Photography Lull

Over the past year I've been going through what I can only describe as a photography-lull. It seemed everything that could possibly get in the way of me being creative would get in the way - First of all my favourite lense died. Then my favourite camera started flashing the dreaded "ERROR 99" at me (that's it's way of saying - something's wrong, but I don't know what. I still don't know what over a year on even though I've tried everything). I have been stuck with my back-up camera ever since. Don't get me wrong, it's a great little camera - a Canon 450D, but there are little things that annoy me about it. Mainly cosmetic things, but reasons to be annoyed all the same. It's too light. It's too small. The electronic "PSCHHHHH" shutter noise annoys me.. to name but a few. Then our PC died. Then we spent hundreds of pounds on a new one and I treated myself to the newest version of Photoshop to get me back into the swing of things. All was well for approximately one month until my hard drive died, we moved home twice, studio once and my back up camera went in his bag and didn't come out again, and all my lovely old film cameras went to the back of the attic never to be seen again. The combination of all the above issues made me feel so.. I don't know.. 'meh', about it. Getting the camera out became more of a chore than an adventure and medium for creativity. The only time I took any photos was shooting stock for my etsy shop or embarking on a sadly very rare photoshoot with friends (which I ALWAYS have a blast at!).. 

HOWEVER - Something's happened. I don't know what it is, but I'm slowly falling back in love with my camera and rediscovering my love for photography. Finally! Perhaps it's the first signs of spring? I don't know. I don't even care right now! I'm just looking forward to getting out there with the camera again and shooting and what better way to get things going than a quick afternoon shoot over the weekend?

Back in this blog post I mentioned that Miss Miller and I would be returning to the chapel ruins to shoot. It was a bit of a last minute thing in regards to ideas, but Nat already had something in mind so we went back down at the weekend with Lizzie. I ended up with some beautiful portraits and I'm playing with a new editing style which is less contrasty than my previous work, with soft subtle colour changes and this shoot suited the new style perfectly. We put ivy and paper flowers in Lizzie's hair and Nat played artistic director photographer lady and mover-of-big-branches. The ground was a bit sludgy from rainfall earlier in the day - it must've been a miracle we missed it, it rained before and after the shoot, but remained nice and dry in the middle - perfect!

Birthday, Sale and Free Prints ♥

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEE! Well, not ME, me.. but to Dearest Jackdaw for she is ONE YEAR YOUNG TODAY! I even made a cake or 12. (The rest were long gone before I could snap this piccy!)

So, what has the year taught me? That I love my job? Yes indeed I do. And I cannot WAIT to see what the next year has in store - there are already so many things I want to do I'm finding it tricky to keep up with myself!

Becki Button Love ♥

This post is long overdue but there is no better time to post than today. Let me get this straight - I LOVE receiving packages in the mail. Even boring supplies that most of the time I've forgotten I bought, I just love it. And I love it even more when I flip the package over and it has Becki's address on the back! This girl is far too good to me and I have had so many goodies from her over the past couple of years she is deserving of an enormous package from me some time soon! So this post is dedicated to the lovely lovely Becki Button and her utter creative awesomeness.

I received this today out of the blue. Just in time for my favourite season - Spring ♥ HOW CUTE IS THIS? It's a laser cut lamb necklace complete with white felt woolly fluffiness!

Excuse the non-make-upped face, I was so excited to upload this I didn't have time to spruce myself up for the photo!

TUTORIAL - Freezer Paper Stencils

I know I know I know - there's approximately one hundred billion freezer paper stencil tutorials out there in the blogosphere. But what better way to celebrate this entirely made up fact than to create my own? (you can never have enough tutorials. Fact)

In this tutorial I'm going to show you how to create a simple stencil using freezer paper and then transfer it to fabric. Now, first of all - I couldn't find freezer paper ANYWHERE in the UK so ended up buying mine from amazon for a reasonable price. UK folk, greaseproof paper is NOT the same thing - unfortunately. If you manage to find any please let me know!

This is a great project to do with kids, just keep small fingers away from sharp and hot things! Adults do the hot and choppy bits, small people do the messy bits. Perfect. 

Antlers

Caroline and I went for a wander in the woods at Brandyhole Copse on Thursday to shoot some headshots. We found a huge clearing where some trees had recently been felled and stacked in groups and the sun was setting behind the trees with a gorgeous orange glow. After we'd photographed what we needed, we thought we'd shoot a few arty things before she headed home. We didn't particularly have a plan, but the sun was setting quick and the light was amazing so we just went with the flow with what was available at the time. Here's one of the shots we managed to get before having to take a trip to A+E for a non-twig related incident! (Don't panic, all is well!). Doesn't she look pretty :)

 ♥

Dearest Jackdaw HQ

I snapped some shots of the studio today whilst it was still tidy! It's been a work in progress over the past couple of months but it's slowly getting there. If you click on the panoramic image it'll open in a new page with notes over the top for those of you as curious as me! ♥

Hello January!

Hallo! Not getting off to the best of starts for 2012 on the blogging front now am I? So I thought I'd do a little update on what I've been up to this month with some photos - Enjoy!

Music, maestro:

Gabrielle Aplin - Home