country Archives - Fergus Ford

To my dearest and adoring fan…or Mum for short.

Thanks so much for your patience at my complete lack of posting in nearly three weeks. I am sure you expect the usual disclaimer: “Busy at work” etc. but, without even the slightest whiff of apology, this has not been the case. Far from it.
Truth is, we have just had the most epic four week holiday and frankly have been having far too much fun playing with nephews, meeting old friends, making new ones, and hugging and squidging and loving every family member I have been able to get my hands on to be bothering myself with something as trivial as this blog.

It truly has been a wonderful month.

Two of our best friends got married, my brother and his Fiance FINALLY tied the knot, and between that we have been driving around the country – we met my dear old uni pals at Rachel ‘s house, went on a stag do, went to London, went to Chichester, visited Portsmouth, did a few photo shoots, did a few video shoots and much, much more…it was quite hectic!

And so now here I am, back in the ridiculous heat of Barbados, hammering this out on my dining room table with a beer by my side and full of a scrummy Indian dish Sian knocked up for us. Life is good.

I figured the best place to start back up again was where it all began; our first appointment at home was our wonderful friends Krissy and Rich’s wedding…and here my blog begins….

This is one of those weddings that has been in the pipeline for a loooong time. Just as all the best couples should (ahem) Rich and Krissy waited a cool ten years before they finally took the plunge and got hitched, and that always makes things a little more special.

What’s not special, however, is the feeling I get when I am a guest at a wedding. I never know what to do. I am so used to being the photographer, that when I am at a wedding, I am looking at light, watching for lines and spaces, and it is even worse when I have my camera with me. I cannot tell you how frustrating it is when you’re shooting a wedding and some gimp like me sticks his big lens in the way of yours and distracts the couple from the photographer they are paying for the day. It is a horrible thing to do, and so I am adamant that I will never do it myself when at a wedding.

As such, for Krissy and Rich’s, I just took our small camera and fired a few snaps throughout the day. Nothing major; just trying to capture the uber-awesome ‘country chic’ theme that Krissy pulled off oh-so well (Rich tried…but I think it’s a girl thing).

The weather was as stunning as Kriss was (well almost), and the happy couple left in the coolest wedding cars I have seen to date.

And instead of Pimms or champagne or whatever else ‘tradition states’, the pair opted for a much more cool, much more original, much more ‘them’ high tea. With cakes and cakes and cakes…it was awesome.

As I hid in the shadows and let the photog get on with his thing, I was lucky enough to snap a cheeky shot of Rich carrying Kriss down the garden.

We then enjoyed a glorious dinner with three of Krissy’s most beautiful friends in the world ever…if you are reading Claire, Howard and Charlie, seeing you all was really fantastic 🙂

And as if the day wasn’t perfect enough, imagine our delight when we saw how Krissy and Rich looked after their artistes:

Thanks for the invite guys, we wouldn’t have missed it for the world 😉

You may have noticed that I have been a little quiet lately. This is mainly due to the normal reasons – work crazy, loads of shoots, team members on holiday etc. However, this time there is a new reason/excuse for my tardiness.

An excellent reason in fact.

After nearly six years of living in ships and hotels, from the sublime to the down right ridiculous, we finally thought ‘enough is enough’, and we bit the bullet and got a small cottage way out in the sticks where no one can find us.

It is beautiful.

For the first time in six years, Sian and I have a little piece that is ours. We don’t have to share anything, we don’t have to abide by rules imposed by the powers that be…we can just ‘live’.

I know this sounds ridiculous and I feel almost callous as I write this. We have been so, so lucky to have the opportunities and lifestyle that we have had for so long. We wouldn’t change a thing. And we aren’t really – we will be staying at the hotel at least four times a week, because that is what our job demands and there is no way that we could keep things going if we were based out here.

Seriously, we’re in the sticks.

But for those long weekends, for that time when we just want to lock the door and get away from sun burnt tourists, the taxi vendors desperate for some business, and the questions and questions and questions you get every time some one hears you live here. “What, in the Hotel?…How lucky you are!”

Yes, yes, yes…

Like I say, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful – and I am not. We have a fabulous room in our hotel, the staff look after us, and as I mentioned, our operation would not run If Sian and I were not there 24/7.

I’m just hoping it will if we’re there 24/5.