Raine + Jeff
West Sussex, UK
After an incredibly busy wedding photography season in 2017 and even into January of 2018, the typical winter and mud-season lull arrived so I decided to take the Hickman's invitation up on an opportunity to visit their amazing estate in the UK. I photographed their vow renewal in New Orleans this past December and they were so thrilled with the photographs they wanted me to come to the UK and do an all day couple's portrait session with lots of wardrobe changes, props and smoke grenades.
Raine grew up in the entertainment industry with several well known actors in the family, including her father, the late Harve Presnell, best known for Fargo, and the Unsinkable Molly Brown with many movies and series to his credit from Saving Private Ryan to The Pretenders. Raine and Jeff are both theater, pirate and Renaissance Fair enthusiasts and their wardrobe was unlike any I have ever seen! It was an amazing and unforgettable day!
While Jeff was at work in London, Raine and I did a few portraits of just her in their home and we also did a boudoir session for her to give to Jeff as a surprise, but I never show boudoir images on my website, so you won't be seeing any of those. :)
Here are the first ones we did and they reminded me of some of the pre-wedding photos I do of the bride on the day she does her wedding hair and make-up run through.
We started with the beautiful natural light near the large patio doors as I always try and use natural light for my portrait photography instead of artificial light whenever possible.
Next Raine wanted to add a little pirate theme to her portraits so she got out her favorite pirate hat and we had some fun still using the same beautiful natural light.
Then Raine had to show off her incredible pirate skull shoes Jeff had made special for her.
The next day the fun began and we started with a romance session out of doors before we had a champagne break and wardrobe change. The smoke grenades were not quite as powerful as I am used to but they did the trick, especially in the evening when I lit them with an off camera flash.
The weather was pretty cold and gray so we did another session indoors with that beautiful natural light. The night before we had all watched The Greatest Showman and it inspired the theme for this next session.
After yet another champagne break Raine and Jeff changed into their Renaissance Fair pirate outfits and we went back outside to do some portraits with the smoke grenades, which as I said were a tad weak but with some special editing I was able to add some more smoke to a few of the pirate portraits.
So...that was fun! Then we went back inside for a late lunch and waited for it to get dark for the cigar portraits. Raine is also a gourmet cook and it was like dining in a 5 star restaurant, but a lot more laughs! I took a few detail photos inside using only the natural ambient light but with the amazing Canon 5D MKIV I must say shooting in the lowest of light is a cinch!
Then the darkness fell and Jeff lit the campfire while I sorted out the few remaining smoke grenades for the night portraits. I already had an image in mind for the cigar smoking portrait, but as always the portrait session evolved into some clever and fun images I would never have imagined!
All in all it was an amazing day and night and I ended up spending the entire month of March in the UK, visiting friends and family and taking a road trip to Scotland as well and I am already looking forward to my trip back there next year for some more renaissance portraits and possibly a wedding or two.
If you are interested in booking an all day session here in New England, or anywhere in the western world, please contact me. I would love to hear all about your special requests!