Last Sunday was one of those perfect days in every way that I will remember for a long while. I had the luckiest break when the three best ingredients for shooting portraits outside fell into place - a wonderfully natural subject, amazing late afternoon/evening light (and the flexibility to start shooting when it was just right between 5 and 8.30pm), and a secluded countryside location.

Lydia Baylis is a 21 year old singer songwriter - currently also studying history at Oxford University -  whose music has been described as ‘indie folk’, but you will be able to make your own mind up next month with the release of her debut album Those Green Flowers and a string of dates to follow.

Here’s someone who seems to embody all one could hope for from a young artist: openness, honesty, integrity, an inner confidence but not the faintest hint of  an ego, and a voice that will make your heart sing…  And now I’ve actually met her, I’m set to be a die-hard fan.

My brief - to produce an image for her EP cover and other general publicity purposes and to shoot in fields, against old buildings, and obviously to try to reflect the spirit of Lydia’s music and lyrics in the images.

Lydia will next be performing in Oxford on 2nd June and I’ll post the location just as soon as I know it as well as details of her new website soon to be launched. 

Thank you to Lydia, to Adrian for guiding us to the perfect settings, and to Tom for helping me get this gig.

Last week I photographed Charles Wood, a local medical and injury claims lawyer  in Ipswich who is launching a new business. The brief was to produce a number of shots for different purposes. The studio shots are designed possibly for the front page of Charles’s new website - which will probably be produced as cut outs possibly with Charles in three different poses. The rest were for other publicity purposes - his business card and general marketing material.  I have to say that if you are ever in search of a lawyer you can trust, I can recommend this man without any doubts: extremely approachable, a great listener, calm, intelligent and with a great sense of humour - and with that first aid box he’s bound to find a cure to even the most painful of medical issues. We started off in the studio which took about 45 mins and then headed out into the early evening natural light for some less formal shots.