An Irish invasion of Eastbourne

This week saw me drive a few hours South to the beautiful seaside town of Eastbourne (aka "Biddy-ville" :) ) as a visit to the Priors was in order.

Peter Prior is an award winning wedding and portrait photographer and I am very priviliged to be a friend to him and his family ... Peter and I met through the Digital Wedding Forum and became firm friends when I helped out at his first set of training seminars last November.

This week was all about catching up with him, his wife Karen and their 3 fab kids ... (in age order, eldest to youngest) Jacob, Amelia and Ruby. Oh, and lets not forget the bunny and Cheese, the rat, sorry, the hamster :)

As a short aside, just thinking about long drives ... in my former corporate life, I would often rack up over 40,000 miles a year, many of those on motorways, but you do get used to life on the road and take a lot for granted ... man, when you take a break and get back to it, you notice a lot ... for example ...

- white van man deserves his reputation ... this should, however, be extended to any colour van

- when driving on the opposite side of the road that you are used to, can you please remember that the outside lane is NOT the slow lane, seriously, think OTHER SIDE OF THE CARRIAGEWAY, people !

- I do NOT have a crystal ball and so, seriously, if you could just use your indicators, that would be GREAT !

- finally, when I come racing up behind you in the middle lane and there is nothing in the inside lane for miles ahead, MOVE IN !!!

So needless to say, I had my trusty iPod plugged in, helping me along the journey, relaxing me, or making me driving-seat-boogy, depending on what came on ... I have a varied taste in music ... to give you an idea of what was on the playlist for the trip ...

- Rascall Flatts (thanks, R :) )

- Take That (Beautiful World - what an amazing album !)

- Scissor Sisters

- Robbie Williams

- Ministry of Sound (I know, I really am too old for that stuff, huh !)

- ELO

- Tears for Fears

- Creedence Clearwater Revival (showing my age now !)

and on and on ... so varied, but great, a real chance to chill out, the weather was beautiful, the windows were down, the sunroof was open, the wind was in my hair, bliss ...

OK, so I guess you'll be wanting to see some photos ... well, it is a photographer's blog, after all :)

The majority of these were taken by Peter, but I love this first one of Jacob, taken by me with Peter's new D300 Nikon thingy :) - boy, is he going to be getting all the girls !!

See, Jeff, I WAS working :)

I love this shot of me ... brings to mind a peaceful solitude ...

Rubes just LOVES hugging me ... :)

Amelia is slightly more reserved ... she is a young lady after all :)

I love this shot of me ... and that IS Amelia being silly stage left :)

Finally ...I just love this shot of the family mooching home ... beautiful work, Peter :)

Peter blogged his own personal selection from the visit and you can see that here

Check back soon for details on Peter's Autumn training seminars, or feel free to contact either of us in the meantime for information :)

Gill x