SWPP Convention - London

Just an update to entice you to come see us at the SWPP Convention this coming weekend ... I will be selling products for Jerry Ghionis, including some whopper deals on the older DVD's and PicPockets, 2 new DVD's (one of which is free to existing or new ICE Society members), his Gorgeous book (plenty of stock this time !!!) and, of course, membership to the ICE Society (we are taking details on the day and aiming to have you up and running within 24 hours !!).

We will have a laptop logged in to the ICE Society, so you can take a look around before deciding to buy, a real bonus as, personally, I don't like buying blind :)

I'll be accompanied by fellow Jerry-ites, Matt Pereira and Paul Glavin, so there are plenty of us to go around ... don't be shy if there appears to be a large crowd at the stand :)

We look forward to seeing you all there ... it's going to be a lot of fun !!

Gill

What's been happening ... What's coming up :)

I'm here, I promise :) Bit of a funny time for us, actually ... John is well on the road to recovery, but of course is limited in what he can do for himself ... with there being only the 2 of us, it's pretty much down to me to make sure he is happy, not stressed, driven around and well looked after. I've been doing bits of urgent work but for the most part I've been looking after family. On that subject, Tess has been poorly the past 2 or 3 days, not eating, slept pretty continuously for 40 hours, all very worrying. If she's no better tomorrow, a trip to the vets is on the cards, after I take all our cardboard recycling to the local centre ! (Did I mention I'm doing EVERYTHING lol).

So, sorry for keeping you all hanging ... bear with me as I've got loads to catch up with on the blog ... more from Eloise & Darren's wedding on the 13th, perhaps a few that I process from the wedding Jon Rouston shot on the 20th, then a few from the last wedding of the season on the 29th (boy, was THAT cold *brrrr*).

Coming up, I have a session to arrange for a year in the life project I'm working on, along with a shoot I want to do with John (top secret, more later haha). This coming weekend, I am manning a stand at the SWPP Convention trade show selling both old and exciting new products for Jerry Ghionis ... come see us ... (I'll blog about this a bit more later in the week ... heck, I may even bring a camera and blog about the happenings at the convention too :) )

Then I have a few upcoming pre-wedding shoots, a new portrait and boudoir business to launch, both with exciting opening offers and very cool products - then we're back in wedding season - yayyyy!

Unfortunately, I haven't had time to take any photos recently - I know, what's a photoblog without photos - next time, I promise.

Until then, take care and thanks for stopping by :)

Gill

Roz & Phil - Packington Moor

This is a bit of an oddity for me ... Roz & Phil got married 2 days after John's heart attack ! The minute I had him shipped off to hospital in the ambulance, I lifted the phone and called my friend, Matt Pereira, asking him to post on the Digital Wedding Forum, to ask for someone to cover me.

Couples ask me all the time "what happens if you fall ill, or similar" ... I always tell them that I have a great network of other professional photographers, but that, actually, I have never needed to call on them. Well, this was one major test of that networking and within 1 hour of Matt posting to the forum, I had cover. Seriously. 1 hour. Yvonne Blume checked in on the thread, watching for posts, and called me as soon as it was all sorted. It turned out that another good friend, Jon Rouston, was available and was all good to go !

The relief that it was all covered was immense ... I could be with John in hospital and not even think about the wedding, safe in the knowledge it was in good hands.

And so, I can't actually post any images from the wedding ... BUT, I can share Jon's blog post, which really shows what a great photographer he is and how well he worked with Roz & Phil on the day ... thanks, Jon !!

Here is the link ... enjoy !

Happy New Year !!

Well, here we are in 2009 !

I'd like to wish you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year :)

Gill x

Eloise & Darren - Repton School !

Just a quick peep at a couple of my favourite images from a recent wedding ... there will be more once I get these processed, but I wanted to get back into blogging again, so here you go :)

I had a wonderful day with these guys ... the weather was rubbish but it didn't dampen anyone's spirits, in fact, there seemed to be a determination to refuse to let the weather get us down !

Repton School has the most beautiful church in the grounds and that is where the ceremony was held, followed by a reception in the great hall.

So, a quick couple of faves ... more to follow soon :)

Merry Christmas, Everyone ...

As I type, John is undergoing the stent procedure. This was one of the options we were praying for, rather than full blown open heart surgery. Visiting John over the last couple of days has been an interesting study into human nature ... you can't help but overhear conversations from other patients, either with themselves (the poor man next to John who lay sobbing, saying "what about my son, somebody help me", enough to make your own heart break) or with wives (the man on the other side telling his wife that they were going to make changes, going to have more fun in life, both of them weeping). John and I feel too young to be having to go through this, but here it is.

I spoke to him this morning and we chatted about the guy beside him (the one with the wife) who had had another heart attack in the night. He is due for bypass and the reason he had been so upset was because they had refused to let him home for a couple of hours on Christmas Day ... it seems they really do know best, after all.

That all said, we are positive thinking people and know this will be the best thing to allow John to heal, move forward and the lesson to us both is "don't sweat the small stuff" ... the one big change for us will be to deal with everyday issues calmly, to not let the little things stress us out, let's face it, NOTHING is that important, really.

I thought I would take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and happy 2009. Thank you for all your support during this time, we appreciate it more than you could know.

And so, a little humour ... I pulled this together as a surprise for John and he laughed so hard he had to sit down, tears rolling down his face ... it feels only fitting that I share it ... let's face it, this is the last time John will be this energetic for a while :)

Turn the sound up, and enjoy ! Merry Christmas !!!

NB: No animals were harmed in the making of this Christmas missive!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Subdued Sunday ... and waiting for Monday ...

I want to start this post by, again, thanking you all for your messages of support and continued love, hugs and prayers, from all over the world. We are truly grateful to have so many people who care about us. Thank you.

Tomorrow, John has his angiongram, which will determine the extent of the damage and will dictate the next course of action. 1. He will remain on the meds only, 2. meds and a stent (these are the 2 preferred options and mean he will most likely be home Christmas Eve) or 3. meds and a bypass graft. This last option will mean a stay of another 7-10 days in hospital, over Christmas and New Year and a very long recovery. We don't want this last one. I've told Santa already.

Having spoken to medical staff over the last couple of days, we have pretty much ascertained that this has been caused (in a greater part) by stress. John has recently been laid off and, as such, every other little problem has become a huge deal. We have had a pretty stressful year, too, so I think a culmination of all things presented itself in this way. His cholesterol of 5.7 has been deemed too high and we will be fighting hard to get that to the recommended level of "below 4" ... we always thought we were pretty healthy eaters, but this, too, will be addressed and we will become salt and fat content connoisseurs from here on in !

I have mentioned on previous posts that I am a member (and moderator) on the world's largest photography forum, the Digital Wedding Forum ... my friend Matt Pereira posted on Thursday that I needed cover for Saturday and literally within a couple of hours, I had it all sorted. Yvonne Blume (see recent London post) monitored the responses and got all the details sorted, all within 6 hours !!

I need to again send my thanks to Jon Rouston who not only covered my wedding on Saturday but presented my couple with an impromptu evening reception slideshow of images from the day ! WOW ! They loved the photos and I am so grateful to Jon for jumping in at a moment's notice. I didn't have to worry about anything by my John all day. Thank you all.

And so, the wait is almost over, tomorrow we will know what's happening and we will face it, no matter what, with strength and determination.

On a final note, I tonight received an email from one of my 2008 brides, Maxine (I know she won't mind my sharing this excerpt) ...

Your news has particularly scared Nick because a few days ago he had a well-person medical at work. The nurse told him that his cholesterol level is too high (about 6.9 I think). It was high anyway and she said he had to get it down. It really frightened him but in a weird way, I was glad. I have tried to suggest to him in the past that he might lose a few pounds (as you know, he has a few to spare). I have also encourage him to choose the healthier option (eg rice over chips), I have puled him away from cakes in the supermarket. All to very little avail. He has never really bothered about what he ate - if he wanted it, he ate it. Now though, you wouldn't think it was the same person. He even reads the labels in supermarkets to compare fat content.

So, your news came as quite a shock to him and I imagine the photos have really hit home - that could be him in 10 years time! So, a BIG thank you for sharing the news and photos - it has been a further wake-up call for Nick.

If something good comes out of all this, that is wonderful ... perhaps a message to us all to look after ourselves, first and foremost and to remember that nothing, NOTHING is so important that it should cause us so much stress it impacts on our health.

Go hug someone you love right this minute ... and wish us luck.

With love

Gill and John x