A NEW BEGINNING

For those of you who have followed the progress of my business from the beginning, you will know how open I am to change and growth. I am no stranger to a rebrand and have rebuilt my site a number of times because, although I have great belief in a strong brand, I also believe that no brand is immune to changes in trends. (Okay, no brand except maybe Chanel!) In a business of my scale I feel it important to constantly keep things fresh and to try and reflect where I am in my business at any given time.

Those of you who have been here since the beginning will also have noticed other changes. For example, what started out as a passion project for me alone soon changed when my lovely husband came on board as my assistant. It has been a couple of years since we began to shoot as a husband and wife team and I think it is about time James was recognised as the vital part of my business that he truly is. I also need to do a little housekeeping to touch base on what this corner of the industry has now become for James and myself.

FILMMAKING

So, let's tackle the elephant in the room first and foremost. This, for approaching three years, has until now been solely a photography business. What you may or may not know is that for the last year, James has also been expressing his passion as an amazing filmmaker, recording our travels in a new format as well as building up a portfolio of amazing editorial pieces, a number of weddings, music videos (the first one being broadcast live on National Television!!) and many other incredible films for the charity work we are involved in and other business projects. He has been flying under the radar as a filmmaker, wanting to progress and refine his new art form, quietly working away in the background so as to bring something to the table that had strength alongside our photography, so as to bring to our brides something that they would truly love. I may be biased, but I have to say I have been absolutely blown away by James' talents. I think my highlight so far was being stood in a room full of people whilst we showed a bride and groom their wedding video shot in Tuscany for the very first time in front of all of their loved ones and hearing the gasps of amazement and the tears of joy as those that were unable to attend felt transported to the Tuscan hills, whilst those who had been present were able to relive their precious memories. The emotion in the room was overwhelming and for me it was the moment I knew that it wasn't only me that saw James's incredible talent. From now on we will be offering Photography and Films both for weddings and other project - you can find our pricing and enquire here. Look forward to seeing lots more videos on this site and our social media, we have so much already to share and can't wait to create even more with you!

THE REBRAND

When I first started as BStanley Photography, I was in a different place. Trying to establish myself as a photographer meant, for a time, it was necessary to have the word photography slap bang in my business name. Soon, I decided that now people knew what I was, I wanted them to know who I was, so it was time to start using my full name and simply going by Bethany Stanley. At this point, James was really only involved in second shooting weddings, so it made sense to make myself the brand so as to avoid confusion. When we started thinking about offering filmmaking alongside our photography however, it no longer felt right for me to carry so much of the credit. We pondered business names but decided that simple is always best and therefore landed on just Bethany & James. No nonsense simple branding so that you know exactly who you are getting in contact with. We have also established ourselves as Fine Art photographers & filmmakers, something that I have hesitated to do in the past as, although it was where I saw my photography style heading, I wasn't certain I was achieving a high enough standard or clear fine art style. Now that this year is coming to an end and I am shooting with more and more fine art vendors, weddings and businesses I find that I now fit comfortably in this niche section of the industry.

tHE SITE

My main aim this time with my site was to find a style that was timeless, something that would last me a little longer, that truly represented the fine art, minimal style that you are used to from my work and social media platforms. I wanted to make the site more informative whilst keeping a simplistic style, and giving as much information to clients as possible. I am truly proud of this site as a portfolio for my work, a place that represents my style, and a representation of the growth and change of my brand and business. I hope you love it as much as we do!!

A SHIFT IN FOCUS

You may also have noticed that, along with the change in branding & the changes to the site, there has also been a slight shift in focus. Previously, my business plan revolved mainly around weddings but as my experience has increased I have come to realise that I have a passion for editorials, working with brands to help create imagery and films to help build a visual experience for their clients to go alongside their product or business. We have had the pleasure of working alongside a number of businesses this year and you can read more about that here. Although we are still very much in love with photographing beautiful weddings, we thought it best to highlight this change, too.

So, there we have it. Another rebrand, another rundown of where we are and how we have grown. We cannot wait to hear from you!