Between the mad busy-ness of September and the mad busy-ness of October this year, I had a week away with my parents, my sister, her husband and their daughter, along with my Husband and our dog. 

Firstly, I have to say that I've had such a busy year which has been ridiculously busy at times. It's been such a great year with my business but a week physically away from home was something I desperately needed.

Secondly, we stayed at the nicest possible place I could have hoped for in order for this well  needed break. If you are looking for a staycation in Dartmoor or Devon in general, somewhere that's just out of the way enough to feel in the middle of no where, but somewhere were you're still able to go to the shops for essentials, have a trip to a nice local pub or two, or just somewhere for a great long walk, I could not recommend West Nymph Holiday Cottages highly enough. 

The converted barn we stayed in "Holly Hock Cottage" (total coincidence with the matching name) could not have been more beautiful, cosy and clean. The main bathroom had a humungous shower that I enjoyed dancing like this in whenever I had a shower in it. Something that makes my heart happy as well is a curved free standing bath, so you better believe I was grinning like a fool when I was having a soak in that beast! ​

We got a little welcome spread of treats on our arrival which we really loved and appreciated, and Scampi even got a large jar of dog treats too, which I'm pretty sure she really loved and appreciated. Those scones where bloody delicious by the way...

Isn't it funny how when you're younger, older people often feel the need to tell you how fast life goes. You really just can't get your head around it though until it starts happening. You might intellectually understand the concept, but until you start getting older yourself it just doesn't hit home. Also when you see other young'uns growing up around you, it hits home even more, and my niece is growing up so quickly. 

She is such a beautiful intelligent sweet little person, and I wish I spent more time with her, but unfortunately life too often gets in the way, and maybe it's one of those things where it would never feel like I spent enough time with her.

So recently I stepped out from behind the camera again for Amanda Herbert, I took off my specs and put on some make up. If you don’t know who Amanda is please go check out her work because it’s so good and she’s so lovely. 

Every time I do a shoot like this I honestly do learn so much about what it might feel like for my clients and it definitely helps me keep developing as a photographer and change my approach. It's great to also model for a friend like I did with Amanda because you really can relax a lot more, bounce ideas off each other and not feel scared to try new things.
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Two years ago I would NEVER have had the confidence to do something like this, yet alone post the results on the internet, and if I'm honest I don't think I will be doing it again for a long time, I'm happiest and feel more myself being the photo taker.

​Am I perfect? No. Do I think I am in any way perfect? Oh hell no! But I think every single person on the planet should have as much fun as possible while they're still on it, try different things and not let those pesky personal hang ups or other issues hold you back too much. Photos really aren’t fatal, so what if you get a bad photo of yourself? And if you get a great one taken by someone as talented as Amanda you’ll definitely walk on with a bit more spring in your step. 

Thank you so much Amanda, you rock! 📷

Time with your best friends is made that extra bit sweeter when you are spending rare time together in a place like Brighton. It's such a brilliant mix of being vibrant, unique and bustling in quite a small town way perched right next to the sea, and I really love it. I haven't been to Brighton for years and I loved visiting again for a long weekend with my friends.

​I sometimes struggle to get the balance of going somewhere/spending time with people I love and also documenting it with my camera. Clearly I wasn't going to take my camera with me on a night out, but I would be a fool and very much regret it if I didn't take my camera with me on a holiday, so glad I took some snaps of our trip...

This was my first Airbnb experience, and it was an absolute winner. Great flat in a great location for a very reasonable price - A big shout out to Nick who was our Airbnb host, who we never actually met but he was so kind and has such a cute flat!

The coffee table had so much random stuff in it, and every day each of us would randomly shout out after looking into it's depths that we had discovered a new thing in it. I know it looks like my feet are hairy or dirty in this photo (LOL) but I have weird and strong tan lines on my feet, because quite frankly Rocketdog flip flops are one of the most comfortable shoes in the entire universe, and in the summer mine pretty much never leave my feet.

Beccie has been one of my best friends since we were eleven, and I met Helen later on near the end of high school and ever since she has also been one of my best and greatest friends.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning of my love affair with photography. A full ten years since I decided to be brave, and make the decision to drop out of sixth form and instead, go to the local college to learn more about the only A-level I had enjoyed. How did I celebrate this? I did what many camera nerds would do, I went on a photography course.

No single photographer knows everything there is to know about the art, and every year I try to get my teeth into learning at least one new area of it. You'll have to stay tuned to find out what that is for me this year in my work over the next few months, all I can say is I really can't wait to learn more and put it into practice at weddings!

The class took place in a function room of The Water Poet pub, and sitting in a dark room with lines of tables, ornamental mirrors, red draping, animal heads and the like, made me feel like I was in a gothic school of some kind.

It was absolutely fantastic an I really learned a ton. It's one of those things where I know that I've got to grips with a certain area more than I had that very same morning, but there is so much more to explore, practice and eventually understand.

​The room was full of fellow wedding photographers, oddly all women and oddly all using Canon cameras! It was so wonderful to be surrounded by friendly women who all had a shared passion for photography. A huge thank you Marianne for an amazing and instructive day (and for letting me take pictures of her with her "lightsaber", I really want one of my own now.) 

I hope you had a lovely Christmas & New Year, I really did! I thought I'd share what I've been up to in the last few weeks.

At the end of November, Pete and I went to see Depeche Mode at the o2 in London, which was a very last minute decision but one I'm so glad we made. Obviously I didn't manage to get any half decent snaps of the gig (which was amazing by the way! I totally freaked out when Dave Gahan came out on stage!), but I managed to get a few around the city I love in the 24 hours we were there..

​Taro's is our go-to place in London for Japanese food.

All happy with his usual Tori Karaage!

We tried to look cool guys, we tried.

​We would make terrible food bloggers, it was literally a case of "Yep, that'll do, LET'S EAT!!"

We also managed to have a quick scoot around the shops before home time.

Every year I go to a wreath making workshop run by my friend Sue at Doris Pinks. Mulled wine, Christmas nibbles and being surrounded by friends is enough to get you in the mood for Christmas (totally forgot to get a decent picture of mine though, eeek my bad!)

Christmas was fairly quiet, lots of time with the family, eating too many calories and drinking too much wine,  the way I like it best..​

Scampi got a great haircut as always from the Isle of Wight Dog Grooming Centre, and my Sister in Law and her husband bought me a great photography related present that I can't wait to start using.

My friend Helen and I went to Chocolate Island the other day, to do something indulgent but after Christmas so we could fight the post Christmas blues by eating chocolate.

Happy New Year!

Lana has been my right hand lady this summer, and my tongue is nowhere near my cheek when I say that she is bloody fab and she has been an amazing help and support to me this wedding season. 

At my first wedding of this year (Jamie & Dani's), I thought for the first time how lovely it would be to have someone else on "my team". Little did I know that it would be a guest from that very wedding, and one of the people sitting around the same table as me eating dinner!

The two of us recently had a photo day together, as sometimes it can be a bit too busy on a wedding day to talk a great deal or to share wisdom!

​Feel free to follow Lana's progress and photographic journey here, and if you see me at a wedding next year, you'll probably see this lovely lady with me.

It might not be the coolest, biggest, most fantastically amazing swankiest office you ever did see, but damnit it's mine and I love it so much.

​I've been wanting to convert the spare room into my own office for months, but due to a very busy summer wedding season (not complaining in the slightest!) I had to really wait until it was over so we could sort the room out properly, I could buy everything I needed to buy and have the time to get everything set up. 

Pride of place is my brand new 2017 iMac 21.5" with Retina 4K Display. I can't tell you how many years I've seen Apple Macs in peoples homes and in department stores, and practically drooled over the cute little wireless key board, and wanted desperately to shove it in my no-where-near-large-enough handbag and take it home with me. Basically it hasn't disappointed me in the slightest since I unwrapped it and set it up and I don't know what I'd do without it now. (A huge thank you to my little Macbook Pro, which I've had since my last term at college back in 2011, and has now gone into semi retirement.)  ​​

One of my best friends Helen who runs Shiny Creations made me a cute little Niffler that's also a bowl, he now looks after the odd memory card or paper clip. Another dear friend of mine Sah bought me a coin eating No Face that sits right in the middle of the self along the top. ​Scampi's new favourite thing to do is look out the window and watch everyone pass by in our street.

Thank you to every single one of you for all the love and support that actually meant I could and should get this office in the first place, it does not go unnoticed and is very much appreciated! 

I really cannot thank Amanda enough for my random photo shoot with her this month. Amanda and I had been talking for a while about doing a shoot together, and it ended up being on my birthday, so it turned into actually quite a lovely gift to myself!

​I braved getting in front of the camera again and I am so glad that I did. It taught me a lot about what it's like to be the other side of the camera and about myself.