Introducing Joel

Since I first began taking photographs for weddings Rob, my husband, has been there to support me, with the occasional bit of help from our daughter, Ellie, since she first shot with me in Italy in 2008 when she was nearly 16 (she just wanted a holiday out of it, but demonstrated a real skill with the camera). And each year Rob and I have commented on how lucky we've been that even though he has MS, his worst episodes have been during times when there have been few if any weddings. Until this year. I guess it's not helped that we've had both of our mums poorly, and we've moved house, and then I moved the business into our new home too! So it's not as if this has been a stress-free year. But we reached mid-August and it was clear that Rob just didn't have the energy to keep going anymore.

Now, finding a second photographer who you get on with, is good, is happy to be a second, and can photograph in the style I dictate is not an easy task. But as luck would have it, I came across Joel early in the summer, through his wife who did a write up on our old house to help it sell (thanks Clare, it worked!). I liked Joel's work, and could see that he knew what he was doing with his camera. So I gave him a shout and asked if he'd be up for being my second photographer for September. And fortunate for me, he jumped at the chance! He's not going to be working with me on every wedding (he has got bookings of his own as the primary shooter) but I'm happy to say that when Rob isn't able to be there, Joel is happy to step in and take on the role - and as one of the guests told me on Saturday that he's cute (no-one has ever said that of Rob, but he's my Mr Cute!), I'm reckoning people won't mind him being part of the Zoe Photography team.

All I need to do now is find a way of capturing a picture of Joel so that you can judge for yourself! But to help things along, here's a little selection of pictures he's taken this month. I think you'll agree, he's doing a great job for Zoe Photography.