A little bit about Price & Thistle
We’re so glad you’re here.
We’re Haydn and Lilly - the husband and wife duo behind Price & Thistle, a photography business capturing love and the magic in the special moments.
Like our personal love story, our business was a slow burn and then all at once. For a bit of a backstory, Haydn and I met and were friends for a few years, but never more (no matter how much I wanted us to be). Then in 2021 it was a case of will they, won’t they - our friends thought we were together but still Haydn was adamant they were wrong. Fast forward a couple of months and we were very quickly together…I don’t even remember Haydn ever asking me to be his girlfriend. He popped the question in late summer 2023 and we got married in 2024. Now, onto how this is relevant to today, our business, and you, our potential clients. As I said, a similar format happened. Haydn has had a long-standing strong friendship with Photography, starting when he was in his early teen years. Whenever we would go on holiday or even a nice walk, he’d always be a few paces behind taking the perfect shots. We had discussed starting to do wedding photography but essentially decided it was more of a Haydn thing and we needed a Lilly thing, something I could do.
Then it all happened quickly, some friends had seen Haydn’s photography and wanted Haydn to photograph their wedding, although tempted we said we’d do an engagement shoot first to see if they were sure. Wow. We got in the car after that and realised, not only was Haydn in his element but we had definitely found something I was passionate about and surprisingly came naturally to me too. So, in very us style, after talking about it a lot, I made a plan and then we went all in. And here we are.
Why Price & Thistle? Price is our surname, and also allows for great puns and even cringey marketing. Thistle, although a weed, brings me a lot of joy and alongside lavender is what I centred my wedding bouquet on. It popped into my head and we went with it, only after realising how much it actually resonates with our vibe. Thistles are delicate and soft yet tough and rooted, a weed, yet can be beautiful additions to flower bouquet. They grow freely in wild fields and I have seen some growing even just by the road. We thought it’s a bit like the love stories that we capture - beautiful, wild, rooted and quietly strong- grounded and lasting, it blooms where it wants to, sometimes in unexpected places, is soft but unshakable and endures - very much like the love stories we have captured so far and will continue too capture.
The type of session we really enjoy plainly and simply are any. While we like to put our personal touches and spin on it and we think it’s fun to try something a little different on any shoot. At the end of the day, we’re here to serve you, to make you feel happy, confident and relaxed and to get photos you like.
However, we both love it by the beach so any photography destination involving that we’ll be most excited for. My absolute favourite would be a field of long grass and wildflowers though, the texture, the whimsical feeling, the storytelling capacity - it’s such a sweet spot for me. For Haydn, he loves photographing architecture when we’re abroad especially so I think for him, his ideal would be a destination wedding, somewhere warm and with interesting architecture that perfectly marries (excuse the pun) nature, architecture and the love between the couple.
We love variety and uniqueness, we don’t like copy and paste so really we like to experience a variety - it’s part of what makes our job so satisfying and interesting.
But, if I really had to pick, the sweet spot is someone that has inspiration, they know themselves and their partner and have a deep rooted idea, vibe or vision that they want to see fulfilled; mixed with patience, curiosity and trust in us to just relax, go wild, let things happen and listen to our weird ideas.
For people who love photography, we actually really struggle to be on the other side of the camera. I think Haydn’s slightly critical and wants things to be perfect, he’ often does it in a different way and is itching to take control. I forget what I’m supposed to do and lose all capability to look normal - our catchphrase when we’re taking pictures if each other is ‘look nice’. So, we really don’t want people to feel like that.
I want people who normally want to be in control to have enough control as well as being able to feel they can trust us to do what they want. I want people who might normally feel awkward in front of the camera to feel relaxed and that they can enjoy this moment, have memories embedded in the photos not just static poses that remind them of being forced to smile. For those, like me who forget how to look good in photos, I gently suggest actions or stances that make them look their best in a more natural way as well as nipping in just to move things to look just right without interrupting the moments too much.
Everything should be tailored to our clients, whatever they want and need to feel in the moment that’s what we want them to feel. Feeling happy, relaxed and in love is our top priority.
Our vibe is timeless, candid, whimsical. So in order to get this we do a mix of everything. We select inspiration photos they have and try to recreate different aspects - the lighting, the location, the poses etc. Then we gently guide poses, we suggest prompts and leave them to it, perhaps sprinkling in a bit of humour to lighten the mood and induce real laughter. At times, we have even come together to demonstrate a pose to them, such as picking me up and spinning me. Then we leave them to it, walk around, have fun, talk about something we’ll be there capturing it all. Then when you’re not suspecting it, we throw in a quick prompt, this way it feels the most authentic. That way every shoot has sprinkles of storytelling, genuine laughter and love, seeps with personality and timless poses where you can look back knowing you looked your best.
We hope this makes you feel like you know us a bit more and can see who we are. We endeavour to share pieces of our personality and selves with you as time goes on. When we’re such a big part of some of your big moments, we feel it’s important to let you in on who we are, that way you feel relaxed and can trust us. We hope you have that warm feeling right now, or maybe you think we’re just a bit silly and you wouldn’t be wrong but either way, thank you for taking the time to get to know us a bit more. We can’t wait to meet you.
Thanks for stopping by - we can’t wait to meet you!
Haydn and Lilly
Price & Thistle Photography
