My Family Photoshoot {descending into chaos and fighting in vests!}

So…. its christmas coming up, or had you not noticed under the torrent of sentimental adverts? So whats a good christmas present? …. a lovely photo of you and your family… thats what I have been doing these last few weeks, with wedding season behind me, I have been revelling in the gorgeous Autumn light and taking lovely family photos for people to give to their loved ones as treasured gifts…..and some lovely ones I have taken too!

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!!)

~If I had but an hour of love~*

Hello ~*

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

Friendship across the pond ~*

I’ve been in full Miss Cut & Stick mode this week…. loving it as always

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….

Annie & Marc {Beautiful summer sunshine on these dark wintery nights} Pt. One ~*

I’ve been revisiting some gorgeous weddings from this year with new found editing skills and inspiration ( thanks PhotographyFarm.. you rock! )

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

Keeping up with the Jones’ {15 years of lovliness}

Well on sunday I had the great pleasure of photographing a lovely family in the most beautiful Autumn light.

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

{Samantha & Charles} Medieval wedding at Old Alresford Place

The last wedding of this season was a wonderful one, full of love and exciting details for me as a photogrpaher.

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!!)

Back to reality

well …. here I am am back with a bump from an amazing few days with Lisa Devlin at the first ever photography farm.

What a time we all had, I was super excited and nervous too but couldn’t have dreamed of the delights we had in store for us … from beautifully styled shoots, the cutest couple Heather and Rob on their engagement shoot, meeting Rock n Roll Bride Kat Williams,(even came home with some Kat hair from the shoot!!) some of the best food to ever have passed my lips and constant photography talk sourounded by lovely, giving and sharing and not to mention very talented photographers.

Not since leaving uni have I had the opportunity to spend hours and hours talking arty farty stuff with people who are as ‘into’ it as you are … and to be fair even then I wasted my time at the pub too much … as they say youth is wasted on the young .. if I could go back to uni now I would get a lot more out of it ( apart from mahoooosive debts!!)

After getting a slight smacked wrist at not having entered the world of blogging here I am! Trying to get my head round it all so bear with me while I find me feet!

Holly Bobbins xx

A press here for a little linky to our farming Facebook Page

Photography Farmers September 2011

I would like to thank my fellow farmers