Ruby Dee is a Rutland based Vintage solo singer who specialises in singing songs from the 1900’s and up. Whether it be big band hits or jazzy classics, she loves entertaining people and will bring a bit of old school glitz and glam to your event. Ruby is the voice of several bands, you can find her singing with The Rutland Big Band, at weddings and events with a Soul & Funk twist with The Top Banana Band, and also with Midnight City Band, a new female fronted band who play Disco & Soul.
Roo needed some new images for her social media so we got together and one sunny day in Greetham I took these images along with a bit of singing of course. We even managed to find a lovely vintage car to pose with!
I love how the photos turned out, I did add a bit of an old film look on some of the final edits and I don’t always do this, but I think the style works with what Roo wanted so I’m happy. I wanted her to feel pampered and comfortable in front of the camera and enjoy the shoot, which is one of the main things for me, once my client is feeling happy the images flow and it makes all the difference to the final photo.
Last weekend we took Friday off and drove to The Cotswolds for a quick mini holiday.
I think we’ve all been cooped up for too long and a trip away somewhere different was really needed. We came back Saturday evening and had all day to relax on Sunday so it really was just a night away but still lovely.
My main excitement was the thoughts of all the pretty houses and scenery of the Cotswolds, but also camping in a really interesting campsite I found online, The Wildings. There didn’t seem to be many places that weren’t booked up or that we could stay for just one night, luckily this gorgeous site was available at short notice, and had enough mod cons to not feel like it was hard work!
The Wildings is a small & friendly, family run campsite that is nestled in the wildflowers and trees of their farm and it is the perfect escape for those who want to unwind and explore a pretty bit of Cotswolds countryside.
Our bed for the night was Meadowsweet, a spacious pod, fully insulated with lighting and power to recharge the batteries (my own and the camera!) It was much bigger than expected and was on its own little patch in the wildflowers away from everyone elses pods. We had also booked a firepit to cook over, you can’t go camping without the campfire!!
The minute I walked onto the site I felt relaxed, I can only recommend you visit for yourself.
Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.
Eeyore
Before we checked in, our first stop in the Cotswolds was the small medieval town of Burford, we wandered around for an hour before deciding we were hungry and then it was off to Bibury. Lunch in the Swan Hotel was very welcome after a long drive so we sat in the sunshine and had a lovely meal sat outside in the sunny courtyard. It’s easy to see why William Morris called Bibury ‘The most beautiful village in England’ with it’s famously picturesque cottages of Arlington Row, built in 1380 and owned by the National Trust. It was such a sunny day, we spent a couple of hours walking around the village, had some much needed icecream and wandered up Awkward Hill.
Pretty cottages at Arlington Row, Bibury
Bourton on the Water was next, a mile from the campsite and often referred to as the Venice of the Cotswolds. This pretty village is situated on the river Windrush, with tiny bridges arching over the river it’s the perfect place to sit and cool off under the trees while people watching. We had a look around the model village before checking in to The Wildings to set up our beds. To finish off our day we drove to the Slaughters, the lower and upper villages are just pure prettiness! I loved the cottage gardens in full bloom and being near the river, the old water mill looked interesting but was unfortunately closed as it was getting quite late. I took loads of photos!
The next day we managed to fit in a bit more exploring. Breakfast in Bourton watching the world go by followed by escaping the Dragonfly Maze, definitely worth checking out if you can (it has a fun twist.) There is a bird park in the village too which we didn’t visit but apparently a long time ago when my dad moved overseas they took in his African Grey parrot Phillip.
We survived the maze and headed to Winchcomb for lunch and a walk around the grounds of Sudeley Castle, taking in the pretty surroundings and taking more photos. In Stow on the Wold we had cake and coffees in Lucys Tea Room, which was a bit of a shambles due to the social distancing rules, the town had some interesting shops and we visited the famous doors of St Edwards Church which have been said to have inspired Tolkein in the lord of the Rings.
Trying to fit loads of things in we decided to find the Cotswolds lavender fields in Snowshill, it looked really busy because it was such a lovely day so we just parked up away from the tourists and enjoyed the view of pretty purple fields before a long drive home.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about all the pretty places, there’s so much to see and do. It was a lovely mini weekend away with loads of walking and sunshine and I can’t wait to go back!
It’s been planned for a year and today’s the big day, but it’s raining, what do you do? Don’t panic for a start, hopefully you have thought about this, we do have somewhat unpredictable English weather.
I think I’ve been very lucky with the weddings I’ve photographed, I can only think of two weddings where the weather was slightly annoying! I’ve shot weddings all year round so have had to deal with Winter light and it being dark as early as the ceremony finishing to windy days where hair and flowers were hard to hold down. Every wedding day is different.
One of these I will share a few images from, it rained aaaaallll day. But did it stop everyone having the best day ever? Nope.
Weather wise, use props like pretty umbrellas to your advantage, shelter under trees, bring alternate footwear, wear cosy coverups for outdoors. If it really is awful you can always dress up again and do a couples shoot later on in the year.
There are some things you can do to help your photographer at your wedding. Think about the time of year and your timeline for the day, it is a fact that in the winter it will be dark earlier. You could have your ceremony a bit earlier than normal so you have time for outdoor portraits. Maybe you find a photographer that is confident shooting in low light, using strobes, or have your portraits indoors which may give a different look to them.
Summer weddings bring their own difficulties, two big things I can remind you about is the harsh summer light outside and heat, makeup melting, we don’t want that!! Your images will look better if you are photographed under some kind of shaded light, under trees or in a garden. This ties in with your wedding timeline again, if you want some pretty golden hour portraits you need to expect to go back outside maybe during dinner or just before your first dance to get those gorgeous warm sunflarey summer portraits. Talk to your photographer, they will help you, but most of all just enjoy your day as it comes.
I’m English. I was born in Great Yarmouth *cough*cough* years ago, I’m English and I’m part of this great island that is Great Britain. I’m proud of that fact but despite my allegiance to my home country I’ve never properly celebrated England’s patron Saint day, St George’s day. The Irish have their day of national pride, St Patrick’s day, which is celebrated internationally and I feel sometimes St George’s day is overlooked. When I caught wind that a Fenland market town close by was hosting a festival to mark the occasion I grabbed my camera and went down to have a look.
March high street was closed for the day and the traffic was replaced with plenty of stalls and the hustle and bustle of festival goers from early on in the morning. The festival kicked off with a short, quarter mile parade from the March Fountain at the top of the high street to the market place where the festivities were formally opened by the March town Mayor, Kim French. The parade was packed full of colour and character with the Mayor and the drums and bugles of the 1220 Air Cadet Squadron leading the way who were closely followed by a scooter gang. Amongst the other paraders were a rather awesome looking VW camper, the Bourne Borderers, representatives of the March museum riding vintage bicycles, the ferocious dragon and of course St George himself. Bringing up the rear of the parade with their unique sound of New Orleans jazz were the East Angles Brass Band; a super funky and fantastically groovy way to end the parade!
It seemed the entirety of March was out to celebrate St George or perhaps they were out to enjoy one of the hottest days of the year so far. The sun was out in force all day with highs of 22°C which made it a joy to be outside, the public nudity from some of the men I could have done without!
There were two live music stages, one in the market place and the other just outside Georges. I stuck to the stage by Georges for most of the day in part due to the music and in part due to the aroma from the hog roast Georges had laid on. The Georges stage featured a set from The Expletives (punk rock covers) and a couple of sets each from East Angles Brass Band (New Orleans inspired brass band) and Scooted & Booted (ska covers). The Expletives went down a treat with the locals who were rocking and singing along, encouraged by the front man who knew how to fire up a crowd. The front man certainly looked the part with his John Lydon style bleached hair spikes. The band were tight, full of energy and nailed the genre perfectly.
As the last distorted chord and cymbal clash rang out from the stage the East Angles Brass Band came into life up behind me. They’d set up in the middle of the road outside Georges and immediately started drawing a crowd around them as they got into the swing of things with their funky, brassy soul. Their set featured some originals penned by the trumpeter in the band and some pop/rock covers that had been given an East Angles Brass Band. The covers included, I Wish (Stevie Wonder), I Believe in a Thing Called Love (The Darkness) and Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes). Check them out on Facebook to find out more and listen to some videos of them in action. East Angles Brass Band
Unfortunately I am just one woman and so I couldn’t see or capture everything this excellent event had to offer but here’s a selection of my favourite things I saw.
So, according to theOne Eyed Catswebsite they are a …
High-octane rock & roll, cool blues, jumping rhythm, driving rock or a hair-down sing-along, the Cats always deliver. And deliver incredibly well.
Their large line up is suited to their huge sound, with a fiery brass section, rocking guitar and rolling piano.
Their music is always lively, passionate and entertaining. They always aim to lift the roof off, rock socks off and leave everybody fully entertained – having had a good laugh, boogie and night.
All with immense enthusiasm, fine humour and unquestionable musicianship.
As cheesy as it might sound, I have to agree!
I was at a gig last week in theBrewery Tap, Peterborough, a very popular and well established pub, Thai restaurant and micro brewery, if you’ve never been before then make sure you go because if you like a quiet pub there’s a spot in a corner for you (they have good beer) and if you like it louder then there’s loads of different DJ nights, soul music, bands, a Prince tribute night is coming soon and tomorrow they haveThe Peterborough Big Band.
So back to the gig, It was a Thursday of a bank holiday weekend no less, so it was bound to not be a normal Thursday night! The crowd had had food, were drinking after work, any band would do well but the Cats brought a little something different tonight, they have many years of gigging experience behind them and they turned up, plugged in and rocked the place! The Cats filled the dance floor and by end of the night left everyone wanting more. All the band are brilliant musicians, you definitely wont see any backing tracks here, they seemed to enjoy the night as much as the crowd so if you want a good night out go find the Cats and bring your friends!
I just have to share with you a little sneek peak from this lovely wedding!
The ceremony was held in a beautiful church in Dublin, The Newman University Church, it’s so unusual inside and a really cool place to visit. Afterwards we all walked through Stephens Green and on to The Shelbourne where the staff were so attentive and lovely, this gorgeous hotel is such an established place, deep rooted in Dublin history, I really enjoyed spending the day there. What can I say about my bride and groom?! these two loved up people welcomed me into their family to share this special moment in their life, the speeches gave me a lump in my throat, the personal touches throughout the day were really lovely and I’m so happy they chose me as their photographer. 🙂
A lake carries you into recesses of feeling otherwise impenetrable..William Wordsworth.
I met Jo after taking some photos of the wedding band she sings in The Moog69’s, ( they are brilliant check them out!) she came to me looking for new photos for her website and solo church side of things, so we had a chat over a coffee, clicked straight away and started planning. She was very open to ideas and naturally goes with a bit of a rock chick vibe, I like to try to push things a little out of the ordinary but still stay in that comfort zone so it’s not forced and unnatural, so after talking to Jo I knew Jill would be brilliant at bringing all of our ideas together, more coffee… loads of ideas.. we always tend to go waaaaay beyond the brief, get super excited then nail it down to something not too scary! So off we went to Glendalough one morning, it was an awesome day outside in the cold, wandering around the beautiful lake and playing in the trees, it was really fun! and this is what happened…….
I did share a few photos before but I love them so much I had to show you some more, It would be the perfect romantic spot for an engagement shoot or even a family portrait session with the kids splashing by the water.
Thanks to Jill for her styling on the day and to Jo for being so good at standing in cold water!!
Here’s a little peek into a fab wedding from last week in the beautiful setting of Trudder Lodge in Newtownmountkennedy ( the longest place name in ireland…)
After nearly a week of lovely warm sunshine the rain started to pour down on Friday and didnt stop, you can imagine how gutted I felt when I realised we wouldnt be doing many photos in the Monsoon outside!! My bride and groom were absolutely calm and nothing was going to spoil their day!! We are in Ireland after all!
It was a very relaxed day, from the minute i was welcomed into the family home in Dublin until the end of the night when the band were rocking, it was such a lovely day. I loved all the personal details, Adam made his own homebrew especially for the day and Laura had Converse for dancing the night away in, the wedding cake was a family tradition birthday cake and its really those little things are what make your day really special to you.
Thankyou to Laura and Adam for letting me be part of their day. 🙂
Suppliers: ( i will add the others when i find out more!)
Wow, ive never felt the love like i did at last weeks wedding, everyone was so lovely and it was a family affair at home which held many memories and sentiments for my bride. We had a dads first look and there were so many fab details too, from the lemon theme with the brides stunning manolos and fabulous bouquet , to the pretty wedding cake and dessert table made by the maid of honour. I just have to share a few images!
![eabb_ltp-31w]](https://lucytakesphotos.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/eabb_ltp-31w.jpg?w=438&resize=438%2C292#038;h=292 "eabb_ltp-31w]")
lucytakesphotos 