I’ve made some great friends during the past 7 years in Banbridge, and I’ve had super craic meeting lovely people, and their children, and pets. I’ve been privileged to attend weddings, functions, events, birthdays, get-togethers, and even watched families grow and I’m sure you all know how sad I am to be leaving Banbridge. . . . the simple truth is the studio hasn’t been making money for a long time now.

Some of the studio will be put into storage, but I will be selling certain items of furniture, and even some of my samples. If you are interested please drop me an email.

Now would be the time to contact me for those photos you never got round to ordering before they are no longer available!

Over the summer I agreed to contribute photographs to a very exciting project – Banbridge business men posing naked for a charity calendar. The charity is Macmillan Cancer Support and the project has been managed by local girl Kelly McClimond.

The photos were taken in and around my Scarva Road studio premises as well as on some of their own business premises, and the calendars are now due to go to print next week. We will be having a launch night at The Downshire Arms And Hotel on Friday 1st October and I really hope that many of you wil come along to add to the night’s craic – it won’t be the same without you!

I can’t begin to tell you how much fun this has been, meeting all the guys, and working with Kelly for the past couple of months. I’m extremely proud of the photographs that made it to the final calendar and hope I can convince you to contribute to the charity by buying one when they go on sale around the town.

Banbridge Calendar Boys Launch Night

We had a great day on Sunday, raised £80 for Millvale through our raffle, and all the photos are now online in their own galleries. If you can’t find your own photos, check your email spam folder as all owners have now been emailed the link and their personal passwords. If you still don’t have the details, please email us and we will resend them.

Isn’t Muffin GORGEOUS????

Don’t I have lovely clients?

Thank you very much Tracey :)

Paula Chambers has spotted my recent work, especially the Mini Sessions, and loves my style, and so has approached me to collaborate on this venture.

So far I have prepared 7 prints for this, but could be doing with another 5.

The criteria is along the lines of bright / colourful / children / cute, and preferably with cute clothing as well. If YOU have a favourite from your recent shoot, why don’t you let me know – I may very well include it in the exhibition.

Wanna see some?

All procceds will go to Millvale Animal Sanctuary, which I am proud to say, is where we got our Bailey.  The organisers are particularly looking forward to saying hello to as many of their rescued dogs as possible.

Please try to come along, it ought to be great craic :D

Just for good measure, here is the montage of our Bailey Dog enjoying himself in the water recently. AGAIN. You can never have too much Bailey Dog in your life :D

A while back I had the complete pleasure of restoring a photo for Mildred. When she first showed it to me the hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I have to admit looking at it today has had the same effect on me again. It is a fantastic photograph in its own right, but the story behind it is rather special too.

It was taken by a newspaper photographer in Ramsgate, England, after the Dunkirk Evacuation. It shows soldiers reaching through a train’s windows and receiving gifts from the local residents.

Not only is it a superbly composed photo in what must have been a very hectic day for the photographer, but the only man in the photo wearing a helmet was from Banbridge. Friends of his parents who lived in the Ramsgate area spotted the photo in the paper and sent a copy to the Banbridge family. The photo was then gifted to the town’s British Legion. I can only guess at how emotional it must have been for this man’s parents to see their son like this.

He was Mildred’s father in law. She borrowed the original photo from the Legion to have me scan, restore, and reprint it.

I thought today would be a good day to share this one with you. It is one of my all time favourite photographs.

I could chat on to you about how important photographs are, how we ought to document our times, how it is more important to take the photos NOW when your children have no front teeth than it is to wait until they grow in, how it doesn’t matter what camera you use so long as you press a shutter, don’t  tell yourself that you have to wait until that weight drops off . .. Do you think times will change so much that society will not share photographs (rather than any other media) in another 70 years having passed them down the line to our grandchildren?

I’ll leave you with the thought that you don’t need to be a newspaper photographer, or a professional with a studio, or someone with the latest technology. YOU are the one in your family who will take the most important photos in your life.

You see my favourites here,  I would love to see yours too. Would you take the time to send me your favourite photos, with an explanation of why they are so important to you? I will create a special place on here for all the photos I receive.

In the meantime. . . get the camera out!