A few months ago, I was musing on a possible trip to the deserts and canyons in Utah, and someone mentioned that there was a white sand desert in New Mexico. "Oh? Pale sand?" "No - WHITE sand - really, really white." I was sceptical. However, I was intrigued. I went to Utah, and to arizona - saw a lot of rock and a lot of sand. Then I drove east to Albuquerque, and then south to Alamogordo, checked into a motel and set off for the White Sands National Monument. My word! It really is white!  I will never forget it.

Rachel needed a set of pictures that showed her versatility as a young performer: some in black and white, some in colour. I'd seen her on stage, so I knew what she was capable of. We talked about it beforehand, and she and her Mum came to the sudio armed with different outfits and accessories for the shoot: planning helps, as in most things! I was delighted with the images - and with Rachel's professionalism - she listened, she concentrated, and she really made it work. I think she will go far...and I really look forward to working with her again! 

Arrived here in Kayenta two nights ago, dusty, gritty and still smiling ear to ear after an hour or so in Upper Antelope Canyon on Sunday afternoon. We almost didn't go, for one reason and another - the various tour websites weren't letting us book, the hotel phoned for us but "all busy".

A portrait needn't be formal and stiff, even if it's to be used for business. A portrait photography session can give you a library of different images to use for various purposes - for your website and for social media, for press releases, and for editorial articles about you and your business where you want to keep control over the images used.  So often on business websites it's clear that the staff team - even the directors - have been snapped with a compact camera in front of a messy background, with unflattering light and even more unflattering elongated features - nose! chin!

 

Bank holiday weekend: it wasn't very sunny. No surprise there, then! When we drove into the Wasdale Valley, it was a pretty forbidding sight - the famous screes plunging down to the dark water, and the tops of the hills masked in mist. We were't headed up Scafell, though - we were en route to Ritsons Falls on Mosedale Beck, behind the Inn. Under the trees there was no sound other than from birds and sheep and the cascading water.

Hugh and Wooster are pretty much inseparable. They live in the Cotswolds, in a beautiful village where almost every building seems to be in that lovely, gentle, local stone. Hugh has two luxury guest rooms in his wonderful home in converted farm buildings, and he and Wooster welcome visitors who want to get away from it all in peaceful, luxurious surroundings.  Check them out here. 

Peninsula Dining Room, new Brighton: Gourmet night. What a brilliant evening - great food, great service and great company - there was a buzz in the place from the very first moment. The menu was spectacular, and full of surprise and humour. 

To Wiltshire for a shoot at a country house near Malmesbury. It was freezing cold, and when I arrived in the late afternoon it looked reall grey and even as if it might snow. Next morning I scuttled out to get some external shots of the lovely juxtaposition of house, church and river, and was delighted to have a bolt of blue sky appear and widen over the swathes of snowdrops. What a lovely place - I'm looking forward to seeing it again in the summer when the wisteria is out on that front facade. 

Stay in Denton, Lincolnshire, at the Coach House, and Sophie will greet you with afternoon tea before showing you to the beautiful rooms which I was commissioned to photograph. Sophie is an accomplished cook and baker. I really enjoyed my visit. Really!