You know that we shoot weddings and parties; but of course, behind that there's a whole life and passion for photography as a form of expression, art - and, we believe, an important cultural enquiry. So, between our weddings, we constantly refine our skills and give breadth to our output by frequently taking to the streets of our home town, Birmingham (or wherever we are!) and seek out the interesting faces and situations that make photography such a joy.

With a few spare hours on a weekday last week, I set out with my camera to Bearwood high street, local to us. Now, here's a good tip to any budding street-photographer: get your camera out of its bag as soon as you arrive! And get it set up. I spotted two extremely interesting - looking older men leaning against jazz-venue The Bear. By the time I had got the camera out, assembled it and set it up, they'd finished their conversations and gone their separate ways.

Great lesson learned there. You know what though? I'm going back to look for them again! 

Well anyway, I did have a motive when I originally decided to go out, something that I knew I would enjoy a lot - so I didn't mind too much. There's a great little Congolese shop in the town, which Ellie and I have been to before, seeking out interesting and new recipes to try. While we were there we made friends with one of the women who run the place. It was her that I was hoping to photograph. I love meeting people with interesting backgrounds - it makes for great photography. 

It was, then, really lovely that immediately I walked in, she recognised me; "Hey! Long time!". Great! We had a catch-up then I asked if I could take her photo, in her shop. At first, she was a little apprehensive because she thought she was un-photogenic. I said to her that i could just take a few shots while she carried on with what she was doing - and as soon as she saw the first test-shot she changed remarkably. "So, that's what I look like! Oh my God!" she said. 

That kind of reaction is of course highly satisfying for any photographer. After that, she had totally changed her mind. She wanted more photographs. My favourite is the one you see here: I think it captures a lot of her personality: Open, friendly and inquisitive, with an intense gaze. I'm really pleased with the photo because of that, and it shows that you don't always have to spend a lot of time planning a good portrait: sometimes just connections with and noticing the person's uniqueness is enough. 

Thanks for reading. We'll update again soon. David