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!