Martin Bamford Photography

Martin Bamford Photography Portrait photographer in and around Cranleigh, Surrey. I help founders, consultants and creatives look credible and confident in photos that win them work

15/06/2026

Most people don’t want to look posed in photos.

They want to look natural.

Then the camera appears, their shoulders rise, their hands stop moving, and their smile starts to look like it belongs to someone else.

The answer isn’t to “act natural”. It’s good direction.

A strong portrait is built through small adjustments to posture, light, movement, hands and expression. When you don’t have to worry about those things, you can get back to being yourself.

You don’t need modelling experience. You don’t need to perform. And you don’t need to know what to do with your hands.

That’s the photographer’s job.

Looking natural isn’t about pretending the camera isn’t there. It’s about feeling guided enough that you can stop overthinking it.

The goal is simple: to look like yourself, on a very good day.

I love being busy. And this weekend has certainly delivered!Friday night and nearly 14 hours yesterday were spent coveri...
14/06/2026

I love being busy. And this weekend has certainly delivered!

Friday night and nearly 14 hours yesterday were spent covering the brilliant Choir BLAST festival in Godalming. I also clocked up around 12 miles of steps along the way.

ChoirBLAST is the UK’s largest non-competitive singing event, with 102 choirs performing across 14 stages throughout the town and around 5,000 singers taking part.

I was the official photographer for the festival, working alongside a professional videographer and a brilliant team of volunteer content creators. I managed to take around 6,000 frames, so there’s a fair bit to sort through and edit this week!

This morning started with a visit to Knowle Park for a bucket of coffee from Heartwork, before heading over to Longacre School this afternoon to photograph their circus event.

The rest of today will mostly involve recharging my batteries, both literal and metaphorical, before getting started on the biggest editing week of my career so far.

Busy, slightly tired and sore, but very happy.

A little change of scenery today.I drove over to a very pretty village in Cambridgeshire to shoot leadership portraits w...
10/06/2026

A little change of scenery today.

I drove over to a very pretty village in Cambridgeshire to shoot leadership portraits with a client at her home. Lovely shoot, lovely setting, and one of those days that reminded me how much I enjoy photographing people in spaces that feel personal to them.

As I was only a short drive from Cambridge, and somehow had never visited before, I decided to brave the showers and have a wander with the camera.

What a place.

Full of history, beautiful architecture, interesting faces, cool people, bikes everywhere, and all the little details that make street photography so addictive.

Definitely not my last visit.

Becky studied her postgrad there and has been saying for ages that we should go together, so I think a proper return trip is well overdue.

Today was work, rain, portraits, cobbled streets, and a bit of accidental inspiration.

Not a bad combination.

10/06/2026

We're well and truly into the busy season for photography now.

Shoots, events, portraits, performances, parties, launches, community days. Everywhere I look, someone needs a photographer.

Which is lovely. I’m not complaining.

But it does mean my diary is getting very full, very fast.

I’m doing my best to accommodate requests, but I've recently had to refer a few people to other local photographers I know and trust. In some cases, they were already booked for the needed dates.

So, please, please give as much notice as you can if you have an upcoming event and need a photographer.

I still get quite a few messages along the lines of, “Are you free in a couple of days?”

Sometimes, that can’t be helped. Things happen. In the past month, I have had two shoots where the originally booked photographer fell ill and a last-minute replacement was needed.

I’m more than happy to be second choice on those occasions. No pride here. Well, not much.

But only if my diary allows.

I love all of my clients.

I just have a little extra love for the ones who book with one, two, or even six months’ notice.

Some favourite frames from a recent studio session with actor Henry.We played with strong light, shadow, close crops, bl...
08/06/2026

Some favourite frames from a recent studio session with actor Henry.

We played with strong light, shadow, close crops, black and white, and a few classic actor portrait setups. The aim was to create a set with range, not just a neat headshot.

A good actor portrait needs to leave room for interpretation. It should give casting directors something to read into, without trying too hard to explain everything.

Henry brought exactly the right energy to this one.

Serious, focused, open, guarded, confident, uncertain. All the interesting stuff.

03/06/2026

Cherry red, almost edible.
Leather and strip straw are fused into a singular, sculptural form.

Light behaves differently across each surface: absorbed into the depth of the leather, caught and sharpened along the straw, creating a tension between matte and sheen.

The silhouette is deliberate.
The brim gives a sense of mystery as it falls just below the eye line, casting the eyes into shadow.
Close-up detail of Penombra Look 1
Beautifully captured by the talented worn here by the stunning
🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒

I've had the pleasure of photographing Showdown Theatre Arts and The Baltimore School for the Arts over the past couple ...
30/05/2026

I've had the pleasure of photographing Showdown Theatre Arts and The Baltimore School for the Arts over the past couple of days, as they put the finishing touches to their production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

Six spellers enter, but only one can win!

It is charming, witty, very funny, and unexpectedly touching. Having watched it twice in the past 24 hours, I can highly recommend going to see it.

There are still some tickets available for the performances at Cranleigh Arts this evening at 7.30pm and tomorrow at 5pm.

And as an added bonus, it is lovely and cool inside Cranleigh Arts!

Ticket links in the comments.

Thanks to a tip-off from Knowle Park Community volunteers Mark and Judith, I took my long lens to the park this evening ...
26/05/2026

Thanks to a tip-off from Knowle Park Community volunteers Mark and Judith, I took my long lens to the park this evening in search of fox cubs.

And, right on cue, one appeared in exactly the same spot they had seen it the night before.

It was only a brief appearance at first, before a passing walker gave it a fright and sent it back into cover. So I did something most unlike me and waited patiently for another 20 minutes.

Thankfully, patience paid off.

The cub reappeared, this time giving me a proper little show as it climbed onto a fallen tree and started pulling away strips of bark, probably hunting for worms, beetles, grubs and anything else tasty hiding underneath.

Fox cubs are usually born in March or April and start venturing above ground when they are around four or five weeks old. By late spring and early summer, they are much more active outside the den, learning to hunt, play-fighting with their siblings and exploring the world under the watchful eye of their parents.

They may look playful and bold, but they are still young wild animals, learning how to survive.

A real privilege to watch for a few minutes this evening, and a lovely reminder that Knowle Park is full of life if you take the time to stop, wait and look properly.

A few favourites from a recent studio shoot with MotoLuly.Turns out this was her first photoshoot without a motorbike. W...
26/05/2026

A few favourites from a recent studio shoot with MotoLuly.

Turns out this was her first photoshoot without a motorbike. We shot together earlier this year with one, but I didn’t realise until we’d already started that this was a first!

She was a natural. Confident, easy to direct, and brilliant in front of the camera.

Really pleased with the photos we created, and already looking forward to doing it again.

With or without the bike.

Some portrait sessions begin with a grand plan.This one began, as many good things do, with Heartwork Coffee.I see Ruth ...
25/05/2026

Some portrait sessions begin with a grand plan.

This one began, as many good things do, with Heartwork Coffee.

I see Ruth most mornings in the park, usually as we're competing to be first to order coffee, and she asked if I would photograph her with her best friend Gagan.

The plan was simple: beautiful sarees, outdoor portraits, and a relaxed afternoon together.

The weather, however, had other ideas.

It was unbearably hot, so we managed one set before deciding that discretion was the better part of valour and the rest could wait for a cooler day.

But honestly, how beautiful do these ladies look?

Friendship, colour, laughter, and two women absolutely glowing in front of the camera.

Part two coming soon, once the temperature behaves itself!

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Sundial House, 20 High Street
Cranleigh
GU68AE

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