IN WHICH I FIND MYSELF DANCING TO BARRY GIBB, FINDING INSPIRATION IN KERRY AND BACK IN THE SWING OF WEDDING SEASON
Ok, it's time to grab a cuppa as I take you through the last couple of months of my life!
taking care of business
It's been a rather busy one, so let's start with some of the work I've been doing...
couple shoots
Two gorgeous couples, two rather different couple shoots! I absolutely loved every minute of doing engagement shoots for these guys!
WEDDINGS
This last couple of months of weddings has taken me to Sheffield, Donington, Ilfracombe, Horsham and London! Barns... beaches... farms.... I am so lucky that I get to work with such a variety of couples all over the country!
adventure is out there
May also saw me fly over to Ireland for the inaugural Feckin Workshop, run by Maciej Suwalowski and Sean and Kate in beautiful Kerry. I'd been to Ireland a couple of times in the past, to shoot weddings and to teach a workshop and I'd only seen cities.... this was my first trip into the countryside and what better part of the country to see than Kerry? It's so important to me as a photographer to continue to grow my business and fill up on inspiration and find new people to learn from. I met Maciej (a.k.a. Magic) in Barcelona earlier in the year and his brilliant work and outlook on his business really resonated with me, and it's damn near impossible to look at Sean and Kate's beautiful work without being inspired to have an adventure. So off I went, hungry to learn and see a new part of the world. We had an intense day of learning, which left me brimming with new ideas and excitement and then they treated us to a tour of the region they love so much. The main lesson for me was about work life/balance and this mix of education followed by fun was the perfect example of that in action. The best workshops leave you with actionable knowledge, inspiration, new friends and a broader world-view and Feckin Workshop was exactly what I needed, right when I really needed it.
life, the universe and everything
So, that was some of the work things I have been up to over the last couple of months but I've also managed to find some of that precious work/life balance thing I talked about in the last paragraph!
THINGS I HAVE BEEN DOING:
- Went to a 20's themed surprise birthday party.
- Saw Los Campesinos! live for the fifth time.
- Went to a wedding as a guest.
- Went to my first Glastonbury.
- Visited some of my wedding photographer pals at the launch of Light Space Collective, Leeds.
- Booked tickets to see Sasha Velour perform in Nottingham next year.
- Voted Labour.
A roaring 20's surprise
When you work a lot of weekends you don't get to go to a lot of parties... so you can imagine how excited I was when I was invited to my lovely friend Katy's surprise 20s-themed birthday party... and I was even more delighted when she arrived and announced that her boyfriend Carl had proposed earlier that day! Surprises and celebrations all round!
THAT TIME I WENT TO A WEDDING AS A GUEST
YES! It happens maybe once in a blue moon... but I got to dress up nice, eat all the canapes, get a bit tipsy, dance like crazy and actually attend a wedding! Not just any wedding, a super awesome Spanish wedding. Did I still take my camera and take a few photos? Yes, yes I did. Here's a few of my personal shots from the trip...
my first glastonbury
After the epic challenge of getting a ticket, analysing the clashfinder, listening to the line-up, stocking up on essentials, packing carefully and spending far too much time looking the weather forecast, it was finally time to go to my first Glastonbury!
Everyone tries to explain before you go just how huge the festival is but I wasn't ready for just how vast it was. I've been to smaller music festivals in the past but this was something completely different. My musical highlights were Run The Jewels (introduced by Jeremy Corbyn) Barry Gibb (whose set was partly a lesson in how much pop groups of the 90s/00s owe the Bee Gees) Chic (Nile Rogers made me cry!) Justice and Radiohead. We were outrageously lucky with the weather and in the end it was five days of (mostly) sunshine, music, far too much food and a lot of fun. I didn't take many photos but here's a handful of shots!
THINGS I HAVE BEEN WATCHING
- Guardians of the Galaxy 2 at the cinema. Twice.
- Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt season three. Weirder than ever!
- Master of None Season 2. ALLORA! Even more masterful.
- RuPaul's Drag Race. The latest series ended and I'm bereft!
- Silicon Valley. See above
THINGS I HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO
If you've got Spotify, click the picture below to listen to my playlist of recent releases.
Featuring: Arcade Fire (I have such high hopes for their new album, the new tracks are SO good) LCD Soundsystem, Stars and more. I've also made a playlist of my personal highlights from Glastonbury!
That's it for another round up post! I absolutely love putting these together and I'd love to hear what you think! Feel free to pop me a message or leave a comment!