A Week in Tuscany ...

"Italian cameramen grow up immersed in an awareness of light.

It is part of their mythology. " Barbara Steele

I chose this quote for my Italy blog post because this is exactly what my week was all about ... finding the light and using it effectively, and boy, the quality of light doesnt get much better than up in the hills around Florence ...

Anyone reading my blog posts will know that I am very proud to be associated with Jerry Ghionis, multi-award winning photographer from Melbourne, Australia. Jerry has probably the most energy I have seen in another human :) so not only is he still actively shooting weddings, portraits and fashion, he also runs workshops and seminars, as well as devising and selling his training product range.

Of the European workshops he was running, I decided that Florence would be a good one for me to travel to ... even though I am half Italian I have not been there since I was 10 years old ... I know, shocker ! I found out the week before I went that my Grandmother had attended a convent school in Florence, but sadly no-one could remember where, so I could not investigate further this time around.

So, me and a few other photographers landed in Florence for a week of insipiration, model shoots, critique and, of course, networking and fun :)

I spent the week in the Villa Il Poggiale, a beautiful setting for a workshop ... the food was fresh and home-grown, all organic, but of course with all that wonderful pasta, bread and buttered croissants, my jeans were a tad tighter by the time I came home :(

We spent Wednesday out and about in Florence, with 2 models, a load of camera equiment and the promise of italian ice cream ... I spent most of the day with Jerry's wife, Georgina, and helping out with rounding people up once they had their 15 minutes with the models ... Jerry also asked me to document what was happening, so no pressure there, then *eek*

I won't go into specifics ... let's face it, if you want to know what I learned, you are either a bride already booked with me and will find out soon enough, a bride NOW going to book with me :) or a photographer who should really book to go see Jerry for themselves ... talk about worth every penny ... I am so inspired (brides already booked ... WATCH OUT !!! :) )

Here are a few photos from the week ... please note that any of the posed shots are not fror my own self-promotion ... lets face it, Jerry, Georgie and Melissa did all the hard work organising the week, I just turned up and pointed my camera where I was told to !!! But I wanted to share with you what a total experience this has been ... enjoy !!

As always, comments welcome ...look forward to hearing from you !

This is one of our beautiful models, posed by Jerry ... processed by me to show you my take on her :)

Out and about in Florence ...

I love the labels on the boxes ...

My gorgeous friend, Melissa ...

No point trying to get a natural shot of Matt ... sheesh !

Jerry ... doing his thang !!!

Final shot ... this was set up by Jerry, demonstrating night shooting with video light ...

Can't wait to see a whole bunch more photographers doing it again in London in a few weeks !!!

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

Wedding Day for Deb and Chris

The second of my weekend double header last week found me at Goldstone Hall again ... a beautiful venue and one I am proud to be associated with ...

Deb and Chris have been together a long time ... 12 years to be exact ! Chris did say during his speeches that he really should have done this years ago - but, hey ho, such is life and so all their friends and family were brought together in this time and place to celebrate the love, laughs and life's triumphs (including Chris beating cancer) of this couple.

To say the day was emotional would be an understatement ... so I will move quickly to my favourites of the day, adding my very best wishes for a long, happy and healthy life together for you guys ... thank you for allowing me to be such an integral part of your day.

Wedding Day for Maxine and Nick

Friday found me at Maxine and Nick's wedding at The Moat House in Acton Trussell, a beautiful venue set in the Staffordshire countryside, complete with picturesque canal :)

I was assisted by Paul on the day and we started off at Maxine's parents home in Yoxall, documenting the excitement, the details and Maxine's beautiful accessories ... oh, as well as discussing cameras ... did I mention Maxine is a photographer !! :)

Nick was nervously pacing when we arrived at the venue, excited and looking forward to seeing Maxine - we had told him she would be wearing a red dress so imagine his surprise when it turned out to be white, with beautiful red celtic embroidery :)

The ceremony was full of love and laughter, Maxine and Nick just looked like they enjoyed every single minute ... their little ring bearer, who is a mere 8 years old, gave a reading and did not appear to be nervous at all ... he got a round of applause and a mention in the speeches, which he looked chuffed about.

We managed to avoid the showers throughout the day, which is always helpful. Nick had set up his drums and managed to get a little practice in with his band ... he really is quite good on those drums haha :)

The evening entertainment set up also and the jamming session made me wish I could come back and party with everyone - they totally rocked !

So, enough waffle, you want to see some photos, right? :)

My heartfelt congratulations to you both, Maxine and Nick ... here's to a long, fun-filled and romantic life together :)

And a random shot of me working ... thanks, Paul ! Haha

Clarity, Friendship and a decent pint of Guinness

My diary today comes at you from sunny / windy / rainy / thundery / doesn't know what to do with itself Ireland ! I tell you, I do not miss this changeable weather at all LOL

Gratuitous shot of the sky above the clouds ... man, am I getting into this flying malarky :)

And of course, some wine and a good book helps make the flight seem shorter :)

As I mentioned already, I am visiting my friend Dawn in Ireland for a couple of days - there has been a lot happening with me lately and I just needed to be with a trusted friend, to mull things over and to have someone who has known me longer than most, for a bit of clarity ... we all need that at times, right?

Oh, for those who are at all interested, I have known Dawn a mighty 23 years !! Of course, that means we have known each other since we were, erm, 7 ! *ahem*

We had a fairly shaky start to our day, following a minor wallpaper disaster which had to be dealt with - Dawn and I went into Belfast to sort that out and while I was sitting in the car I happened to look across the street and noticed a large sign on the wall ... Venus Tattoos ... my uncle's tattoo parlour (ok, John Ferris is his actual name, Johnny Venus is his professional name :)) - he tattoo'd my hip (chinese symbol, meaning "heart" - yes, I wear my heart on my hip LOL - and my original armband, which of course has now been enhanced!)

We headed back over to Carrickfergus, down to the Marina, where we had a leisurely lunch at the Windrose and a good old girlie chat ...

The view from the restaurant out over the Marina ...

Lunch consisted of a beautiful liver pate followed by the special - Hake, Mussels and Crab Claws with Champ (for my american readers (and probably my English ones too haha) ... champ is mashed potatoes with spring onions all chopped up and mushed in :)) - washed down with a PROPER pint of Guinness - yuuuuuuuuum :)

Here's the proof that Champ is real :)

And my mouth is watering looking at this again ... yuuuuum :)

It has been good to get over to see you, Dawn, thanks for your friendship, your understanding and your insights ... we need to do this more often, girlfriend !

To finish ... a beautiful sunset as we came in to land at Liverpool ...

Gill :)

Airport Life

The more I travel, the realisation that it is un-glamorous truly sets in!

Here I sit in yet another airport, waiting to be herded around like cattle, before sitting in a tin can (thankfully for a short hop across the Irish Sea this time) andy I find myself wondering when someone will actually invent the teleport machine or a Stargate !!! Being temporarily demolecularised has GOT to be better than this :)

Still, my friend Dawn awaits me in Belfast, making up for it all bucketloads. We don't get to see each other often enough, in fact last October was the last time. We both are crazy busy and so this last minute get-together is very welcome :)

Of course I have my trusty Canon S5 with me, so I will make sure you get updated in pictures, although it really is a short break - I'm home again late tomorrow night !!

Ciao for now ... security calls :)

Gill x