Dream For Life Competition!

This is new territory for me, I've never run a competition before.  Well, this month sees Sarah Mason Photography (not forgetting the Zebra), celebrating its fourth birthday, so I thought now was as good a time as any! 

As some of you know, I've been really excited about launching my new Dream For Life portrait package.  The idea for the package is that your child comes up with their own ideas for their shoot.  It could be a character from their favourite book or film, or a Teddy Bears' Picnic as Amy did...

You can see the rest of the shoot on a post here.

Or Taylor wanted to make perfume....

You can take a look at the rest of the shoot here. I build the scene around them.  Firstly, we'll sit down and plan the shoot together, sketching and drawing out how they see it, and make a list of things we might need for the shoot. 

Sooo - here comes the competition bit!  I'm offering a Dream For Life shoot, including all the planning and styling, and then the shoot itself.  At the end of the shoot, I will then frame one of your favourite images.  The shoot is for one child.  What I'm asking for is a sentence or two from your little one about what their Dream For Life shoot would be.  The closing date is March 31st.  To enter, please send me an email to - info@sarahmasonphotography.co.uk with your child's Dream For Life and your contact details.  I will pick one out of the hat, and I'll be in touch with the winner to arrange the shoot! 

Come and follow the competition on my Facebook page. 

I'm a massive advocate about taking photos of children when they are doing something they are enjoying.  I guess if I had a chance to enter the competition, I'd want to have my own Swallows & Amazons adventure, or maybe be in The Red Hand Gang - but I may be showing my age with this one...

Just one last thing – good luck, and I’m looking forward to reading the entries!

You can pop over to www.sarahmasonphotography.co.uk to see my other photography packages.

Wedding Albums - Made In Yorkshire, With Love.

With my re-brand last year, I made a change to my wedding photography packages and started to offer couples a disc option.  I am still a big advocate to showing off your photos in a beautiful wedding album, and the majority of my clients will add this to their package.

Last year, at a couple of meetings when the bride's parents' were also there, they rooted out their wedding albums to show me.  It was so lovely to turn the clock back!  A good wedding album should stand the test of time, and along with your memories, will be the one tangible element from your day you can keep looking through together.

I love designing wedding albums.  Like every wedding, each is unique.  I'm so happy to have found Folio Albums - they really showcase my work in their gorgeous touchy-feely fine art albums.  For me, designing an album is a culmination of our time together from our initial meeting, through our pre-wedding shoot and then to the magnificent day itself.

I thought I'd take a few photos of the albums so you can see for yourselves, including a few I took of Nicky & Ben when I presented their album to them.  It was just before Christmas as you can probably tell from the images!

I love the choice of covers and finishes.  The colours are divine from Jade to Nut Brown to Pillar Box.  Then there are the gorgeous duplicate albums, all cute, and very portable.  And don't even get me started on the bamboo presentation cases!

I'm looking forward to designing the albums from 2013 weddings already! 

Do you have photos of wedding albums you'd like to share?  Maybe your parents or even your grandparents?  I've been wanting to collate a few for a blog post, and now seems like the right time!  If you'd like to send any photos, you can email me at info@sarahmasonphotography.co.uk.  I'm looking forward to seeing what treasures we can find!

Fun In The Snow!

I hope you are having lots of fun in the snow today before the rain comes to wash it all away.  I'm working today, but managed to get out for a spot of sledging with friends last weekend.  I'm not quite sure who had the most fun, the adults, or the children!

Here are a few photos from our little trip out.

Daniel and Hattie making their maiden voyage down the slope!

 I'm sure Kate was getting lots of inspiration from the wintry landscape for her paintings, but she also seemed quite content chucking snowballs!  

Robin really enjoyed his little sledge run

 Daisy was content creating snow creatures and then stamping on the results

Suzi chickened out of the extreme 'sledging on a plastic bag' run after watching Daniel's efforts

Hattie in full flight...

Robin took his last mouthful of snow, and we all ventured home for a big mug of hot chocolate!

Eccentronic Research Council & Maxine Peake

So, my resolution to see more live music in 2013 is off to a good start.  My task is made a little easier by having such a good venue, the Trades Club, right on my doorstep.

The Eccentronic Research Council played last weekend.  Fronted by the excellent Maxine Peake, they treated us all to tracks from their album the 1612 Overture.  It's a concept album based on the injustices of the Pendle witch trials - and very good it is too.  You can see and hear a little bit about the album in a Culture Show clip here.

After years of Pendle Hill being a significant presence on the landscape, I feel now's the time to do some reading up about it all.

The venue was fitting for such a performance with branches looming onto the stage, theatrical lighting, and the all important dry ice.  Here are a selection of images from the night......

Jonny & Betty

I'm just trying to catch up with a few shoots I did before Christmas on the blog.  Here's the first.  A lovely shoot with Jonny, Betty, Heidi & Vicky at Blake Dean, and then a little walk down into Hardcastle Crags.

I've been wanting to do a family shoot at Blake Dean for a while.  It's a gorgeous little spot just out of Hebden  Bridge, at the end of Hardcastle Crags.  When we were kids, me and my sister used to come up here with our cousins Matthew, Liz & Ben.  Remember those blissful summers with the sun beating down and the smell of sun tan lotion in the air?  We'd go up to Blake Dean, have a picnic and then paddle in the water to cool down.  It wasn't warm enough to do that on the shoot, but the light was perfect helping to bring out the colours of the bracken and the reflections in the water.

Heidi & Vicky chose the Great Outdoors package.  Betty brought a selection of handbags for the shoot, Jonny brought a chicken sandwich, and Heidi & Vicky were sporting very cool shoes (well they do own the rather fab Ruby Shoesday in Hebden Bridge!)

Here are a selection of images:

In The Simple Things!

It has been quite hard keeping quiet about this.  But now, as the magazine in question is out in the shops, I can natter away!

I love a beautiful magazine.  The way they feel, and for for some, (and I know this sounds strange), the way they smell.  I love the sound of the pages as you're flicking through them.   I admit that, for some, I just pour over the gorgeous pictures.  When I picked up the first issue of The Simple Things though, I needed to sit down properly to take it all in with a cup of tea.  I completely immersed myself in it!  It's a celebratory magazine, enjoying life's little pleasures, concentrating on the simple things that fulfil our lives.

So, to the story of the shoot. I had a very excited call from Hannah saying that the magazine would love to do a feature on her, creating something illuminating, and she wanted me to take the photos for it!  She came up with the idea of candle covers that people could deisgn and make themselves.  We sat down for a chat about the shoot, and decided on the pictures that would best document the making process.

Hannah decided on a gorgeous snowdrop design and the cutting began.

Then it was onto the next section of the crafting.  The stitching of the candle cover.

 The finished product:

 Here is a peep at the section in the magazine...

For me, this is a great end to a busy and exciting year.  I hope you all enjoy designing and making your candle covers!  I'm off to finish reading my copy of the magazine and looking forward to finding out what's in store in the next issues - thanks to my sister for my Simple Things subscription for Christmas!