2011 blog of the year

After all of the great feedback I got from last year's blog of the year I decided that I'm going to have to make an annual review a tradition. My plans were foiled by illness over Christmas though, so I failed to write this before the end of the year. Never mind - on with the pictures!

2011 was another busy year for me and my photography business. Although my other company (Light Blue Software, which makes business software for professional photographers) is going from strength to strength, I still managed to fit in what feels to me like an enormous amount of photography.

My 2011 season started off a bit differently to previous years. While 2009 and 2011 kicked off with trips to Nepal and India, the first big event of 2011 was being invited onto the BBC News channel to review the official photos of Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding. Appearing on TV was a new and terrifying experience for me, and certainly made for a memorable start to the year.

While wedding photography is always my main focus, I take on a fair amount of corporate and commercial work throughout the year. The Cambridge Film Festival is always my biggest job of the year, taking up 11 days in September for the main festival itself plus extra events throughout the year. Here's a small selection of some of the great events and filmmakers that put in an appearance at the 2011 Cambridge Film Festival:

Although my approach to photographing weddings is very much about documenting a wedding day without interfering in it, most of my clients take the opportunity to arrange a portrait session before the big day. Here are a few of my favourite pictures from this year's engagement portrait sessions in Cambridge:

And now for the weddings! 2011 was another bumper year, taking me as far as Devon for Elle & Jonny's wedding…

Okay, so it's not quite India but Devon is about as far as it's possible to get from Cambridge without leaving England.

Staying a bit closer to home, my travels took me to London…

… the beautiful Avington Park in Surrey…

…and, a bit closer to home, Suffolk and Hertfordshire:

As always, the majority of my wedding photography work in 2011 was in or around Cambridge. We've got some wonderful wedding venues here, ranging from the beautiful Magdalene College…

…to King's College…

…Christ's College…

…Murray Edwards…

…and of course my old college, Selwyn.

We'll be here until the end of 2012 is we go through all of the great venues in or near that I photographed weddings at last year, so instead we're going to sprint to the finish with a round-up of some of my favourites. First, the reliably awesome (both for the venue and the staff) Longstowe Hall:

Then, the "best recovery from disaster" award goes to Great Wilbraham Hall, who put on an amazingly fun wedding just six days after a large part of their venue burned down:

I've got a real soft spot for the crumbly glamour of Anstey Hall:

And of course Great St Mary's, the church of the University of Cambridge, always makes for a spectacular wedding ceremony:

Finally, here's one of my favourite bridal preparations shots of the year, taken at Hotel du Vin in Cambridge:

Thanks again to all of the people I worked with throughout 2011. A happy New Year to all of you!

Ralph Fiennes Coriolanus Q&A

I spend more time than is probably healthy at the wonderful Arts Picturehouse in Cambridge, not only watching films but photographing events there. The biggest event in my calendar is the annual Cambridge Film Festival, but the Picturehouse does a great job of attracting filmmakers to come and talk about their latest projects even outside of the festival. Last night, Ralph Fiennes to present his directorial debut, Coriolanus.

Without further ado, here are my pictures of Ralph Fiennes taking questions from the audience after his screening of Coriolanus.

Judging the Professional Photographer of the Year competition

Professional Photographer magazine played a big role in putting the seed of the idea of becoming a professional photographer into my head back when I was at school, so in a roundabout sort of way it's partly responsible for my photography career. I still an avid reader and look forward to it dropping through my letter box every month, and so it's a real honour to be asked to judge their annual photography competition.

The Professional Photographer of the Year awards have been running for a long time now, and this year I'm one of five judges picked from the UK's best photographers and industry experts. Thousands of professional photographers have already entered and are in with a chance of winning one of the thirteen categories, but there's still a chance for stunning images to make the final cut before the deadline of 27 January 2012. So, if you're one of the professional photographers who reads my blog, please take the time to enter the competition.

RAF Club party photographer - Francine & Peter's party

Francine & Peter's party at the RAF Club in central London was my first visit to the RAF Club. It's a great venue for a party and Francine & Peter made good use of it, with drinks in the Presidents' Room followed by dinner in the ballroom.

Here's a selection of my favourite photographs from Francine & Peter's party at the RAF Club in London.

London party photographer

When Francine & Peter got in touch to ask me to photograph their wedding and it turned out that I was already booked to photograph another wedding, I didn't expect to hear from them again. However, Francine got back in touch and was kind enough to say that she loved my photography so much that she wanted me to photograph their post-wedding party instead.

I'll post more pictures from Peter & Francine's party in the near future, but for now here's my favourite photograph from the party. This is Francine giving a speech during dinner: