The Photography Parlour G2G meet up...

First of all... anyone else find blogger a pain in the bum? Just checking.

Well these are my photos from the mammoth picture taking, chatting, meeting, inspiring, indian eating day that was The Photography Parlour's G2G meet up! If you haven't heard of The Photography Parlour then it's an fabulous new site for aspiring and professional photographers with interviews, reviews and a kick ass forum! I've been very lucky to post a feature for their "My first assignment" section and also have interviewed the gorgeous Noa from Featherlove photography so you can click on the links to have a good old nose...

The meet up was on Tuesday and around 30 photographers made there way by car, train and even plane down to the lovely city of Brizzle (Bristol). I met the lovely Ms Joanna Brown at the station and we headed to the marina to find the boat we were all due to meet! We were split into groups of about six and the day started off with a quick session of photographing some gorgeous details and then we spent the rest of the day with three different models all dressed in the most gooooorgeous outfits and then finished it all off with a curry! It was sooo much fun and so lovely to meet lots of photographers that you spend all day with on twitter and facebook! There is also a Flickr group that has been set up for everyone to upload their images... it's amazing how different photos can be of the same subject!

Here's a list of all the suppliers that were involved on the day....

Venue The Harmony II http://www.harmonyyachtclub.com/ Dresses http://www.vintagedress.co.uk/ China and table styling http://www.vintageteasets.co.uk Flowers: Floriture http://www.floriture.com Catering was from McBaile http://www.mcbaile.com/ Cakes: Sheona’s of Cake Matters http://www.cakematters.co.uk/

Makeup: Lilly MUA http://www.modelmayhem.com/1075740 Heather Talbot http://www.modelmayhem.com/1192627 Cat Parnell http://www.catparnell.tk/ Sara Friar http://www.heygorgeous.me.uk/bodypainting.html

Oh and a huge thank you to Clara, Jemma and Shavourn (I definitely know I've not spelt that correctly) for being such amazing models ALL day!

Alex and Claire

Alex and Claire are getting married in August and Alex is my best friend's boyfriend's brother so I know them both pretty well and am ridiculousely excited about their wedding as I know what our nights out can be like when we all go out together! Sometimes a special treat is Claire's interesting rendition of "Oh, wouldn't it be lovely" in a cockney accent...she's actually very Northern (that's usually nearer the end of the night).

Alex called me about a month back asking if we could do some pictures for their invites and that they had a few ideas (brilliant).... I arrived at their house and they were both dressed in full 1950's get up and had the table set ready for their photo shoot! Love it! They wanted to try and do the '1950's how to be a good housewife' thing and they really got in to it... I LOVE couples like that... no I really mean it... L..O..V..E.. couples... L..O..O..V...E them!

You can also head over to the newly tattooed arm lady aka Rock 'n Roll Bride right now to see the session blogged there too :) Cheers lovely Kat!

feeling connected...

Hello fellow photographers... this is a post all about us and our amazing relationship because this past week for some reason I am really aware of how crazy strong our bond seems to be.

I would probably say that I have quite an active social life... I have fantastic friends, some I've known for years, some a lot newer and all of whom I love with all my heart. I then have this other world... my photography world... the world of images and blogs and comments and fans and tweets and pages and links and posts.... and friends. Friends who I talk to every day, friends who share their work, friends who inspire me to be more. I sit here at my computer 8, 10, 14 hours a day (what was I saying about my active social life...) and the amount of love that circulates this funny little world in front of me is so special, so encouraging that I really don't want to take it for granted even for a second and I feel so very privileged to be part of it.

I've received a number of emails lately from other photographers from the UK and some from around the world (very surreal)... some saying hi, really like your stuff, some saying that I've inspired them in some way, some asking how I do things. First of all... this is NUTS! I email photographers all the time saying how much I love their work and that they completely inspire me and what the hell are they doing in photoshop to make their photos look like that?? I'm the student right now desperate to learn as much as I can, wanting to sit next to them at their desk or hold their bags while they shoot! But I suppose we all inspire each other in some way... that's what is so bloomin' great about our gorgeous little community. Secondly, receiving an email or a message saying that you like my stuff gives me the most sparkly, fuzzy, butterflies in my tummy feeling.. it's just the best and it spurs me on to work even harder and to ignore all the 'Everyone is better and you can't do it' moments. So thank you, thank you, thank you for being there and keeping me company in our little photography world but also thank you, thank you, thank you for giving me lots of nice sparkly butterflies.

I just wanted to add that there are also lots of bloggers/readers/brides to be that have also shown amazing support and are also just as much a part of the community...so a big thank you to you too... :)

How good would it be to one day do a mammoth trip all around the world meeting everyone!

featherlove (her so much!)

Anyone who reads my blog or my tweets will know the complete and utter major photography (ok... overall) crush I have on Noa aka Featherlove. Give me two minutes on the subject of photography and I will have mentioned her and her stupidly amazing, engulfingly inspirational work. I just can't help it. But I just know that as soon as you see her photos... you will love her too so I like sharing the love... it's a good thing.

I am now officially calling this week "Featherlove week" as I have two lovely things to share with you to which I am still a little overwhelmed by them both...

Firstly, lovely Rosie Parsons asked if I would like to interview Noa for The Photography Parlour... I bloody jumped at the chance and you can read the full interview here....

Then back in April I actually got to meet Noa. She came over with her husband's band ASTRA and me and Pete did an Enagagement shoot with her which was so amazing.... and she literally sent me the photos yesterday and I cannot get over how much I love them. Not only because of the colours and the composition and the feel and the beauty of them but also because to me they are the story of my own photography... what I love, how I feel, what inspires me, who I love... all in one picture. I am honestly going to treasure them forever.

You can see all of the pictures on Featherlove's blog which includes the sweetest write up by the lady herself and you can also head over to Rock 'n Roll Bride as Kat blogged them too (in sync with eachother!)

Here are two of my favourite shots from the shoot... these are going on my wall :)

Love love love love crazy love.......

Photo Pro Magazine!!

Oh my goodness... Kat has written the most gorgeous article about me in this month's Photo Pro Magazine... I'm utterly speechless! If you want to read the whole thing you can head over to Rock 'n Roll Bride now or head down to your local newsagents because it's in a real shop on a real shelf to buy!!!! Eeeeeek!