I haven’t done a self portrait in quite a while.  Infact I started a 52 week project and failed miserably to even get into the second month!  Strange really when I managed an entire 365 days of doing a self portrait each and every day! I guess sometimes life just has other priorities for us!

Anyway today I decided I would do a quick portrait – it’s amazing how rusty one gets when you don’t do something for such a long time!

I can’t believe how lucky I was to be able to have the opportunity to do a family portrait session while out in Las Vegas, Nevada for the WPPI!  Admittedly it was through my lovely friend Deirdre as these are good friends of hers but still it was an opportunity that I felt very privileged to be a part of.

Adam and Shayna recently welcomed little Tristan into their family, infact he was only 11 days old when I met him and totally adorable – newborns are just so yummy!

We were picked up from our hotel on our last day by Adam and taken out to the real Las Vegas as I called it and not just the ‘famous’ bit!  It was lovely to actually see how beautiful Nevada was away from flashing lights and stripper invites!

Aside from being very grateful to be taking photographs of the family I was even more grateful for my first proper cup of tea in over a week!  I’m sorry America but Lipton tea just doesn’t count!  That’s like offering you a cup of 4 times watered down coffee if you visited UK!  After filling up on delicious real tea, yummy bagels and muffins it was time for the shoot!

The morning was spent taking relaxed shots in the home – no buckets to put baby in nor branches to hang baby off!  Just simple straight forward photographs of the family as they relaxed and bonded!  Adam and Shayna then took us upto Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area where we shot some more pictures and took in the canyon in all it’s beauty!  Back to the house to finish off with a few more informal shots not forgetting of course their adorable dog Pippa!  It took all my strength not to pop either Tristan or Pippa in my handbag by the end of the day – hehe!

A huge thank you once again to Adam and Shayna for their kindness and hospitality and of course the tea!

Here are just a few of my favourite shots of the day:

I recently enjoyed a stay at a little known bed and breakfast in the Wirral by the cutely named Puddington Hall!  I was due to shoot a wedding the following day and so decided that it would be nice to take a leisurely trip north to spend a quiet relaxed night ahead of the shoot.  It also happened to fall on my birthday so it was like a little private treat to myself too!

Puddington Hall is situation in a little hamlet called Puddington and is approached down a lovely little secluded drive.  On first look you may well be a little daunted by the size and grandeur of the hall but that’s a far as any pomp and circumstance goes!  I was greeted and welcomed by the lovely owner Gill and invited in for a cup of tea which we sat and enjoyed in the beautiful serene garden whilst soaking up some long overdue sunshine!

Strangely enough it turned out that Gill originated from my neck of the woods and even went to the Brownies in my village, what a small world we live in!

The accommodation itself is not in the hall but across the driveway in a recently refurbished annex called ‘the outhouse’.  It’s a delightful one room building with everything you would need for a very comfortable stay!  Fresh milk was given to me in a flask and there was a supply of biscuits in the room – what more does one need?!  Everything was of a very high standard, solid oak furniture, Fired Earth tiling and sanitary ware in the bathroom and a wonderfully comfortable bed!  The view out onto the field and to their horses just completed the little piece of paradise for me!

The only small issue was that there wasn’t any wi-fi available in the room, Gill however was more than happy for you to use your laptop etc in the hall should you wish.  I know that this isn’t ideal for all but upon mentioning it to Gill she was indeed going to look into the possibility of having wifi extended out to the outhouse.  I did feel a little cut off from my cyber world however it was actually quite nice to watch a bit of television, which incidentally had an amazing picture!

Breakfast the following morning was over in the hall cooked by Gill and using all local produce.  Sadly I neither have a huge appetite nor did I have the time to be able to sample the full menu as I had to leave early for the wedding!  The scrambled eggs and fresh homemade bread however was sublime!

All in all I thoroughly recommend a stay in this little gem, you are guaranteed a very warm welcome, a quiet comfortable night and a delicious breakfast!  What more could you ask for?!

Details here if you missed the link above:

Puddington Hall Bed and Breakfast

I’ve been fascinated by double exposure photography for quite a while and have only just got round to having a little experiment!  I am by no means an expert and to be fair a lot of them were more by luck than judgement!  That said it’s definitely a technique that I am keen to keep mastering!

Hi All, I’m still alive and kicking just been very busy with a little hop across the ocean to Las Vegas for the WPPI 2013 convention *insert scream here

It was all rather spur of the moment decision (helped along with a bottle of red wine)!  Well I suppose you could say I almost invited myself!  My beautiful and extremely talented friend Deirdre mentioned she was going and the next thing you know I am booking my flight and we are roomies – poor Deirdre!!

I had been to Vegas before so visiting again was lovely but not new to me.  Going to the WPPI however was a whole new board game!!  I was a little unsure of what to expect or how it was all going to pan out but a great time was had by all!

Not only was there seminar after seminar by some brilliant photographers, there was also the Expo trade show on for 3 days!  So naturally after a few hours of education one must go and relieve oneself by purchasing some camera goodies!  Not to mention a whole heap of goodies from Sephora and Victorias Secret  We also had the chance to meet the beautiful Kenna Klosterman from Creative Live and I have to admit both Deirdre and myself were like a pair of school children meeting One Direction! lol!  On a more poignant note we also were very honoured to meet Jill.  If any of you out there are Sue Bryce fans then you will know Jill’s story.  I’m not going to tell it here but I urge you to check out this link.  Life really is very precious….

The weather wasn’t too good the first day but it got better and better as the days wore on getting up to glorious temperatures by the time we left!  It was so amazing to sit in the sunshine and eat my porridge!  Yes I admit, I went all the way to Vegas and still ate porridge for breakfast!  You can’t take the Scottish out of me!

I could give you a run down on all the seminars and talks that I went to but that would spoil it for anyone that wants to go themselves!  Suffice to say though that I came away on a total high, filled with inspiration and renewed vigour and a whole heap lighter in the purse department!

Surprisingly for going away on a photography convention I didn’t actually take that many photographs!  I guess I was too busy listening about it to actually have the time to take many!  That said the one thing on looking through my photographs that struck me about Vegas is that it is so full of light and shapes!  Everywhere you look there is a pattern of shapes and a plethora of light and colour!  It’s pure eye candy!

Oh and if anyone wants to know is it worth going to then my simple answer would be I loved it as much as scones…..!!  Do it!! x

Well that’s week 10 wrapped up! Where is the year going to?!

If you hadn’t guessed the theme for March is textures and face  Again I had some fun with my studio lights!

I’m posting this a little early as I will be off on a little trip for a couple of weeks which I blog all about on my return!

What do you see when you look at me?  Can you see beyond me or do you just see me?

I am a little behind with my week 52 project so I do apologise.  I feel as though my creative mojo has mojo’d off on vacation at the moment!

As usual I had an idea in my head and it didn’t quite turn out as planned!  However I shall tell the tale on this one!

I knew exactly where I wanted to do this shot so late yesterday afternoon I set off to the particular woods in question.  In my head the area I wanted to get to wasn’t too much of a trek into the woods – how wrong was I as bout 2 miles later I finally found the spot!  Added to the distance incurred I hadn’t expected it to be muddy and thus was not wearing appropriate footwear which meant that my lovely leather boots were covered and I mean covered in sloppy mud!!

On arrival at said spot the sun of course was in the wrong position so it was a case of finding a plan B!!

I wondered about a little bit looking for a some inspiration to hit me and finally decided on an area where the sun was literally covering it like an orange flame!  I set up my tripod and remote but no soon as I had started to take my shot I could hear my friends that recently came to see me saying ‘oooh I wouldn’t do that – you never know there may be an axe murderer there’!!  I’m not normally phased by this at all but for some reason last night being deep in the woods with the sun setting rapidly and that ‘murderer’ conversation fresh in my mind I felt a little uneasy!  I decided that enough was enough and packed up my kit and made a quick exit!

I was going to do a lot more special effects on the shot but I guess tonight I just wasn’t in the mood!

Happy Thursday!

A bit of a random post tonight but then again that’s me all over – random!

I am not a religious person, I really wish I was and those that are close to me know how much I wish I was!  However I find my faith by other means and those means are in the form of angels!  That’s right angels!

Not in your traditional way of thinking though!  My angels are here on earth in the flesh and are more commonly referred to as friends.

True friends that is, not just those people that I associate with, these are friends that I trust explicitly, heart and soul.  I don’t have many (through choice I might add!) they know who they are and I love them with all my heart.

This one is for my true angels.

‘We are each of us angels with only one wing and we can only fly by embracing one another.’

Lucretius

Usually I put a lot more thought into my picture for the week but this was a bit of a rush job.  I’m really not sure if I like it or not so it may be removed and replaced!  We’ll see!