On this day two months ago, I was invited to the HMS Queen Elizabeth commissioning ceremony at the Royal Navy Portsmouth Naval Dockyard as a guest of my wonderful partner, Rob who was based on the aircraft carrier at the time in and what a spectacular event it was! It's not every day you get to see The Queen in real life, witness a one-of-a-kind new aircraft carrier being commissioned for an international event, and to experience it first-hand was amazing!

It all took place 7 Dec 2017, a drizzly cold morning in Portsmouth but that didn't dampen spirits as Rob's parents and I queued up for the coaches, this was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of ceremony. When we arrived at the dockyard where the coach pulled up just outside the ship, I was astonished by the sheer size! Although I've seen her in pictures in comparison to the Spinnaker Tower, it's not until you see her in real-life that you grasp the magnitude. She is the Royal Navy's largest ever warship. An impressive 900ft long, the aircraft carrier is the same size as 3 football pitches!

As everyone was getting their seats in the hangar (where all the aircraft is held), I managed to quickly catch up with Rob who was participating in the military parade along with the ship's company. He looked so smart and I was super proud of seeing him in his Naval no.1 dress uniform on this special occasion. Whilst waiting for The Queen's arrival, renowned singer Katherine Jenkins sang a few songs for the troops which filled the room with a sense of pride.

At about midday, Her Majesty the Queen arrived with her daughter, The Princess Royal in which we all stood to welcome the distinguished guests. It was a truly special moment as a fan of the Royal Family, seeing The Queen in her regal purple dress was amazing. Again, it's one of those things until you experience in person the effect The Queen has in a room.

Although my partner has been in the Royal Navy for three years, I still feel relatively new to all the Naval traditions. One of which was after The Queen made an address, the ceremonial cake (wonderfully made by Scottish cake designers 3D Cake) was cut by the Captain, Commodore Jerry Kyd's wife and the youngest member of the Ship's company.

Attended a wonderful summer ball at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth last Friday with my partner, Rob and his parents. The event named, 'Take to the Seas' had a 20's theme to it where the invitation stated 'The event draws inspiration from the opulence and hedonism of high class cruise tourism from the years between the wars.' Growing up, I never went to balls or classy black tie events, so my childhood inner Disney princess-self was certainly living the dream that evening! Thank you Rob!

Visited my partner's place over the summer whilst photographing for my family portrait project: 'A Family's Evolution' and asked if I could take a family portrait (minus their daughter who was away at the time). They are always wonderful hosts every time I visit and simply lovely people and am happy I was able to capture this in a photograph. Though typically they don't have their family portrait taken by an external photographer it was a privilege that they let me photograph them for my project and portfolio. Photographing many families for my project in a short space of time I was able to observe how every family is very different however the core values are very similar if not the same. I decided to photograph the Henderson family in their kitchen as they certainly spend most of their bonding time in this room: cooking and eating meals together so it was only fitting to photograph them in this space.