Lucy Joy Oldfield

I absolutely adore my Brides! I know every photographer says exactly the same thing but seriously, not only are they the sweetest, loveliest, funniest girls who I would happily go out dancing with all night but they are all seriously talented!

Lucy is an illustrator... an AMAZING illustrator and I'll be photographing her gorgeous wedding very soon! A little while ago I asked Lucy if she would have a go at drawing one of my photos of me and she said yes! Check out the original photograph here!! A few weeks later I had the best surprise in my inbox! How cool are these!!!

I can't decide which one I like the best! If you want to see more of Lucy's scrummy work then check out her website www.lucyjoyoldfield.com and you'll also be able to see her super cool wedding soon... yipeee!

Because of Lucy I have an idea! From now on if any of my brides and/or grooms have their own creative/artistic/doing their own thing business then I'm going to start featuring them on the blog. It's lovely to be able to share the love and I respect anyone who is following their dream and doing what they're passionate about. Thanks Lucy you talented so and so.

Tried to think of a name for said blog post and all I could come up with was "Bride's got Talent" which actually nearly made me vomit. If you can think of a better one please let me know.

Rock 'n Roll Bride

I've actually been putting off blogging this post as I just didn't have a clue how I was going to articulate myself well enough to write something fitting. So I thought I would just write and see what happens....

Anyone who knows anything about alternative weddings in this country will know Kat. She is the lady behind Rock 'N Roll Bride, the alternative wedding blog that completely restores your faith in planning your wedding when you want to do your day, your way and not the sugared almond way. I've written a post before about how I owe her my career but I mean it with all my heart. In the 6 months that I've been shooting weddings, Kat has now blogged four of them and without her I would, yes have an easier time with my inbox but I wouldn't have had half the enquiries I've had. Thanks Kat.

So... the photo shoot. Well to begin with it really just started out as a little shoot between the pair of us. When we came up with the idea I do what I always do and go "Yeah! Cool!" and then panic internally but I was actually quite excited about this one. Me and Kat have met up a few times and had dinner and email a lot so we had become good friends and I was looking forward to hanging out for the day. Then Kat kept sending me excited emails saying things like "Eeek Fur Coat No Knickers are going to lend us a vintage dress!"... a few days later... "Oh my god I was at Julia Boggio's studio opening event and we now have a hair stylist and a make up artist!!"... gulp.... a few days later... "Oh the gorgeous Magpie Vintage is going to make me a bespoke hairband!!"... help me.... a few days before the shoot.. "We have flowers! Penny from Tigerlily Weddings has asked Chantal Flores Design and they are making us a bouquet!"... right now I'm shitting it. All these really amazing, so well respected and shit hot vendors within the industry were contributing their time and skills... for us. On top of all this Kat's amazing teasing on Twitter and facebook had lots of followers anticipating the results. There really felt like there was a buzz about it. It had to be good, really good.

So here are the results... our little shoot that turned into quite a big shoot.... with big hair.

Kat posted the shoot on Rock n' Roll Bride last week and I honestly cannot believe the response we've had. The amount of comments is unreal! The day it was posted was the last day of my theatre tour in Derby so I could only really look at it on my iPhone but every time I looked I was just in shock. We had such gorgeously supportive and positive comments and for me, seeing other photographers that I look up to and respect commenting too was just the icing on the cake. I was very, very smiley that day.

So a huge thank you is in order to everyone that was involved.....

Firstly a big thank you to Kat for asking me! We had such a laugh and she did a bloody amazing job pulling it all together and then posing all day!

Lina Cameron, Kat's amazing make up artist... Kat's eyes were unbelievable!

Sev of The Hepburn Collection who created the head turning Faux-Hawk (in like 10 minutes!)

Emma and Laura from Fur Coat No Knickers... two of the nicest ladies you could ever meet.

Lisa from Magpie Vintage took pieces from Kat's jewellery box and made the most adorable hairband... I just kept looking at it, it was gorgeous.

Penny of Tigerlily Weddings who very kindly spoke to her friend Chantel of Chantel Flores Design and we had a gorgeous bouquet delivered the morning of the shoot.

And a MASSIVE thank you to absolutely everybody who commented on Rock 'n Roll Bride, Twitter or on facebook. You completely floored me.

home

I'm home.

I've been away on tour for the last five weeks and it has been the busiest, most hectic time of my life. Ever. I said yes to the tour way before all the photography kicked off properly and suddenly I found myself away from my computer with a mountain of work to do. I must admit it has been really tough. I absolutely loved the tour and wouldn't have wanted anybody else to do it but I kind of thought I could fit in starting the business, meeting clients, emails, doing shoots and editing around it and it would be fine.

Our last show was on Tuesday in Derby and I have got home and sat in my house with a huge smile on my face. I haven't been home properly for what feels like forever. I did the odd day back to Brum and frantically washed clothes and copied images to CD ready to take with me and edit on the road but that was it... I cannot tell you how good it feels to sit on my sofa, wash my dishes, sleep in my own bed.

At home also lives my two boys. Pete and Maximo (my cat) are my little family and I miss them so much when I'm away. It's just so nice to wake up and get a kiss from Pete and a head butt from Max and it's something that you tend to take for granted when it's there all the time.

What I've also missed is just taking a photo for myself. I've been so busy that I don't tend to take photos for me anymore. To be honest I think about taking some and then think about having to edit them and that takes time and I have so much editing to do anyway... blah, blah, blah. But I need to. I need to make time to. I miss it.

This is my first personal post for a while and it feels strange. I think it's because when I used to write personal stuff nobody really read my blog, nobody commented (and if I got 1 comment I'd do a little excited dance). Now people read it and people comment so in a way you feel more exposed.... but I still want to be me.

'Go Ahead' short film

Zoom is a scheme that gives Deaf directors the chance to make a short film for broadcast. Ted Evans is one of those Directors and he wrote and directed a fantastic short film called 'Go Ahead' (G.A) which we filmed earlier this year over a very rainy couple of days! The film will be premiered at Deaffest in Wolverhampton this weekend and here's a little cheeky trailer of what to expect!

G.A (Go Ahead) Trailer 1 from Ted Evans on Vimeo.

Molly & Phil

Molly and Phil have the cutest 'getting together' story ever. They were born in the same hospital (Victoria Hospital in Blackpool) and went to the same school together aged 6-7 and Molly was the only girl Phil invited to his 7th birthday party! When they were 10 Molly moved to America and Phil moved to Rutland so they lost contact. Years went by but Phil remembered Molly's name and when facebook came along he decided to try and find her! He requested her as a friend, they emailed, they phoned, they talked some more and the rest is history!

I absolutely love that story... and they deserve every bit of happiness as they are just the sweetest, loveliest couple. We had the nicest afternoon, meeting in gorgeous Barnes, South London walking around the little market and along the river and then stopped for some lunch chatting constantly and enjoying the gorgeous sunshine!

I can't wait to shoot their wedding and can't wait to meet Molly's Mum Kat too. Kat emailed me asking for some advice regarding the wedding (being over in America) and we had such a lovely conversation... I think I'm definitely going to get teary at this one!