I had the privilege of shooting Charlotte’s parents’ wedding a few years ago, so when I got the call to say “we’re pregnant” I was excited to meet up with them on this next stage of their life.

Charlotte was 8 days old when I met up with them to take some newborn photos.  She is the most adorable, tiny little thing, full of character already and we even managed a couple of smiles !

This is one of my favourites from the session.  I hope you like it.

Stafford Newborn Photographer

Sarah & Adam had their wedding at the stunning Rodbaston Hall in Staffordshire. This one caught my eye on initial inspection of the files. Enjoy !

Staffordshire Wedding Photographer

I’m going to start small and think big … I reckon even just posting SOMETHING for you here is better than letting it sit and fester, right?

I shot mum and dad’s wedding a few years ago and since then they’re been a bit busy building their gorgeous family.  They live in Dublin so booking me in to do a family shoot wasn’t going to be an easy task !!  So, when they were visiting family recently they gave me a call and we hooked up.  It was really lovely to see them again and to meet their beautiful kids.  I do love it when clients keep in touch and ask me to photograph them and their families again.

These 2 were a scream on the day and an absolute joy to work with.  We had a ball at my favourite portrait location, Shugborough, even though it was technically closed for the winter season.  That was never going to stop us !

I’ll be (properly) announcing a new portrait idea … Shugborough Mini Shoots ! … coming soon.  Contact me on 07738 286739 or by using the contact page or via email at gill@gilltaylor.co.uk today for portraits of your family !

Shugborough Portrait Photographer

Well, here we are in 2013 … and here we are almost at EASTER !

As always I have absolutely no idea where the time has gone.  All I do know is it has gone fast.  Very fast.  As I sit here responding to emails, arranging shoots, following up enquiries for various jobs, eating soup (pea and ham to be precise) I just thought I’d say hi.  And to let you all know the recent (horrible) flu bug didn’t kill me after all.  Just in case you’re on facebook and wondered, etc.

I’ve already kicked off my 2013 wedding season with a beautiful wedding in York … the season continues tomorrow at a local venue, including a church ceremony and some fun portraits in the evening … oh and potentially snow, again !!  I have some beautiful weddings again this year at great venues, I promise I will play catchup here and let you see some stuff.

I’ve also had some lovely portrait shoots.  There are loads more booked in over the coming weeks and I can’t wait to share those with you … from couples to babies to families, so much variety !  My studio (haha) Shugborough opens this weekend and I shall, once again, be using it’s many backdrops to my advantage over the coming months.

Following a fabulous workshop down in Bristol recently, I am now taking on Newborn Photography … as in, first 10 days kinda thing, totally cute, scrummy hats and blankets at the ready … know anyone due soon?  Get them to give me a bell for some incredible “opening” offers !

I’m thinking about rebranding too.  I know, I love love love my brand, I really do.  Unfortunately many people in the industry loved it so much they decided to do it for their businesses, which has kinda diluted mine (and theirs, oh well) … so rather than try to go round and slap people in the shins for copying me, I thought I’d do the better thing and change mine.  Sigh.  Still, onwards and upwards … this may take a while, it’s going to be like tearing off a plaster you’re actually rather attached to (in more ways than one).

So, leave me a comment, say hi, whatever.  Let me know what you want to see … weddings?  portraits?  all the above?  You know, I have about 65 shoots to share with you … maybe more !!!!

Take care xx

I have no idea who said it but the following quotation is very true … and applies to whatever computer platform you work on …

“It is not a matter of whether a hard drive will fail, it is a matter of WHEN”

As a professional photographer (who also used to work in the IT industry) who cares about my client files, I do everything in my power to ensure your files are safe.  I am not, as it turns out, as careful with my personal data, photos, etc.  I only found this out when my drives went KABOOM last week.  Not literally, that would have been a little dramatic.  But when you get the black screen of death, which followed the screen which said “hey, look here, this drive is screwed” (or words to that effect) a little bit of you dies inside.  And you throw up in your mouth a little.

Thankfully I have a backup machine (aka laptop) with which I was able to access my backup drives to see what state I was in.  Well thankfully as always I had backed up all my client work.  At least, all the raws, the vast majority of the output jpegs and the vast majority of album designs.  I was faced with re-doing some work from scratch but actually I didn’t care.  I had all my clients’ work, safe, on external drives.

But absolutely ZERO personal work.  Nothing.  Holiday photos, gone.  Family photos, gone.  Personal files, gone, finance files, gone (ok so JT had the latter on his drives thankfully, as he is my accountant, but I thought I would try to inject a little bit more drama haha).

So what do you do in this instance.  I am fortunate to have an IT guy who is really switched on.  Unfortunately he needed to have the machine in front of him so he could see what was going on.  He lives in Berkshire.  So, cue JT in the snow, hurtling down the motorway to get the machine to Paul.  I don’t drive in snow.  What a husband !  Paul did his best but althought he could SEE the data, he couldn’t access it.  He installed a new SSD for running windows and programs and sent me it back.

What now.  Well, there happens to be an awesome company in Stafford (like 10 mins drive from me) who spoke to Paul and told me to bring the machine in.  Fingers crossed.  Oh, by the way, they are called DataWreck.  Their website states that they can take up to a week to get data back, so I knuckled down for the wait.

OMG.  I got a call literally at lunchtime yesterday to say … hey we can access your data, drop us your new drives around and we’ll get it all sorted for you.  They’re also screwing them in and setting the RAID volumes up.  Brilliant.

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW RELIEVED I AM.

So what lessons have I learned …

First and foremost that I need to start treating my own data the same as I treat other people’s … it is just as important, to me.

That the above quote is so true, believe me, true as a true thing from true-tonia.

That installing SSD drives is a waste of time (apparently) and that if one of those puppies goes you might as well iss your bank account goodbye trying to retrieve data (and yes, they do go, frequently).

That all said, now that the Christmas and New Year break is over and my IT hell is coming to an end, normal service will soon be resumed.  Very soon.  With photos and EVERYTHING !!

My wedding season starts this weekend with a beautiful York wedding … what a great start to the 2013 season !!

I spent this past Sunday with Sara and her beautiful family.  Looking through the images I came across this one, which I particularly love.  Sara has been running and dieting recently and has lost weight while toning up, very impressive if you ask me !  This shot shows all that hard work off to a tee, I feel.

Want to look and feel fabulous too?  Drop me a line!

Stafford Portrait Photographer

Dear Blog

I realise you are feeling very neglected these days.  I felt the need to explain.

See, the thing is, I’ve been cheating on you with Facebook Business Page.  There, I said it.  I’m sorry, but FB is just easy, you know?

Please forgive me. Etc.

And then of course there is the “I’ve been busy” excuse … well I have … and then there was my birthday and then and … sigh …

See you soon.

Your ever-loving-very-sorry-for-neglecting-you Photographer xx