Holidays are Coming ...

I love this time of year. I'm a big old kid at Christmas and really try to get into the holiday spirit. This year, as always, I have some Christmas weddings, in fact another 3 to go before the end of the year. I'm also pretty busy with last minute print orders and albums, so a tad behind on blogging. To keep you going, I took this little shot of Tess while she was chilling out today beside the Christmas tree. Cute as a button !

More blog stuff to follow ...

For the photographers ... Canon 5D II, 50 1.2 @ 1.2, 6400 ISO

The Monkey's Demise

It is with great sadness that we must say a final farewell to Tess's friend, The Monkey.

We found him in the hall at the weekend ... actually, I wanted to draw a white line around him just like in any good spoof cop movie LOL

Tess and Me

John had a play with the new mark II today ... I wanted a little portrait of me and Tess ... this is what he came up with :)

He's getting quite the hang of this malarky ... should I be worried? LOL

13 Years and Counting ...

It isn'f often that I forget something, especially important dates ... equally, it's not that often my husband remembers them ...

I had a very very rare Saturday off today, so John and I headed off for a peaceful country pub lunch in one of our favourite places, The Hand and Cleaver ... great home-cooked food, friendly faces, open log fire, the works. We got home and John says "so, did you enjoy your anniversary lunch?" ... WHAAAAT ???

Well, we met 13 years ago today ... well done, honey, for not missing this one !

Tess

You know, I haven't blogged about my baby girl for a long time. While we were in Nice last weekend our friends asked how easy (or otherwise) she has been to train. The short answer is "not really". Beagles are notoriously difficult, they often get labelled as stupid, but are far from it. They are super intelligent and have minds of their own, their own wee way of doing things. However, patience has been the key (that, and bribes) and we feel she is actually a fairly well-behaved dog. We have a way to go, but she is a beauty.

I found myself with a fantastic excuse for shooting her today. I took delivery of a new toy, the Canon 5D Mark II. So far, it is scoring points with me and is, as with all my Canons over the years, very intuitive to use and the ergonomics are marvellous. I popped the 85 1.2 II on it and shot this through the conservatory doors, where Tess had been sleeping (until she heard me coming haha).

Enjoy ...

Birthday Fun in the South of France

Hi guys ... sorry I've been absent but I have a great excuse ... last weekend I celebrated my 40th birthday by flying down to Nice with my husband for a short break. I didn't want to be at home on this dreaded milestone and we both love Nice, so why not.

Here are a few snaps of the trip ... all taken with my Canon G10.

Just turned 40 ... having fun with the G10 outside Waynes bar (great opportunity to hang with our friend Dave who has worked there for 6 years ... check out the team profiles)

Seriously, how hard is it to try and look cool for the camera LOL

The view from the hotel ... so many of the buildings in Nice are like this, rustic and very, well, French !

A few more of the buildings and sights in and around Nice

The stunning coastline

The incredible war memorial by the harbour ... some people in the image for scale

Little old us ... enjoying the sunshine

We headed off to Monaco for the day on Monday

John with his new purchase (the sunglasses that is LOL)

The harbour

The palace

A final shot of John looking pretty cool

Lensbaby fun fun fun !

I bought a lensbaby 2.0 a couple of years ago and, after an initial play (as you do), I never really got around to using it. It has been gathering dust in my lens cupboard for a long time ... however, my friend Matt came down to shoot with me this weekend and mentioned that he would LOVE to try one ... so I whipped it out !

Looking through yesterday's images I came across a couple of me that Matt had taken while I was shooting, so I thought you wouldn't mind me sharing them, well, they made me laugh LOL

More from the wedding coming soon ... in the meantime, enjoy :)

Time for a Change ...

I felt it was time for a change and what better way to do this than to have a new hairdo ! I have been growing my hair for years and just as it got to a great length, I decided it was unmanageable and just "too" long LOL

So, I got my fab hairdresser, Kay, to come over yesterday and lop off some major inches ! I didn't tell John, so it was a nice surprise for him when he got home from the office :)

And here it is ... hope you like!

(image copyright Kim of PPW Photography)

Me and the Z ...

In between studio portrait sessions today my friend, and fellow photographer, Kim Shaw decided to play around with some portraits and generally have some fun. For those of you who don't know me so well, I turn 40 in a few short weeks, so I decided I had to mark the occasion with a new car (I know, rather indulgent, but you only turn 40 once, right?) ... I asked Kim to incorporate the car in the shoot and this is what she produced ... I love it ! Thanks, Kim :)

Happy Birthday Tess !!

You may delay, but time will not (Benjamin Franklin)

Where, oh where, does time actually go ! I can't believe that this time last year we were researching beagle puppies and at the same time our precious baby, Tess, was being born, along with 5 little siblings. Today is her first birthday and I can't believe how much she has grown, how much she has become ingrained in our lives, how beautiful a little dog she is growing up to be.

OK, if I'm honest, she can be a right PITA lol, but mostly, she's just wonderful !

Just a little reminder in pictures of how she has grown ... enjoy !

With daddy at the breeders ... 6 weeks old ...

First day home ... 7 weeks ...

It survived the little teeth ... it wouldn't last 2 minutes these days !

We have a canvas of this one ... too cute !

And a framed print of this one ...

See how much her colouring has changed?

Happy Birthday, gorgeous girl !

John

After a very manic week in London (which was super enjoyable but went way too fast!), a wedding on Saturday (beautiful, can't wait to blog that) and a pre-wedding shoot on Sunday, John and I headed to our friends, Anthony and Kim's, for a beautiful 3-course Sunday lunch, with copious amounts of wine ... I so needed to just not cook and be looked after ... and I fell asleep in the car on the way home, too !!

While there I grabbed Kim's camera and took this lovely little portrait of John ... I love it and just wanted to share it with you all ...

Hope you have a great week !

London Workshop | Jerry Ghionis

I'm really just updating the blog as I haven't done so for a while and it was beginning to feel a little neglected ... I am once again down at The Hoxton in London with Jerry Ghionis, his beautiful wife (and good friend of mine) Georgina and, of course, a whole bunchh of photographers eager to learn from, and get inspiration from, Jerry.

I have been helping out on and off, and of course listening to Jerry and watching many of the slideshows and shooting demonstrations, but hanging with Georgie is one of the real highlights of the trip !

I am available, I have internet, I have my phone ... if you need me, I'm here !

I'll post some random images taken on iPhone and G10 once I get back (I didn't bring my big-boy kit with me) but in the meantime have a great week everyone !!

Oh, if you want to stalk me, click on the Facebook and / or Twitter links in the sidebar off to the right :)

Taylor Family Portraits

We had a lovely evening last Thursday with our good friends Anthony and Kim. We broke out the barbeque and some wine and enjoyed the sunshine. Kim is also a photographer, so I asked her to get her camera out and take some shots of us with Tess ... there are so many of her on her own or with her daddy, but because I take them, there are none with me in ! We waited til golden hour, just before the sun set, as this is a magical time to get some great light :)

Here are a couple of favourites ...

Long Walks on Summer Evenings ...

I had a bit of a manic time last week, culminating in travelling to London for a pre-wedding shoot and a wedding in Kent on Saturday (these on the blog very soon) so I decided that a Sunday off with the family was definitely on the cards. We lazed around in the glorious sunshine for most of the day, then decided to go for a long stomp when it was a little cooler.

Stafford is a wonderful town, full of surprises at every turn ... whilst we live in a suburban environment with great links to the motorway networks, you only have to walk 10 minutes from our house and you're in the countryside, with rivers, canals, walkways and cows !

So, just a few from our little journey ... all taken with my trusty Canon G10 point & shoot :)

Shadow play at the start of our walk ...

Beautiful countryside, with river and obligatory swans ...

Canal architecture and colourful long boats (I so want a boat !!) ...

And did I mention cows ?

It's shaping up to be a WONDERFUL summer (hope I didn't just jinx us all LOL) !!

Sunny Sunday ...

Hi guys ... just a very quick blog post to say that I hope you are all enjoying this WONDERFUL sunshine over our May Bank Holiday ! I know we are ... here's a quick shot of my friend Kim, sat in the sun today.

Have fun !

Totally Tess

I haven't posted any recent shots of my baby, Tess, aka Mrs Lady Pants (don't ask). I decided to do some product photography of my albums today and Tess patiently sat and watched while I set up my lights and got on with it. She looked so cute and cosy just waiting for me on the sofa that I couldn't resist turning my camera her direction and taking a couple of shots. It's hard to believe that she is almost 10 months old ! I know ! She turns 1 in July and John is already nervous about my plans for her party LOL.

So here she is, beautiful as ever ...





For the photographers: 1D IIN, 70-200 @ 130mm (bottom) and 200mm (top), both at 2.8, of course :)

Coco | Take 2

Man, I just love this little dog ... she is due for her first ever clipping, and I can't wait to see those photos !! but in the meantime she's a walking rug LOL

This one is for Dawn and Chris ... enjoy !!

Coco

In this day and age of multiple communication sites (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs) one wonders if they really are just a waste of time, or if they have their uses. I am in the "useful" camp ... I love communicating with people from all over the world, hearing little snippets of others' lives, looking at beautiful photography, etc ...

Following John's heart attack in December I got an email from a friend who I hadn't seen for 5 years ... Dawn lived in the same apartment block as me when I lived in Strathaven in Scotland and we were firm friends right up til I moved to England, then life took over for both of us. The usual sentiments of "we must keep in touch" got taken over by our jobs and various "stuff" ... you all know how it goes. And so my heart lifted when we started communicating again. She had seen my blog post and immediately got in touch.

Last week, Dawn, her husband Chris and their little puppy, Coco, came for a visit. It was as if we had never had the 5 year gap, we sat up the first night til 3am just chatting, catching up, accompanied by some good wine :) Coco and Tess became chums over the few days they were here, too.

Dawn and Chris were rather camera shy (both are suffering from illnesses just now and didn't feel very photogenic) so I kept the camera trained on the doggies for the duration ... this is a fave one of Coco ... I swear, she DOES have eyes in there somewhere LOL

I hope you all had a great bank holiday, regardless of the weather !!

Random Image | G10

I was flicking through my G10 this afternoon and realised my husband had taken it out with him while on a walk with Tess yesterday. They came across a swan that literally hissed and spat at Tess ... apparently she just looked at it as if to say "I have a cat at home that does that, mrs birdie, you don't frighten me" LOL

I am pretty impressed with this and so I thought I would share ... John has been picking up tips on how to take better shots ... clearly he's taking my lessons on board :)

A Surprise Restoration ...

My mother gave me a small photo of my late grandmother, Lydia, a couple of years ago, and with one thing or another happening, it sat in my to-do folder all that time. Mum completely forgot about it, which made a surprise perfect.

This is what I had to work with ...

After a LOT of work in photoshop, this is what I managed to do ...

I framed it in a lovely black frame with cream double mount and posted it off, to be signed for. Of course, Dad was at home and phoned Mum at work to tell her something had arrived (oh poo) and she told him to open it, thinking it was something else I was sending ...

The voicemail I received was so worth it, she was completely and utterly delighted :)