Autumn diary Three glasshouse session dates remain before the light shortens in November. Check a date
Thyme CraftGlasshouse portrait studio
Two people photographed close together in soft late-afternoon daylight, framed against pale foliage

Portrait & ceremony studio

Daylight is the only light we book

Thyme Craft is a two-room studio inside an old plant nursery. North glass, unhurried afternoons, and frames you will still want on the wall in twenty years.

The studio

A nursery with good north glass

The room was built in 1961 to grow seedlings, which makes it close to perfect for faces: twenty-two feet of frosted north glass, a concrete floor that bounces nothing, and no overhead light we are obliged to use.

Marlowe Enns runs the diary and shoots every session personally. Nothing is handed to a second shooter, and the room is never double-booked in a day — so if your afternoon runs long, it simply runs long.

Usable light
09:30 to 16:00 in winter, 09:00 to 18:30 from April. Sessions are scheduled inside that window, never after it.
The rooms
A 9 × 6 metre glass room for sittings and groups, plus a smaller warm room for changing, feeding a baby, or waiting out a shy five-year-old.
What to wear
Mid-tones and texture read beautifully in diffused light. Hard black, bright white and dense logos are the only things we gently talk people out of.
Getting there
Free parking at the nursery gate, level access through the old loading door, and a kettle that is always on.
A photographer holding a camera at chest height, checking the frame in flat window light
Working light in the glass room — no modifiers, no ceiling fixtures.

Frame index

Recent work, with the notes

A photographer's portfolio should tell you how a picture was made, not just that it exists. Each frame below lists the format, the light and the room it came from.

A young woman turned slightly away from the camera in soft diffused daylight against a plain pale wall

Sitting no. 214

85mm · f/2 · available light only Glass room, late morning, white card to the left

A man in a dark shirt photographed in directional window light with deep shadow across the background

Working portrait — commissioned

50mm · f/2.8 · one blackout panel Four frames chosen from twenty-eight; delivered as a horizontal crop for press use

A woman standing outdoors in overcast light, photographed at waist level with a soft green background

Nursery beds, overcast

105mm · f/2.5 · outdoor extension Grey cloud is the best softbox we own

A close detail from a ceremony table, with glassware and pale flowers catching low window light

Ceremony day — details hour

35mm · f/2 · handheld, no flash Shot in the twenty quiet minutes before guests arrive

A portrait of a woman lit from one side by a window, with gentle falloff across her shoulder

Sitting no. 219

85mm · f/1.8 · single-source window Printed at 40 × 50cm on warm matte

Sessions

Three ways to book the room

Everything is quoted before you commit, and every session includes the edit — there is no separate retouching fee and no gallery you have to buy your way into.

01

The sitting

One or two people, one light source, one unhurried hour in the glass room.

Runs
75 minutes, including a cup of tea and a change of clothes
You receive
12 finished frames, colour and black-and-white versions of each
Best for
Headshots, graduations, a portrait of someone you love before the year turns

£240Includes one 20 × 25cm hand-trimmed print

02

Family afternoon

Up to eight people, both rooms held for you, and no expectation that anyone sits still.

Runs
Half a day, 13:00 to 17:00, scheduled around naps where needed
You receive
40 to 60 finished frames, plus a loose set of unposed pictures from the beds outside
Best for
Three generations in one room, new babies, dogs who refuse to be left out

£390Print credit of £75 toward the delivery order

03

Ceremony day

A full day photographed quietly, on location, in whatever light the day gives us.

Runs
Nine hours from the details hour to the first dance; longer days quoted on the brief
You receive
400 to 600 finished frames, a 30-frame highlight edit within ten days
Best for
Couples who want the day recorded as it happened, with one short posed window

From £1,450Includes a pre-day walk of the venue at the same hour as your ceremony

The afternoon

How a session actually runs

Most people arrive convinced they are unphotogenic. The schedule below exists to make that irrelevant.

1

A short call first

Fifteen minutes to hear who the pictures are for, and to agree the hour of day that suits the light you want.

2

The first ten frames

Deliberately throwaway. We photograph while you are still taking your coat off, and show you the back of the camera early.

3

Working the light

Two or three set-ups, moved as the sun crosses the glass. Direction is given out loud — nobody is left guessing what to do with their hands.

4

Choosing together

A proof set lands in five working days. You mark favourites, we finish those, and the print order follows if you want one.

A camera lens and loose photographic prints arranged on a worn wooden work surface

Prints & files

What leaves the studio

Files are useful; prints are what survive. Both are made to the same specification for every session, with no tiered packages hiding the better paper.

Paper
Warm matte cotton rag, 310gsm, or a satin baryta when a frame needs more depth. Both are pigment printed in-house.
Sizes
13 × 18cm up to 60 × 90cm. Anything larger is printed by a lab we have used for nine years, with a proof sent first.
Colour
Edited on a calibrated screen and soft-proofed to the paper, so the print matches what you approved rather than what your phone showed.
Digital files
Full-resolution JPEGs for print plus web-sized copies, downloadable for twelve months.
Turnaround
Proofs in five working days. Finished files within two weeks of your selection; prints add seven to ten days.
Archive
Negatives and masters are kept for five years, so a reprint is a single email rather than a reshoot.

Questions

Before you book

What happens if the weather turns?

Nothing. The glass room works in rain, and overcast days are usually the better ones. Only the outdoor extension depends on weather, and we simply photograph inside instead and tell you so on arrival.

Can we move the date?

Yes — once, free of charge, up to seven days before the session, and we will try to find you the same hour of day so the light matches. Inside seven days the deposit moves with you if the diary allows it.

How does the deposit work?

A third of the session fee holds the date and comes off the final invoice. The balance is due the week after you make your selection, not before the session.

Our child will not sit still. Is that a problem?

It is the normal condition of a family afternoon. Four hours exists precisely so that nobody is rushed, there is a warm room for a reset, and the pictures people end up framing are usually the unposed ones anyway.

How much retouching is done?

Colour, contrast, a stray hair, a temporary blemish, a bramble scratch. We do not reshape faces or bodies. If you would prefer even less, say so on the enquiry and the edit will stay closer to the negative.

Can we use the pictures for our business?

Personal use is included with every session. Commercial use — websites, press, packaging, advertising — is quoted as a short licence alongside the session fee, so you are never paying for rights you do not need.

Do you photograph groups bigger than eight?

Yes, but not in the glass room, which comfortably holds eight plus equipment. Larger groups are photographed outdoors at the nursery or at your own venue, and quoted on the brief.

Enquiry

Tell us what the pictures are for

A few lines is plenty. You will hear back with available dates, the light at that hour, and a quote for the session you described — no package sheet, no follow-up chasing.

We reply to every enquiry within two working days, and we only ever write to you about your own session.