Awards

A very pretty long blonde haired woman in a very tightly cropped head and shoulders portrait

Which competitions are being entered?

For me, only one each month.  I feel a need to validate my work, but I am not a masochist!  I am a qualified member of The Guild of Photographers, a great bunch of people who run an image of the month competition, and that’s where I send my images to be judged.  I don’t use the word judged lightly either, they are very closely examined and scrutinised.  It’s not a vote from your mates type of thing, every image submitted is looked at in very close detail by a panel of expert photographers and scored to national competition standards.  It’s tough and can be quite brutal when you think you have an absolute winner on your hands and it turns out not to be.

What categories are there?

The Guild IOM has six categories, but I will only enter in the portrait category, although I may rarely stray into the open category.  Virtually all of the portraits you will see on this page are those of models.  Portraits are quite private and the majority of my clients don’t want to see their faces all over the internet.

How does the scoring work?

I think that is best answered by quoting directly from The Guild.  Here is what they say.

Platinum Bar- Images of exceptional or outstanding quality (only awarded to the ultimate of images).
Gold Bar – Images of particular distinction (very rare).
Silver Bar – Images that are very well crafted (difficult to achieve).
Bronze Bar – Images of a strong standard at a national competition level (something to be proud of).

With all of that said, it’s about time to take a look at my images.  I intend to keep them on this page for a year, and then roll them off and replace with newer images.

February 2024

My subject for February 2024 was the lovely Ashleigh Rae.  She gave me a lot of varied looks to choose from, making selection of the images very difficult indeed.  We did some formal images with a business suit and evening dress through to the more relaxed, like the denim short and jeans with that orange hat.  Ashleigh is a very expressive model and an absolute joy to work with. As always, thanks to her for her hard work which resulted in a total of seven bronzes.

A left sided profile three quarter length portrait of a young woman wearing a multi coloured halter neck dress
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers
A straight on three quarter length portrait of a young brunette female wearing a short top and cerise skirt

January 2024

The Guild of Photographers have changed the scoring a bit this year, removing the high bronze.   The points adjustment means it’s slightly harder to get a bronze, so I’m very happy with the seven I got this month.  Claire was my subject, and I’m grateful for her putting in the hard yards so I could come up with a great portfolio of images to choose from.  Still no silver, so I will keep pushing harder.

A left sided profile three quarter length portrait of a young woman wearing a multi coloured halter neck dress
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers
A straight on three quarter length portrait of a young brunette female wearing a short top and cerise skirt

October 2023

The Guild of Photographers competition runs from January to October each year, so this month’s entries are the last of the year. I finish with six bronzes, still unable to get my hands on that elusive silver.  Perhaps 2024 will bring that accolade.  Hannah-Lou was my subject for the month.  She gave me a lot of images to choose from with a wide variety of styles.  Hannah is a terrific model to work with, and I hope to do some more work with her next year.  You can see more of her images taken by other photographers on her Instagram page.

A left sided profile three quarter length portrait of a young woman wearing a multi coloured halter neck dress
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers
A straight on three quarter length portrait of a young brunette female wearing a short top and cerise skirt

September 2023

September’s submission for the Image of the Month competition was taken from a set with Lucia Needham as the subject.  Lucia is a very experienced model and easily got all of the looks that I wanted for this competiton, website and social media.  The results were one high bronze which is sits above the five bronzes below it.  Once again that silver got tantalizingly close, but still no cigar.  My gut feeling is I may need to do some additional hair work to get there, I will try that for next month’s entry and see what happens.  You can see more of Lucia’s work on her Instagram account.

A long haired blonde female wearing a crop top and tan leather trousers poses for a three quarter length portrait
A left sided profile three quarter length portrait of a young woman wearing a multi coloured halter neck dress
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers
A slightly longer than three quarter length portrait of a young blonde female in a short top and tan leather trousers
A straight on three quarter length portrait of a young brunette female wearing a short top and cerise skirt

August 2023

This month the lovely Indrija Kustov was in front of my lens at the studio.  I found Indrija on the books at model Katey Spinks’ agency and booked a couple of hours with her.  She is a multi talented young lady; she doubles as Frida in an Abba tribute band and has played all over the world. Although it was the first time we had worked together she relaxed into the shoot instantly and we got some lovely images, if I say so myself.  The Guild of Photographers judges seemed to agree as we got nine bronzes, five of which were high bronzes.  A bit more tweaking and I could have one or more of those elusive silvers. The high bronzes are the top five images.  Onwards and upwards!

A long haired blonde female wearing a crop top and tan leather trousers poses for a three quarter length portrait
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers
A three quarter length portrait of a beautiful Lithuanian girl wearing a bright orange suit
A young woman in as three quarter length portrait wearing an open yellow jacket, black bra and black trousers
A waist length portrait of a young female with shoulder length brunette hair wearing a pink top with bare shoulders.
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers

July 2023

Another month of portraits only, as I had no wedding images with the required permisions to enter.  The lovely Georgia was my subject in July.  I have photographed her a few times before and I think that shows in the images we got.  We both know how each other works and that makes the shoot much more relaxed.  Working with a model for the first time is always a nerve-wracking experience for me at least, but the more you work together the easier things get.  Nine bronzes made me very happy, but I’m still hoping for that silver!

A three quarter length portrait of a young woman wearing a black hat, jacket, bra and trousers.
A three quarter length portrait of a beautiful young woman wearing a black hat, jacket, bra and trousers
A waist length portrait of a young brunette haired female wearing a black jacket and trousers
A three quarter length portrait of a beautiful Lithuanian girl wearing a bright orange suit
A young woman is wearing a low cut green dress in a head and shoulders portrait
A young blonde female wearing a black hat, black jacket and black bra in a waist length portrait.

June 2023

This month was all about portraits as I had run out of wedding images where I had the bride and groom’s permission to use their images in competitions.  The subject for my entries in June was the lovely Carla Monaco. I first photographed her a number of years ago; she has not changed one bit and must have found the elixir of youth.  I wish I could say the same about myself.  All I have found is an extra stone and a half.  For anyone reading this in America, that’s an extra stone and a half. 

A three quarter length portrait of a young woman wearing a black hat, jacket, bra and trousers.
A young female with long blonde hair poses for a three quarter length portrait, wearing a white cropped top and white trousers.
A three quarter length portrait of a young woman with long blonde hair in a low cut red dress.
A headshot of a blonde haired young female wearing a 60s style hat.
A young woman is wearing a low cut green dress in a head and shoulders portrait

May 2023

You may recall me banging on about portraits in a landscape format.  I wasn’t sure if the judges would share my enthusiasm for them, but decided to chance my arm anyway.  It seems that they are alright after all.  All four of them scored bronzes, plus one of the three portrait format entries.  The other two were classified, meaning images of a professional standard but not judged to score well in a national level competition.  Thanks to Katey Spink, who was my subject for that day and Saracen House Studio who provided all of the studio gear and mugs of tea.  I can’t work without tea.

A young blonde female with her hair up wears a blue and brown halter neck top in a head and shoulders portrait
A young woman is wearing a low cut green dress in a head and shoulders portrait
A close-up headshot of a young blonde female with blue eyes
A face on head and shoulders portrait of a young blue eyed blonde model
A blonde female poses at three quarter length in a figure hugging black dress

April 2023

All images taken from a single studio session with the lovely Rheo Uno at Saracen House Studio in Milton Keynes.  A fantastic young lady to work who worked hard to get the shots I needed for this website and my social media.

A waist length portrait of a brunette young woman wearing a powder blue top
A waist length portrait of a brunette female wearing a black low cut top
A straight on three quarter length portrait of a young brunette woman wearing a black low cut top with black trousers
A forty five degree profile portrait of a young brunette at three quarter length
A blonde female poses at three quarter length in a figure hugging black dress
Contact Me