Personal

Its been quite a nice week. I’m currently sat in bed using the extra hour we got last night when the clocks went back to gather some photos from my camera and phone to post what I got up to this week…

I spent Thursday morning with Kay and John on their engagement shoot. The day was miserable and rainy but the shoot turned out rather lovely and Kay and John are just the cutest.

Thursday evening (excuse the bad phone pics) was spent at Oktoberfest in Manchester’s St Ann’s Square. We got a deal on Groupon which included entrance at the door for two, seats in the VIP area (at the front near the stage) and two main courses with champagne. It was a really good night, Graeme had so much fun he was dancing on the table!

On Saturday morning Graeme picked me up and whisked me away for breakfast in Manchester. He took me toMoose Coffee, an authentic American/Canadian diner style cafe. There was a queue out the door and a 35 minute wait to be seated but it was well worth it when my ‘double dutch’ sausage and bacon pancakes arrived, they were a-m-a-zing!

After that we ventured to the Lowry to the ‘Behind the mask‘ exhibition. The exhibition, which is on until 11th January 2015 is a photographic collection of actors and actresses who have won or been nominated for a BAFTA since 1954. It’s definitely interesting if you’re into portrait photography or even just movies and popular culture in general, I especially enjoyed the portrait of Brad Pitt 😉

Saturday evening (again excuse the phone picture) I spent at The Ritz with my mum watching her favourite band of all time The Boomtown Rats. This was my third time watching the band and my first time at The Ritz, the atmosphere was awesome and Bob Geldof in his PVC snakeskin suit was as intriguing as ever.

The last time I visited Chester was on a school history trip some  10+ years ago, however today was focused less on the archaeological history of roman Britain and more on family bonding time and shopping! We started with a visit to the Cathedral which was awesome. We were lucky enough to stumble upon the art installation ‘Empty Chairs‘ a  tribute to and representation of British soldiers who lost their lives in the Afghanistan conflict. The visualization of so many empty chairs, each representing a soldier who died in the conflict was really hard hitting. The rest of the day consisted of coffee shop pit-stops and weaving in and out of various shops, my favourite being a little homemade gift and craft shop Liberty Bell (so cute!). We ended the day at Cabbage Hall for some Italian tapas, lovely!

I’ve had a rare weekend away from the studio and it’s been lovely!
Saturday was spent shopping with my Mum and today Graeme and I spent the afternoon at Rivington. It was that perfect sort of weather where you can bundle up in your hat and scarf but still sit outside drinking tea and enjoying the sunshine.
We spent most of our time at the barn, brooding over people’s dogs before heading down to the reservoir to pretend we were at the beach. After that we had a stroll to the castle ruins where I took some lovely photos of Graeme (that’s his Grandmas Christmas present sorted!).

I’ve been enjoying my day off with Noodle, lay on the sofa with a cup of coffee and catching up on TV I’ve missed this week. With my ipad on hand, I’ve also managed to read through a few blogs that I’d bookmarked recently. During my browsing session I came across a reflection tool which I think is a pretty cute idea. It’s called ‘Taking Stock’ and you can find the original at Meet Me At Mike’s, though I found it on arosieoutlook.com/

I’ve decided this exercise will make the perfect little series for the start of each month.

And so here it goes…

TAKING STOCK:
Making : heart shaped bokeh lens cover
Cooking : pasta for lunch
Drinking : coffee
Reading: no books but lots of blogs
Wanting: the sims 4
Looking: forward to fireworks tonight
Watching: Downton Abbey
Deciding: on a plan for my afternoon
Wishing: I didn’t have work tomorrow
Enjoying: my day off
Waiting: for 6pm
Liking: taking stock
Wondering: when my mum is home from Peru
Loving: that its payday
Hoping: it ddoesn’train tonight
Marvelling: my Dads new car
Needing: to charge my phone
Smelling: pumpkin candle
Wearing: jeggings, jumper, fox socks
Noticing: daddy long legs
Knowing: not alot
Thinking: about christmas shopping
Feeling: happy
Bookmarking: wedding photography blogs
Opening: a tin of sweetcorn
Giggling: at text from my sister
Buying: Halloween costume bits

I’ve had a lovely time celebrating my birthday over the past 3 days and spending time eating, drinking, shopping and laughing with my family and friends.

I wanted to share a few of the photography related presents I got this year, they might give you some gift ideas for the photography enthusiast in your life..after all Christmas is only 88 days away!

My dad got me this lovely vintage camera print vest top.

My boyfriend decorated some lens caps for my camera, so cute!

And my bestie got me the Pandora camera charm!

I’m absolutely in love with with them all 🙂

So I’ve started a blog, and I’m excited about it!

I’m getting right stuck in with all this social media malarkey…I’ve also set up a Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram account for my photography work, And I’m unveiling them all (if you will) right now, like some sort of social media explosion! (You can find links in the sidebar).

I’m super excited to get back into blogging alongside photography, it’s something I’ve always enjoyed but never made enough time for. As a photographer I know how important it is to  keep work relevant and up to date, whilst also having an outlet to express what I do on a more personal level. So through weekly posts I intend to do just that!

I hope you enjoy my brand-spanking new blog, while I enjoy taking lots more photographs to fill it with. If you have any enquiries regarding my photographic services or just questions in general please get in touch.