The Evolution of Lucylou Photography – Hampshire Wedding Photographer

How Lucylou Photography began and evolved

In this article I talk about The Evolution of Lucylou Photography. Yesterday marked the 2 year anniversary of me taking my wedding photography business full time, so I thought it was necessary to tell the story of how Lucylou Photography began & evolved over the years.

My love of photography began as a 14 year old when I received my first digital camera for Christmas after begging my parents to buy it for me. It was called a Cool-icam which, back then was a 1.3 Megapixel digital camera aims at teenagers. 1.3 Megapixels is nothing these days in terms of photo quality but I loved that camera and used to snap portrait photos of my friends and family all the time. I even remember putting it on self timer and posing in front of it pretending I was a catalog model, (I wish haha!)

It was that camera that really sparked off my love of photography though, and when it became an option to study at A Level, I jumped at the chance! I found the dark room photo developing process really intriguing, but was much more interested in digital photography and combining different mediums as I also studied art and Graphic Design. After A Levels I went on to study a Foundation Diploma in Art & Design, specialising in Photography and achieved a grade of distinction for my ‘Out Of Place’ Fashion Portrait Final Project. By this point I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in photography, but did not want to go to university and study it further, I was really keen to just get out there and get real-world experience within the industry and further my skills, rather than laboriously taking lots of essays, as I was never great at the academic side, and much more creatively minded.

Photo Taken by Elliott from Blush Wedding Videos whilst we were working on a wedding together in 2016

Straight after my foundation diploma in 2007 I emailed a few local photographers to gain some experience and I was lucky enough to have a two-man team allow me to come to some weddings with them to assist and take additional shots, as they saw the potential in me. I photographed with them at 7 weddings and then moved up to Southampton with my husband (who was just my boyfriend at the time). In 2008 I assisted 2 other local wedding photographers at other weddings before photographing my first solo wedding in August 2008. Later that year managed to get myself a job as a portrait and fashion photographer at a local Studio in Southampton. I worked there as a photographer for almost 3 years and photographing various other freelance work and weddings alongside the studio, until I saw a decline in the studio’s clients, at which point I decided to find a more stable and secure job, before the studio eventually went into liquidation at the end of 2011.

 In July 2011, I began working in Apple Retail, which I loved and I learnt so much whilst working there in various different roles throughout the 4 and a half years I was there, including being a customer trainer. I believe that working in both the studio and Apple, really brought out my confidence as I was quite shy as a teenager.

In 2013, I decided that I wanted more, I craved to be a full time photographer, so I decided to niche my freelance photography down to just weddings, so I could focus on just one type of photography and become the best I could be at it. Wedding photography was where I began, I love people and capturing love stories, so it seemed like the right genre to choose. From this Lucylou Photography was born in June 2013. As I continued to grow my business and take on more and more bookings, I dropped down to part time hours in May 2014 and photographed 30 weddings that year, then another 30 in 2015 before realising it was time to hand in my notice and take my business full time.

 My last shift at Apple was on 30th January 2016 and since then I have been full time self employed as a wedding photographer and have never looked back! As much as I loved working at Apple, with a great bunch of supportive colleagues, I can honestly say that taking my business full time was the best decision I have ever made. I have photographed almost 150 weddings in the last 4 years alone and continue to evolve Lucylou Photography to serve my clients as not only a photographer, but as a resource for their wedding with helpful tips along the way…And that is The Evolution of Lucylou Photography 🙂

My kit bag – Think Tank Airport TakeOff rolling Camera bag

If you are just beginning your wedding planning journey, I would highly recommend using Bridebook – a fantastic website and app with a multitude of tools and tips to help you plan your special day and keep track of your budget etc. Find out more about Bridebook and what it can do here.

Download my brochure and pricing guide here

The Evolution of Lucylou Photography | Hampshire Wedding Photographer