This shoot marks a passage of time. Ashleigh is now 10 years old will no longer accept being dressed the same as Ella. So this is the last shoot we’ll do like this – the good news is there’s another girl waiting in the wings for her matching outfit with Ella, hope I’m around in another 5 years to document the day Ella refuses to be dressed the same as Frankie.

I love my job. I especially love it when clients become friends and I can honestly say I love these girls – the fact they are amazingly photogenic and will pose for me at the drop of a hat is an added bonus.

The green dresses by the way are from Loo Loo’s in Ingatestone

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I am so happy to be working with Lucy at Loo Loo’s. We’ve known each other under a month but I couldn’t be more excited for her new venture. The shop opens in Ingatestone on Saturday 21st April, 12-5pm and is full of gorgeous clothes.

Lucy will be giving the first 100 customers a voucher from me as a thank you for their custom and I will be there on the day to record the shop opening for posterity!

Before the opening though we have had a couple of sneaky photo shoots to show off the clothes with some willing and gorgeous models. Loo Loo’s will carry brands that are familiar like OiLily and No Added Sugar as well as some new to me like Aya Naya, Tappa Nakki and Zee&Zo. Lucy has chosen some of her favourite shots to put up on the walls of the shop and shared them on her Facebook page so I decided to share some of my favourites too.

Lucy and her family have worked hard over the past weeks to bring her dreams to a reality and I am sure the shop will be a great success. I have 2 friends due to have babies this summer and plenty of friends with children in the age groups she caters for (up to 14 in some ranges) so I’m sure to be a good customer as anyone that knows me knows I love to shop!

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As the sun shines in March and we are having a few days of t-shirt weather I am bringing you a summer wedding in Hampshire.  You may or may not know that I am a Hampshire girl, despite having moved around over the years I still think of Hampshire as home (sorry Essex) so I was happy to be shooting a wedding there and this one was special.  The bridal preparations and reception were at the wonderful Lainston House on the outskirts of Winchester.

Then to the  Chapel at St Cross set in meadow lands to the south of Winchester for a beautiful ceremony.

Some gorgeous shots of the bride and groom after the ceremony.

Then a return to Lainston House where Charlotte, Guy and their guests had a wonderful evening.

Happy Wednesday everyone x

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My blog zips around all over the place, I know that.  Horses, weddings, makeovers, babies and kids – I make no apology for that.  What can I say I get bored easily!  I really feel that the challenge of working with so many different types of subject makes me think about what I’m doing and stops me from falling into a rut.  Having said that, I love babies.  The easiest times to photograph them are newborn and around 9 to 10 months – from when they can’t move much to when they can move but are also able to support themselves.  Eira is in the inbetween time.  I’m not going to lie posing was a challenge as she spent most of her time trying to pull herself up, she is going to have rock hard abs if she keeps that up!

I think the shoot was a success, I definitely enjoyed it and hopefully I’ll be back to get some more shots of her when she’s perfected those crunches.

Baby Portraits Essex, By Joanna Pearce.

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I have recently updated my portrait gallery with a shoot from late summer.  As I realised I had never blogged this shoot I thought I would take the time to do so now.  It is layed out in the final cut for the album that came out of the shoot.  We had a limited amount of time at the beach because of some wardrobe ‘discussions’ with mum, the sun was coming down fast.  Luckily ‘A’ knows what she wants – I think all the ‘Next Top Model’ shows have alot to answer for.

With a shoot like this, that resulted in so many amazing images, an album seemed the best solution.  The finished product is gorgeous and resulted in a happy mother and daughter – dad was pleased too!

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I hope you are all having a great Mothers Day.  Mine has been spent so far clearing up after my daughter hosting a surprise party for one of her friends.  As ever what was promised as a ‘few’ friends turned into nearly 20 and me waking up to a wreck of a house (and a few wrecked teenagers).  So far I have hoovered, washed floors, ironed and made those remaining teenagers fill up the recycling boxes – I didn’t shout, much.

On this day I want to share with you a recent shoot.  This is a relatively new departure for me and involves a ‘makeover’ shoot.  I provide the makeup artist, hair stylist and location and my clients rock up and look fabulous.  This time it was a mother and daughter shoot and we had great fun doing it.  Thanks to June and Karla for letting me share their before images but I think you’ll agree they both look super hot in their after shots.  We started with June.

Then it was Karla’s turn.

She is smoking hot!

Then time for a couple of shots of them together.

Thanks to you both for a fun shoot and Happy Mothers Day to all you hard working mums out there – I’m off to play with my horsie now, that’s my treat and hopefully I’ll come home to find dinner is ready but really – what are the odds?

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I know I have been a bit quiet on the blogging front but first I had a chest infection and so was feeling poorly and generally sorry for myself and then when feeling better I have gone head first into a couple of new projects.  I am VERY excited about the things to come but more of them later.

This post concerns a visit to the yard where I keep my horse from horse behaviourist Richard Maxwell.  Ania and her equine partner Rabbit were having some ‘issues’ regarding loading.  Ania wanted to be able to take Rabbit out to clinics to have fun and expand Rabbits world.  Rabbit did not want to go anywhere in that red box thing.  As it ever is with horses what started out as a small sometime problem soon became a battle of wills and muscle, one that physically we puny humans can never win unless we use our brains over brawn.

After Ania received the very generous birthday gift from her husband of a horse trailer she also booked herself a visit from Richard.  To say she was nervous before the event was an understatement.  Richard had told her to set aside up to 3 hours and a safe place to do the loading.  We have a few sand turnouts  at the yard and one is big enough to get the trailer in ready for Rabbit and Richard to do their stuff.

When I got to the yard Richard had already been there a little while and was in the main school with Rabbit on the end of the lunge line using one of his pressure release halters.  He was establising with Rabbit what his commands meant and reinforcing the edict that release of pressure is the reward for the required behaviour.

It didn’t take long for Rabbit to understand Richard – when we ask the same clear question we get the same response.  Most of what Richard was saying to Rabbit was non verbal but he did have to explain it to Ania!

Then it was time for Rabbit to face the trailer.

After a couple of objections from Rabbit she finally understood what Richard wanted and didn’t look back – literally.

Then it was Ania’s turn……

Again no problems.

Richard then suggested Ania put Rabbit in her stable for about 20 mins and then take her out and try again.  After her rest Rabbit came out and loaded like a professional.  Richard then gave Ania some homework, practising loading on the yard before venturing out with her.  So far, so good Rabbit has turned into a model loader and Ania has taken her out and loaded with no problems – she has now booked herself on a cross country clinic and only has the jumps to worry about when she gets there.

Having watched the process I would highly recommend Richard, it wasn’t complicated – far from it.  Knowing the questions to ask and asking them in a clear and consistant way gets results, to be honest it’s no different from the ground or the saddle.  It reminds me of a phrase that I hear quite often in my own lessons – ‘it’s not the horse, it’s you’ – if you ask the right question you’ll get the right answer!

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Tuesday was a busy day for me.  In the morning I went to a Women In Business  networking meeting and in the afternoon I photographed a wedding in Chelmsford.

Ian and Kamila currently live in Skiathos in Greece and as that would have meant both sides of the family travelling from the UK and Poland respectively they decided to come back to Ian’s home town for the ceremony.  We decided to meet early and take some pictures in the beautiful grounds of Chelmsford Cathedral, accompanied by their gorgeous daughter Olivia.

Then it was a short walk to the registry office.

And finally off to The Bakers Arms in Stock for an intimate reception for family and friends.

Congratulations to you both.

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This week has been a busy one for me.  From a meeting with fellow photographer Haley Ruth I have managed to network with two amazing local suppliers that have been very productive.

I met with Emma from A Bespoke Design  because I want some personalised stationery that will fit with my branding and be something that my clients both wedding and portrait will love.  Packaging is such an important part of a quality brand, we can all recognise a Tiffany or a Jo Malone and I knew that a specialist in bespoke stationery would be the best fit for me.  The stationery that Emma designs and produces is exquisite and I am really excited about the finished product but you’ll have to wait a few week for that.

Whilst chatting with Emma I told her that I wanted to have some branded goodies of the edible variety too and she gave me the details of Lucie at Wonderland Bakery.  After a quick back and forth via Twitter Lucie and I arranged to meet next week to talk things through.  We also discovered that we live very close to one another, she is in a village about 2 miles from me.  Skip to Saturday mornging and whilst laying in bed checking the astonishing outside temperature of -15 I also looked at my twitter feed and saw that Lucie was considering whether or not to venture out herself after joking that the farmer’s market she was due at would be too cold so she might have some cakes going cheap!  It is a well known fact that I am a lover of cake so I piped up with a ‘me please’ tweet that resulted in the lovely Lucie bringing me a box of cakes at the end of her day.  Yummy cakes delivered to my door = happy me!

We will still be getting together next week to talk about how she can help me on a professional level but her delivery made my weekend of a teenage house party SO much easier to bear, thanks Lucie!

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Those of us in the east woke to a blanket of beautiful snow yesterday.  My children are teenagers and although keen enough to go out in the snow not so keen to pose for mum (again).  The animals of the Pearce household are much more biddable though, although the thought occurs to me that a teenage boy might come into the animal category anyway.

I ventured out in the morning to dig my chickens a patch to peck their breakfast on and was joined by a gorgeous robin also hoping for some breakfast.  I filmed a little of him singing his heart out and then the dogs going a bit nutty in the snow.  Then I waddled in, I had a lot of layers on, and grabbed my camera to see if he would stay still enough for me to try my hand at wildlife photography.

I know robins are cliche but I’m really pleased with this shot as to me it is not ‘another generic robin on snowy post’, it’s my robin singing his little heart out to me.

Click on the link to see my ‘shaky’ video footage Snow Garden and see the mainly domestic and one wild animal in the snow.

Today it’s all rather slushy and wet, the chickens are still prefering the shelter of their coop and the robin is still singing.  Roll on the Spring!

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