Hello you

So you’d like to know a little more about me eh? That means you’re either a right nosey bugger OR you are considering booking me for a photoshoot or even your wedding and this is VERY exciting. Because you most definitely should.

I started my business in 2013 when my firstborn (Lief) was around 9 months. I had a Canon 400D which my best friends bought me for my 30th Birthday. I didn’t know how to use it, in fact, it took a long time. I am self-taught you see. I managed to scrape a C in A’level photography in 1997 (I think) but I don’t remember much. I’m a firm believer that if you want to learn you must become obsessed and then practice all the time.

It was my Husband who encouraged me in the beginning and said “this is what you are meant to be doing”. So he stayed home with our now three children so I could be free to be myself and start my business. He remains my biggest fan, and I his.

I love my job, I love it all… from creating flower baskets for newborns, planning and designing Christmas sets, capturing parents and kids, moody toddlers who can’t stay still and WEDDINGS- well they tick all the boxes.

It is all important you see. It is life, yours and mine and I feel a great sense of responsibility to document and record your events and as many faces as possible before I leave this earth.

I consider myself an artist, don’t ask me anything too technical. I love light, need colour and work instinctively. I have a genuine love for and interest in people and that is the most important thing.

So how about some fun facts?

I once went on a two-week holiday to Greece and didn’t come home for almost seven years
My favourite nickname ( I have had a few) is “Swampy” (Google search Daniel Marc Hooper) - I am not an activist but I wish I was. I did spend a lot of my twenties in fisherman pants (not sure that counts)
My funeral song is Superstylin’ by Groove Armada
I have been to Ethiopia three times, ask me why if you meet me
I worked in McDonalds as a teenager. It was the hardest but best work experience of my life. You couldn’t pay me to eat it now
I have few regrets but I still feel bad about an Australian guy I dragged to the UK (over 20 years ago!) via India and then dumped him. I was on a rebound and he’d never travelled before. I sent his mum an email to apologise (Sorry Owen)
I started life modelling when I was pregnant with our first child. I have all three of my pregnancies documented in drawings and wish I could be as disciplined with drawing as I am with photography.

SOME FAQ’s?

“Have you always taken photos?”

Pretty much. I remember taking a camera to secondary school (mid-nineties) and shooting friends in the playground.

“What did you do before you were a photographer?”

I worked in the fitness industry as a personal trainer. Exercise is one of my other passions.

“Why did you call your business Memory Cake?”

My other half is a musician and when we first met he mentioned Memory Cake was the name of one of the many bands he had been in. Few photographers I know go by anything other than their name. My maiden name is Smith and that was just too boring for me. I like to be different.