I don't have a straightforward story.
But honestly, that's the whole point.
At seventeen I was the only girl in a professional kitchen. I'd read Kitchen Confidential and completely fallen for the romance of it; the camaraderie, the intensity, the strange brilliance of a kitchen that works well together (and maybe a little bit sex, dr*gs & rock n roll), and decided that was the world I wanted to be part of.
So I got into it properly. Commis chef, front of house, bar, busy deli and café management. I loved every bit of it, even the bits that were genuinely terrible… like when I changed the oil in the fryers before my breakfast shift and left the plug out. Oil. Everywhere.
In my late teens I picked up a camera and found I was good at it. The people element as much as the photography skill itself, as it turned out. I spent the next fifteen years or so as a photographer; weddings mostly, some of the most extraordinary ones you can imagine. I photographed Hans Zimmer's birthday party at Soho Farmhouse. I worked for the Broccoli family, the producers of the Bond films. I shot weddings in Thailand, Bali, New Zealand, Egypt, the Seychelles, Morocco, Denmark, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the US. I never really stopped being surprised that this was my job.
But I never really left hospitality behind either. The food at every wedding, the kitchen teams working behind the scenes, the way a really good plate of food looks under the right light... that was always what I gravitated toward.
In 2020 I met Rory, my chef partner, and joined him in running a long-established Michelin recommended, 2 AA Rosette restaurant. Alongside that I designed and opened a second site from the ground up named Market Street Kitchen; a more relaxed brunch and cocktails place, all operations, interiors and staff from scratch. There was a portrait of Bourdain graffitied on the wall. I'm very proud of that detail.
Running restaurants while running a photography business is, as it turns out, a lot. Since stepping back from the restaurants I've missed that world more than I expected. The rhythm of a busy service, the pride a chef takes in a dish, the particular kind of exhausted but alive feeling at the end of a Saturday night.
Food and hospitality photography is my way back into it. It gets me into kitchens again without the 6am stock deliveries, which feels like a reasonable trade.
Why this matters for you
What this means when I'm shooting your food
This isn't just a nice backstory. It genuinely changes how I work.
I know what a busy service looks like from the inside. I know which dishes need to be shot in fifteen seconds and which ones can wait. I know your sauce is going to split if we faff around too long. I know your kitchen team have actual jobs to do that don't involve watching a photographer adjust a reflector for twenty minutes.
I've managed staff, run a pass, dealt with suppliers, handled a Saturday night with two people down and a full restaurant. I'm not a stranger in your kitchen. I'm someone who's been in one.
Which means I come in, I work around you, I get what we need, and I leave without making your day harder. Every time.
Away from the kitchen
I live in Melbourne, Derbyshire with Rory and our two boys; Jesse who is twelve and Freddie who is four, and who are both at completely different and equally exhausting life stages.
When I'm not shooting I'm probably lifting heavy stuff in the gym, drinking good coffee, listening to a psychology podcast, or trying to get through a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack without getting distracted. I'm a big believer in personal development, terrible at sitting still, and genuinely obsessed with food in a way that goes well beyond the professional.
The Peak District being on the doorstep is something I'll never take for granted. It's a good place to come back to after a long shoot.
Working together
What it's like to work with me..
Straightforward, is the short answer.
No lengthy briefing documents unless you want one. No hard sell. No package you didn't ask for quietly added to the invoice. You tell me what you've got and what you need, I tell you honestly what I think makes sense, we sort a date, I turn up and do the work.
I've shot for hotel groups, independent restaurants, cafés, takeaway brands, meal prep companies and everything in between. I've worked at Soho Farmhouse and I've shot a one-woman flapjack operation out of a Derby kitchen.
Both got the same level of care and attention, because that's just how I work.
If you want to get a sense of what shoots actually look like and what other people have said about working with me, the best place to start is the portfolio and the pricing page; both have a bit more detail about the practical side of things.
