Yana Skakun
Yana Skakun
Journal
Tips, guides, venue spotlights and behind-the-scenes stories from my photography sessions across England.

Law firm headshots carry a particular weight — they communicate credibility, trustworthiness and professional standing before a client reads a single word. What the legal sector expects from professional portraits and how to prepare for your session.
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Grafham Water is the third-largest reservoir in England and one of Cambridgeshire's finest and most overlooked photography locations — five miles of lakeside path, open water views, woodland, and sunsets that rival anything in the English countryside.
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Stamford is widely regarded as England's finest stone-built town — a perfectly preserved 17th-century streetscape of honey-coloured limestone, medieval churches, and Georgian coaching inns along the River Welland. A photographer's complete guide to Stamford weddings.
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Burghley House near Stamford is one of the finest Elizabethan country houses in England — a 16th-century masterpiece of towers, turrets, and formal gardens, set in a Capability Brown deer park. One of the most jaw-dropping wedding venues in the East Midlands.
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Wicken Fen near Ely is Britain's oldest nature reserve — a rare surviving fragment of the original fenland, with windpump, reed beds, open water, and some of the most dramatic light and cloud formations in Cambridgeshire. An engagement photographer's guide.
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The Cambridgeshire Fens are unlike anywhere else in England — a vast, flat, spectacularly lit landscape of black earth, straight drains, and immense cloudscapes. A photographer's guide to the unique and often underestimated beauty of fenland wedding photography.
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Newquay is Cornwall's most popular beach resort — Fistral Beach, the Headland Hotel dramatically sited on a promontory above the waves, and a string of surf beaches stretching north towards Padstow. A guide to wedding photography in Newquay and the north Cornwall coast.
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Bodmin Moor is Cornwall's own upland wilderness — a granite plateau of stone circles, ancient burial cairns, rocky tors, and isolated farmsteads that feels profoundly ancient even on an ordinary afternoon. A guide to wild and elopement-style wedding photography on Bodmin Moor.
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Fowey and Mevagissey are two of south Cornwall's most beautiful and authentic fishing villages — Fowey a literary town associated with Daphne du Maurier, with a deep wooded estuary; Mevagissey a double harbour of fishing boats and whitewashed cottages. A guide to wedding photography in both.
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Huntingdon and the Great Ouse Valley offer a range of beautiful and underused photography locations — the riverside meadows between Huntingdon and St Ives, Portholme meadow (Europe's largest water meadow), the medieval packhorse bridge at St Ives, and the open skies of fenland beyond.
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Boudoir photography is one of the most empowering experiences a person can have in front of a camera — and one of the most misunderstood. A complete first-timer's guide to what boudoir sessions actually involve, how to prepare, and what to expect.
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Peterborough is one of the eastern counties' most underestimated wedding cities — a Norman cathedral of extraordinary scale, Ferry Meadows Country Park, the nearby grandeur of Elton Hall, and Burghley House just across the county boundary. A complete guide to Peterborough weddings.
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Welcome to the photography blog by Yana Skakun — a professional photographer based in Cambridge, England. This journal covers everything from practical wedding planning guides and engagement session advice to family photoshoot tips, newborn photography guides, portrait session prep, and venue spotlights across Cambridgeshire, London, and East England.
Whether you're a couple planning your wedding, a family getting ready for a seasonal portrait session, or a professional preparing for a headshot shoot — you'll find honest, experience-based advice here. Every article is written from real sessions and years of capturing life's most meaningful moments across England.