Tuesday, 22 September 2009

Have you been to Harlem? | Chloe Browne: London Wedding photographer

I've tried to make it a monthly occasion, to meet up with my closest friend for dinner, drinks and a good old girls' chat. We've both been so busy of late, we haven't done this in months. The last time we did was here, at Harlem.

DipHarlemCocktails

DSC_8510_Harlem

DSC_8517_Harlem

She's cheeky, isn't she?

DipHarlemJax

Tuesday, 8 September 2009

Up On the Roof | Chloe Browne: London Wedding photographer

One night in Melbourne spent up on the roof, high above the rest of the city, in deck chairs, under blankets, eating crepes and drinking cocktails. 


BWMelbourneRooftopFront

It couldn't have been a better evening to have spent watching Peter Sellers in The Party.

BWMelbDip_chairsPoster

BWMelbDip_crepescrepes

The Roof Top Cinema, and the city's beautiful art deco influence are two of the top three things I love about Melbourne. 


MelbRooftopFront

You Krisko, are the third.  


_DSC_0145_

Wednesday, 2 September 2009

Matilda Jean Bailey | Chloe Browne: London Wedding photographer

She has sweet red hair and a top lip which is always sucked into her tiny little mouth.
She's the first red squirrel from my friends Sam & Andy and I love her dearly.

matilda

Tuesday, 25 August 2009

Cuba Libre | Chloe Browne: London Wedding photographer

I wasn't too fussed about where we would go on our honeymoon. I said that I was more than happy for us to spend two nights in Paris on The Long Drive Home from our wedding, and left Jason to decide.

We ended up in Cuba.

la havana

I had never been to a country like this before. It was not the time-warp I was expecting but instead, a raw and wide-open city. Derelict buildings, a heavy, heavy heat and the tricky charm of the natives made it quite an intoxicating experience.

Happy and bright in places
la havana

Dark and pensive in others
la havana

It's a strange country and Havana an unusual and distinctive city. I don't think I could hurry back, but it was definitely worth the visit, not merely because it was our honeymoon, more so because it was just so different.

la havana

Wednesday, 19 August 2009

Eleanor & Steve | Chloe Browne: London Wedding photographer

I had the absolute pleasure of photographing a truly beautiful wedding in Hampstead, north west London back in June.

I sat down to talk to Eleanor about her plans - everything had been so well
thought-out and so intricately detailed, I came away after our two hour 'brief-meet', inspired and excited.

The ceremony was held at Rosslyn Hill Chapel, at the tail end of Hampstead High St.
Preparations began with the bridal party, then it was an excited rush to Rosslyn Hill Chapel to catch some of the preparations - Eleanor & Steve have very talented friends who helped decorate the chapel with a travel theme and then pitched in to play organ, piano, read poetry and sing for the ceremony.

It was a most beautiful day with a reception at Hampstead Heath's elegant Kenwood House. Eleanor made the most beautiful bride and new, dear friend.

blog1


blog2


blog3


blog4


blog5


blog6


blog7


blog8


blog9


blog10


blog11


blog12


blog 13


blog14


blog15


blog16


blog17


blog18


blog19


blog20

Wednesday, 20 May 2009

Barry & Yvonne | Chloe Browne: London Wedding photographer

This is my biggest and most boisterous wedding to date. Aided by my dutiful fiancé and guarder of memory cards, a beautiful full-format D700 & a 24-70mm superfast lens, which helped me avoid the Evil Flash; I photographed Barry & Yvonne's wedding in April at Marylebone Town Hall in Westminster, London.

I had such a great time at this wedding; good friends, strong personalities, an open bar and a dancefloor absolutely owned by the bride.

blogby3

blogby4

blogby5

blogby2

blogby17

blogby6

Congratulations with so much love, Barry & Yvonne.

blogby15

Wednesday, 1 April 2009

I Wish... | Chloe Browne: London Wedding photographer

...that every day could be like this one. A nice lady gave us two free tickets as we were fighting a war with not-so-nice man, to sneak infront of Kenwoood House.

We won.

Kenwood House


Omara Portuondo & the Buena Vista Social Club, Kenwood House.

Tuesday, 10 February 2009

Photoboothphile | Chloe Browne: London Wedding photographer

I am always excited by how many beautiful books there are in the world, and sometimes disappointed at how little time I can make to read them.
Last year's favourites included The Genius of Photography which accompanied the BBC television series and documents a brief history of photography and it's importance in modern day society.

One of the best engagement presents we got was in my opinion, The Great Life Photographers, and I added to my small collection with The Henri Cartier Bresson Scrapbook, which is just beautiful, even before it's opened.



So, imagine my surprise when I was bought two books in one go, both on two of my favourite subjects: photographers and photobooths. Annie Leibovitz At Work I haven't even opened yet, as it deserves a day all to itself with warm socks and lit candles, but this one needed cracking open immediately:
AmericanPhotobooth



American Photobooth explores the history of the... American photobooth, and some of the kooks who've entered them over the years. I have always been fascinated with photostrips of this sort, and Nåkki Goranin does an excellent and intriguing job in stringing the story together.

I started my own collection of photostrips of unknowns, which I'd found in Rome. There was one photobooth which never failed-en route to the city's immigration office, where you needed to provide 4 passport photos. I guess it must have been a very tempremental machine, as there were almost always photos left abandoned, which I would scoop up on my way to the bus stop, shove in a book and leave in my bag until I got home. It would've been quite obvious the photos I was holding were not my own, and I didn't want to look like a weirdo.

I found it interesting to look at these people, and how they posed when they knew that no-one was watching, but that someone would eventually see. There was almost always a deadness in their eyes, or a twisted top lip or brow frozen, challengingly.

I have always loved a good photobooth, not just for photos of people I don't know, but of course, for photos of me or us or them. I spent a lot of time in photobooths with my best friends in high school, before the hyper-revolution of the Harajuku anime booth, with frames and glitter mandatory.
I still carry a photo on my keys of my sister and I which is 10 years old, of us and our best gangster pose. I made her sit right at the front, so her head was bigger than mine, as it's quite the opposite in real life.

This book has gone some of the way in making me feel a tiny bit better about not having scanned our Melbourne storystrip before a candle caught it alight in my bedroom. Whenever I think back to it, I'll be looking at these instead.


Friday, 30 January 2009

Annie Leibovitz at the NPG | Chloe Browne: London Wedding photographer


I went to see the Annie Leibovitz exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery last week, just a few days before it was due to close.

ALAphotographersLIfe

Doesn't she look like her dad?!

There is no doubt in my mind that she is a tremendous and accomplished photographer; just a google image search of her name alone brings up more than 80,000 results, having been commissioned to work with iconic celebrities from Angelina Jolie to the Queen Mother throughout her professional career.

I was enthralled to see so much of her work in the Vanity Fair exhibition held at the NPG last year, so I was expecting more of the same this time around; magical fairytale-esque portraits of Hollywood's hottest, seemingly candid portraits of the bold and the beautiful.

What I was surprised to be more drawn in by, was the family portraits on display from her personal annals.

Incredibly delicate captures of her mother and father in softening sunlight on a boat somewhere, her beautiful, picture-perfect daughter and the relaxed intimacy of her relationship with the inimitable
Susan Sontag.

If you've missed the exhibition on its world tour, then you'll need to buy the book.