Introducing… Candy Floss & Bow Ties Photography

– Hi! I’m Lucy, the face behind Candy Floss & Bow Ties Photography. We pride ourselves on offering exquisite wedding and portrait photography with the emphasis on you. We work closely with all our clients to ensure we get the absolute best out of the day / session. With a strong focus on service and relationship building, we believe that taking time to get to know our clients a little before snapping away with the camera really helps us capture the best images. We thrive on being creative and making the whole experience relaxed, fun and most of all enjoyable!

– I’ve had a camera in my hand since the age of 5 and have always been ‘the friend that takes the pictures’ (we all have one, right?!). My late Father was a professional photographer and so I had often been along to shoots and helped him out, at the last one he handed me the camera and asked me to run the show and I think that’s where I got my first taste of life as a pro.

My background is travel and marketing and my last position was being responsible for the imagery on ba.com. 3 years in that role taught me so much how to ’see’ a good picture, about working with photoshop and the elements of design.

A period of long-term sickness forced me to take a year out in 2012 and I offered up my services to Dad over lunch one sunny April day, knowing I needed a project to keep my brain ticking over. I suggested a re-brand and threw the CFBT name out there, he really liked it and agreed I could help with marketing and get him more presence online. Sadly, he passed away just 2 weeks later very unexpectedly and that lunch was the last time I saw him.

From that moment I felt I was destined to take what he had started and make it a success. Dad was a brilliant creative but lacked prowess on the business side, being the kind-hearted man he was he more often that not did work for free and wasn’t ever to really make a profitable career out of it. I felt I wanted to do it in his name and from there Candy Floss & Bow Ties was born.

I took on a couple of his outstanding clients and completely threw myself in at the deep end with my first job being a school prom (!) but I got a real kick out of it. I decided at the 11th hour that I wouldn’t be returning to my desk job, instead feeling compelled to follow my dreams. I took on a couple of part-time jobs in the beginning as I was too scared to completely go at it, but in February 2014, I decided that in order to make it my career, I had to throw caution to the wind and make it my sole focus. And here I am!

– I know this is going to sound a little cliche but I find weddings an absolute buzz. From the first meeting with the couple through to handing over the final images and watching them laugh, cry, or more often than not, both! at the moments we captured, is really on a level of nothing else I’ve experienced. I consider every wedding to be an absolute honour, we get to see parts of their day that no-one else gets to see and are kept on our toes knowing ow important it is to capture those crucial moments such as the kiss, the cutting of the cake and the first dance. We like to push creative boundaries too and will always try and work some beautifully lit evening images or something quirky with the rings into what we do. If we can do a little something that’ll make their images a little different from any others they’d have seen then we’re pleased.

– The satisfaction of the wedding process is a great feeling. Each wedding I take on involves around a month of solid work, from meetings to the pre-wedding shoot, to the day itself and then the post production / editing process. It’s hard to pin-point which part I love most, so I’d have to say the overall feeling of accomplishment once the final images are in their hands. I commit myself fully to each wedding, am on hand to answer any questions or queries in the build up, and always have my wheelie bag of essentials on the day. I carry everything from dry shampoo to chewing gum, you just never know what someone might need! We’ve earnt a bit of a reputation for being ‘more than a photographer’ with one of us often being on-hand to do a little job. This has included my assistant running around looking for missing hearing-aids or (as at our most recent wedding) having the Bride’s sister moved to the front of the church after spotting her being seated at the back and in floods of tears. She gave us the biggest hugs after the ceremony and it’s THOSE moments that are so enjoyable. (We have even started our own hashtag! #morethanaphotographer)

– I am ambitious and driven and have so many ideas for Candy Floss & Bow Ties. The long term plan would be for my second shooter Nick to be able to give up his ‘day job’ and come on board full-time. We want to have our own studio and have exactly what we would like in mind. I am currently studying for my BA (hons) Degree in Photography and I’d eventually like to teach in some capacity, perhaps combining my passion for images with my love of travel and running photography holidays for fellow enthusiasts. I also have plans this year to start the CFBT Camera Club, a place where beginners can come to learn about how to use their camera and attend shoots / workshops with myself, Nick and a couple of other photographer friends who we are already in talks with.

– I am mildly obsessed with motivational quotes, I try and post one every Monday on my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/candyflossbowties), given my love of Disney, one of my favourites has to be a quote by Walt himself… “If you can dream it, you can do it”

– I am SO excited about photographing The Fairy Tale Fair, it’s been on my radar for a while as I have a couple of friends who sell their crafts at the FTF markets. The set-up and ethos is very in-line with my brand and being the somewhat social butterfly that I am, I’m keen to get around and chat to as many stallholders as possible, whilst capturing some lovely pictures for the organisers.

– The next best thing to Christmas! Food, Family & FUN!

I’m in the process of having my website re-designed and the new one should be live by the middle of the month, but the site address remains the same.

– www.candyflossandbowties.com

– www.facebook.com/candyflossbowties

– www.twitter.com/lucybartholomew

– www.instagram.com/lucybartholomew

– www.pinterest.com/lucybartholomew