Wow – what a summer we have been having! I can’t remember the last time I saw so many consecutive gorgeous sunsets! I’m now back in the swing of working after my little one’s arrival in May, so luckily I’ve been able to make the most of these lovely evenings at my weddings. It certainly makes a change from last year, when I only had one or two portrait sessions with lovely golden sun at weddings – but lots of rain! I suppose we’re owed a nice summer as last year it was a little bit of a wash out!
There’s some evidence of what I’ve been up to in this month’s Instagram round up actually, with three of the five top posts featuring images I’ve taken this summer already. Have a look below to see what made the top five posts!
# Five
In at number five this month is a shot I took at Laura and Tom’s engagement shoot in Panshanger Park last month. We had a lovely morning taking a stroll around the woods and avoiding the sun. It was already pretty warm first thing in the morning – this was just the beginning of the heatwave, which is why things look a bit more green than they do at present! As we headed back to the car park, I spotted this field of wheat and I loved the way the sun was catching it, so we stopped for a quick photo. I’m really looking forward to Laura and Tom’s big day next week at Milling Barn – no doubt there will be a few shots popping up from their wedding on Instagram and a blog at some point, so look out for that!
# Four
Dominique and Nick celebrated their first anniversary this month, so it was only right to post a frame from their gorgeous wedding at Pendrell Hall to celebrate! I love this shot of the gorgeous couple in the gardens – they were so generous with their time on the day and we were able to get away and give them some time to themselves for a couple of sessions of photos on the day which was great! You can see more of Dominique and Nick’s big day on my blog here.
# Three
In at number three (I feel like I’m doing the countdown on Top of the Pops) is a shot from one of my July weddings this year! The wonderful Hannah and Ben celebrated their big day at Maiden’s Barn in Essex, on what I think was the hottest day of the year so far with the temperature up to about 32 degrees I think. The heat had been building for weeks and this was the Friday with all the big storms. I have never been so happy to see rain at a wedding! Thankfully Maiden’s Barn is air conditioned, so it was much more comfortable inside the barn for the guests. But we popped outside to do some photos in the evening and I thought I’d make use of the gorgeous archway which just begs to be photographed. Especially when it’s covered in beautiful flowers… you can’t really see them here but look out for them on Instagram and my blog – Hannah chose some incredible blooms for her big day!
# Two
This photo is one of my favourites from Laura and Oliver’s wedding last August at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. There have been a lot of photos from this wedding on my Instagram recently, as it was featured on Love My Dress in May and then I popped it on my blog in July. I love this frame, it’s just a split second moment in between portraits when I think Oliver looked over at my second shooter, but I love everything about it – the gorgeous couple, the light, the backdrop and Laura’s lovely flowers. It all comes together to make one of my favourite photos of last year! Take a look here for more of this lovely wedding.
# One
And the top photo this month from my Instagram is this shot from Zoe and Darryl’s Fanham’s Hall wedding a few weeks ago! This is another preview shot from a recent wedding, and nicely illustrates my earlier point about the gorgeous golden evening light we’ve been having this year! With a bit of camera trickery I positioned the couple to get this lovely lens flare and a ring of fire to frame the bride and groom! Keep a look out for more photos from this lovely wedding – there’s sure to be more posts and a blog post too coming up!
So there we go – July’s top five ready and waiting for your viewing pleasure. I’d love to hear what you think of this monthly feature, so do comment below to let me know which images are your favourites!
As always you can look back on my previous top posts here. You can follow me on Instagram via my handle @beckyharleyphotog, or here.
See you next month for August’s top photos!