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!

Dream For Life - Taylor

In January, I will be launching a shiny new portrait package called Dream For Life.  I've been really excited preparing for this!  The idea came to me earlier in the year when I did my annual photo shoot with Amy.  This year I asked her what she would like the theme to be, and she came up with the gorgeous idea of a Teddy Bears' Picnic.  You can see this shoot on an earlier blog post here.

After taking and looking at these images, my mind was racing with new ideas.  That a child can come up with the concept for their own shoot.  It might be a character from a book or film, being a magical fairy, racing through the woods being one of the Wild Things, or sailing a ship alongside Captain Jack Sparrow, it’s entirely up to them! 

In the first instance we will sit down together and talk through their Dream For Life shoot, plotting and planning and deciding on the props we may need to make their dreams a reality.  This is what happened when I met up with Taylor.  She decided that in her shoot she wanted to make perfume.  So, we sat down together and the preps began!

We both really enjoyed styling the shoot.  So, the day came and we went down to Hardcastle Crags armed with fresh flowers, mixing bowls and perfume bottles.  We were greeted by a magical winter wonderland scene, everything was frosty and glistening.  It was perfect!  

Here's Taylor's Dream For Life shoot in full.

After we had taken all the shots, and finished sipping our last mug of hot chocolate from the flask, we packed up and left our magical winter scene behind.  I really can't wait to launch this new addition to my portrait packages.  Capturing wonderful bespoke memories that will last a lifetime.