Beautiful Bella & Julie & Phil.

…and to top off the loveliness, in Bella’s room, framed on the wall, was Bella’s first outfit…..

…how gorgeous is that… ( she said Yes!!)

As a photographer you would think I would have loads of lovely photos of us all, but when it comes to me and my family trying to get a shot of us all together is nigh on impossible.

And this is what happens when we try!! .. this isn’t set up for the blog .. this is genuinely what happened on sunday when trying to get one pic of the six of us all to send to relatives…!!

Let me explain… I am a single mum of two little lovelies (not so little anymore nearly 8 and 9, but they’re still little to me), I have a long term and gorgeous fella, together for over 6 years, but not living together…struggling artist and musician couple makes for no money but a happy heart.  He has two beautiful daughters, one is 20 and away at uni, the other is 17, I love them both dearly.  We have a wonderful mash up of people and we all have a blast when we’re all together … we are very lucky indeed … but to get us all in one place… not easy…..

I had a beautiful location in mind, we had the perfect winter sunshine in place and most of the gang together … I was also taking some photos of some friends too as a thank you for all their help over the year… invaluable you are to me and I loves ya!

As a photographer I always have a strong idea of what I want and always find it hard relinquishing responsibility to someone else… I also HATE having my picture taken … the perfect subject!! Also my son, Kalo, who I had tried to bribe with five whole english pounds to wear some jeans and not his joggers ( didnt work … A fiver!! I would have jumped at the chance at 9 … I reaslise what some of you must be thinking… bribing a 9 year with a fiver … thats a lot of money ….true … but he is VERY attached to the joggers and has a massive aversion to anything else … I had to bring out the big guns!! not big enough apparently) … well he was set to sabotage the whole thing from the off ….. the day ended with the boys all in their wife beaters, soaking wet from rolling down a soggy hill, fake fighting and being quite hilarious …..

Such a little monkey!!

Although my vision of our perfect photoshoot didn’t quite meet my expectations I did get some lovely and some very funny shots of us all …..

I promise if you’re a paying customer this isn’t how a shoot usually goes … unless thats what you’re after of course!!

(Ava actually scares me in the photo above!!)

Thought I would share some pics with you….. enjoy!

Love ~*

Holly Bobs xXx

I was looking through some of my Miss Cut & Stick work and found this lovely engagement present I was commissioned to make earlier in the year and thought I’d share it with you…. I was given a rough brief to include this poem, which I think is beautiful ….

If I had but an hour of love

If that be all that is given to me

An hour of love upon this earth

I would give my love to thee

Lovely!

Holly Bobs xXx

I had an interesting request for a commission come in a couple of weeks ago and I thought I would share it with you…

A lovely lady who has comissioned work from me before got in touch and asked if I could make her godfather a christmas present.  She wanted something personal to give to him as she is flying out to visit him in Seatle this christmas.

When I first got the email I was a little lost as to where to start…

I’ll share my brief with you:

“I would like a ‘New England’ style picture reflecting love/friendship between America and England. It is for my Godfather and his wife for Christmas (they are from Seattle).”

After getting visions of garish coloured flags and holding hands out of my mind, I started doing some research, I found some old maps of Seattle, and found the city of Seattle’s symbol, which is a very proud looking native american.  I was trying to find a way to bring it all together.  So I sketched out the Hampshire Rose, and put Seattle’s symbol at the centre of it. Using the old maps as a background, I put the Seattle map behind the rose and the map of Southampton, behind the native american chap…

I am really pleased with the result.  I wanted to have something that worked on a few layers and something that you had to explore a little…

I hope they like it!

Love Holly Bobs xXx

Early stages….

Marc and Annie had a gorgeous summer wedding at Compton Church near Winchester, a beautiful church with lovely grounds. She arrived in a horse drawn carriage, and the sun shone on us! ( It had been raining all morning … it amazing how that so often happens!?! )

It was such a pleasure to shoot and its been lovely going through the photos again with fresh eyes!

I hope you enjoy!

All feedback welcome … ~*

Love Holly Bobs xXx

Cath and Scott have been married for 15 years.  They met when they were just 17.  and when they were 18 Scott proposed in a mountain restaurant in Crete, when Cath said yes all the waiters cheered and clapped! How adorable …. I love this!

They are a lovely couple who now share two beautiful children and the warmth and fun in this family really shine through in their pictures…. Enjoy…

Love Holly Bobs xXx

Sam and Charles wanted to express their passion for medieval re-inactments in their wedding.  The guests had no idea about many of the details of the wedding ( I was in the know, and all the more excited for it!!)

They married at Otterbourne Church, by Revd Prescott, who cut his holiday short as this is a church dear to their family.   Sam and the Guests arrived in two beautiful vintage Bedford coaches from Mervyns Coaches.

Dressed in a gorgeous and traditional gown, with a cheeky pair of Sparkly Red Dorothy Shoes underneath!

Once back to Old Alresford Place, the guests were lead into the beautifully dressed marque, a feast of details from bunting, made by a friend, candles and long tables in the style of a medieval banquet.  Sam and Charles changed into their medieval outfits and entered through an arch of swords to medieval music played by some beautifully dressed musicians from Ledbury Waytes.

The banquet began with bread and cheeses, quince jelly and plenty of Mead, a medieval and very potent honey wine! Each guest had a bread roll, you had to eat the top with your bread and scoop out the centre in readiness for the second course, the soup or pottage which was poured into the roll as your bowl.

Then came out the hog roast and beautifully roasted vegetables.

The whole meal was accompanied by live music and traditional medieval songs from the musicians.

Their were so many lovely details to the day and Sam and Charles had really made it personal to them.  The house, which we moved into after the feast, was full of photographs of their families, their grandparents and parents wedding photographs.  The whole day was very personal to them and it was a privilege to share it with them.

Congratulations and ‘Wassail’  ( Medieval hurah!!)

A lovely Autumn family shoot with a gorgeous family…Need I say more

Love Holly Bobs xXx