Photographing the beauty of still spaces: From Weddings to Gardens -

As a wedding photographer, I’m used to early mornings, long days, and chasing the perfect light—but this time, there was no aisle, no bouquet, no couple. On the road before the sun rose, the quiet hum of the road beneath me and the promise of something completely different. Throughout May and June, I set off to photograph a series of gardens from Fowey, Withiel, Koto at the point, Polzeath to Salcombe, designed by the award winning landscape designer Darren Hawkes.

So different from the structured elegance and emotion-packed moments of a wedding day. These gardens weren’t made for events —they were made for being. For pausing. For connecting.

Each garden I visited was completely unique, yet unmistakably Darren's. His work seems to breathe with the land. There's a wildness to his designs—paths that meander, planting that sways and spills and surprises. There’s structure, but never imposing. It feels discovered.

Photographing these spaces demanded a different rhythm. There were no quick moments to catch, no group shots to organise, no speeches or first dances. Instead, I found myself slowing down—waiting for the light to filter just so through the grasses, for the wind to lift a leaf, for shadows to stretch across the lawn, for the garden to speak.

Darren Hawkes, known for his multiple award-winning gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show, has a way of designing spaces that invite stillness and awe. And that’s exactly what I experienced—both as a photographer and as a person. His gardens are not just landscapes; they are living artworks. To photograph them was not simply to document but to witness and feel.

I wonder what they’ll become in a few years' time. Roots will deepen, textures will shift, and the spaces will only grow richer, wilder, more themselves. These are living places. Evolving places.



These shoots reminded me that beauty takes many forms. Whether it's a fleeting wedding moment or the enduring calm of a well-designed garden, my job is the same: to look closely, to feel deeply, and to tell the story. From the fast pace of love stories to the slow unfolding of the land, I’m so grateful my camera brings me to places like this.