RM: Your work always feels so personal to me and by looking at your photographs even before knowing you I thought I could feel your kind character, can you find yourself in your photographs?

LB: Yes 100% and that is purely the reason I am still doing what I do. I remember the photos so clearly when I realised this was happening. The photo was from a wedding taking place in Northumberland in Northern England. I remember photographing the day… and as I was editing the images - there was a particular photo or sequence of photos that stopped me and pulled me and made me well up inside. It was a photo of the bride Thea and her mum and as I looked back at the day I saw I had been drawn to Thea and the relationship with her mum and the pure admirations I could see between both women. This was my eye as a new mum, my children at the time age 3 and 1. I was photographing as a mum, as daughter, as a partner as a grandchild, as a sister… all these experiences and emotions I was taking with me and feeling the world with around me. My eyes opened and I realised the privilege it is to capture those moments to which those layers of emotions are revealed. Every client and every wedding I am commissioned to photograph is a journey of uncovering those layers. Finding those soft spots as I refer to them as they are the moment and people that draw me and make me go ‘ah there is the beauty of life’ it’s not purely between the couple… it is a discovery throughout the day, through being totally present, listening, understanding and kindness.. letting people draw you in and seeing the tenderness and love in its many forms. Some so slight and nearly missed. Those are the great ones.

RM: Gosh, that’s beautiful Lucy.

LB: Sorry that was a bit of a jumble… but what I’m trying to say is.. my emotions and my feelings are drawn into those moments I see, those are the significant one in my eyes. The ones I choose to take and then share as a keepsake. They are personal to me and the subject, there is an intimacy on both sides. If we are only staying on the surface - thinking about the dress, the jewellery, the flowers, the kiss, the confetti moment.. we miss the deeper things that make up the meaning. It’s all very much an interpretation, I see something that moves me and I snap. So 100% I see myself in those photographs. I think we are lucky to witness and notice those things as photographers.

I hope that my photographs will capture a time in your life that you will treasure for the rest of your years. I hope the photos will serve as reminders of love, family, friendship, laughter, warmth, kindness and moments you wish to relive over and over.

I currently live in London with my Partner Guillaume, my daughter Margaux, my son Maxwell and our crazy bonkers working cocker spaniel Burtie.

Always, one of my favourite moments at the end of the day after I've tucked Margaux and Max into bed, and after a small victory celebration (and maybe a teeny glass of wine), I scroll through the photos I have taken that day, every now and then I go back a few days, weeks or even months, and sometimes I may go back to the day Margaux was born, or when Max arrived and it was no longer just Margaux, and then even to the time before they existed, reminders of life before Margaux and Max is so sweet, to see Guillaume and I unaware of how full our hearts would be and to look back on the first years of parenthood is truly special, to recall the stories, the moments of ups, the moments of downs, to see how far we have come together as a little family, those photos serve as wonderful reminders...

To be able to give the same to others, for me is a pleasure. Whether it's photographing the union of two families or your newest addition I promise you compassion and honesty in capturing all the little tender gestures and the moments in between...

I have been photographing weddings and portraits for 12 years, and six of those I also worked for fashion photographer Mario Testino, where I was involved in book projects and also oversaw the design, production and execution of exhibitions around the world. It was there I learned the importance and precision of what goes into a final printed and framed work. I was trained to deliver and present only the highest standard, the experience I will always be grateful for and it is an approach to work which is engrained within me. On the other hand, it taught me perfection isn't always best, and it has made me more aware of the real, raw beauty that surrounds us in unusual and quiet disguise.

Email: Lucy@lucybirkhead.com

Website: https://www.lucybirkhead.com/

Instagram: @lucybirkheadphotography

Based in the UK