

7. Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then turn over and peel off the greaseproof paper. Warm up the leftover syrup before pouring and brushing it over the cake – this adds a sticky  and wonderful glaze, and also makes the cake lovely and moist. I still had quite a bit of syrup left at the end, so I guess you could stir this into some softly whipped double cream and have that with the cake…. if dairy is your thing 😉

Stunning location, beautiful couple, so much love. Here are some of Paul and Beth’s engagement photos from Rhossili Bay in The Gower, Wales.

A lovely engagement session from a few weeks ago – so excited for Becky and Alex’ wedding next August! 

I had the honour of photographing one week old Abigail Joy – what a beautiful little girl she is. She slept through most of her session and was so easy to work with, what a little star. Also a nice opportunity to road-test some of the little blankets and hats & trousers I’ve been making!