Day 345 - Christmas Angel

This is the Christmas Angel from the top of my tree.....in the hallway. (I have a star on the top of my tree in the living room. Yes, I am Katy 2 Christmas trees!)

I thought I'd add a little poem about the Christmas Angel to go with this photo.

A Christmas Angel sent to earth
To make our season bright
To warm each heart and keep us safe
She'll guide us with her light.

A Christmas Angel loved by all
She spreads good will and cheer
The peace and joy she brings to us
We pray will last the year.

~ Charlotte Anselmo ~

Day 344 - Professional Portrait

I was given a call last week from a PR company who I have worked for in the past. They were calling to ask me if I would take some photos for them of a local solicitor. They needed some photos for a press release and had already sent a photographer to take some portraits but the solicitor had been very unhappy with the photos and wanted them doing again. Janet, the solicitor, is someone who I know from my BNI chapter. She used to be a member so it was great to meet up with her again and take her photo. We had a good shoot and I think Janet was happy with my photos. I was pleased with the results and hope this may lead to some further business in the future.

Day 343 - Christmas Cards

My Christmas cards finally arrived today. I decided to use a few photos of my Nativity Scene from last year to make my Christmas cards for this year. I got quite a few made up as I want to send cards out to people who have used Serendipity Photography this year and thank them for supporting me in my first year of business. Although they took ages to arrive I am pleased with them.

Day 342 - Christmas Farmers' Market

A gorgeously sunny but very cold Sunday in Sheffield and time for the quarterly Farmers' Market in Nether Edge. My friend Kim, who runs Sesame (vegetarian and vegan catering), had a stall to sell her Christmas hampers so I went along to support her. It was a great market with loads of local businesses being represented. I got talking to a number who may be good contacts for me and my photography. It was also great to get a little bit of Christmas shopping done...Dad is so easy to buy for when you wander round a Christmas market! I'm not going to say what I bought though because he may read this and then where would the surprise be?!

Day 341 - Flying south for the winter...

We have been getting some of the most amazing sunsets over the last few days. I think it's a mix of the very cold weather and clear skies that we've been getting.
I took this photo from my living room window and loved it when the birds flew past. It looked as though they were heading south to get away from the frozen north!

Day 340 - Dazed and Confused

I've had a really odd week feeling quite low and really tired. I'm not sure what's going on, could just be the time of year. I do think it's partly to do with the fact that I've had my confidence knocked with the other photography company arriving in Sheffield. It's been quite an emotionally draining month and I feel really shattered from it all at the moment. I won't let it stop me though because I can't quite believe that a year ago I was still teaching! This has been an amazing year and I have done so much and have so many ideas of where I want to take Serendipity Photography in 2009.
A cup of tea and a choccy biscuit might just help right now!

Day 339 - Solitary

There have been moments this year when I have found running my own business to be quite a lonely and solitary place. Times when big decisions need to be made or situations occur which I have no knowledge of where to start or how to deal with them. It doesn't happen often but when it does it can feel like the world is a big place.

I went for a wander down to the local park, it was a gorgeous crisp wintry day and I thought these swings would sum up my solitary idea so I pushed one swing to add movement to the photo. It's got quite a spooky and lonely feel to it. I like it!

Day 338 - Ho Ho Ho

About a month ago I applied to do a Santa Dash for The British Heart Foundation. It was only going to be a 1 mile run but a few of us thought it would be good fun for a good cause. Unfortunately they had to cancel the run due to lack of numbers but I still got sent the Santa Suit which I would have worn for the"dash". It arrived today so it would have been rude not to try it on and do our best santa impressions.

Day 337 - Frosty

It is starting to get colder but we've still not had snow! This morning was really frosty so I'm hoping snow will arrive in the next few days.

Day 336 - Girlfriends

On the first Monday of every month I get together with some of my uni girlfriends for a night out. Our evenings range from going to the cinema, chilling out at someone's house or going out for a meal. All evenings tend to include wine, food and lots of laughing. We all met each other in our first few days at uni and 15 years on are still great friends. 5 of us still live in Sheffield with a couple of others living down south so it's not that often when we all manage to get together. As it was our Christmas meal Jan came up from Oxford to join us for the evening, it was so good to catch up.

Day 335 - Rivelin Valley

It was a great cold, frosty and sunny day so I decided to get out and go for a walk with my camera! I wandered down to Rivelin Valley and went to play with slow shutter speeds. I love taking photos of water and didn't quite get the photos that I had in mind but enjoyed being outside and doing what I love.

Day 334 - Toby

I had a 2nd photo shoot with a family who I am taking 4 different photo sessions with over the 1st year of their little boy's life. Toby is now about 5 months and such a happy baby. He was a delight to photograph, lots of smiles and laughs. I used my magical bubbles again...my secret to capturing babies' attention!

Day 333 - What is he looking at?

I did another photo shot today for a family with a 5 month old and a 4 year old. Their 4 year old was quite hard work but their 5 month old was wonderful to photograph. I don't think I've seen so many expressions from one child in the space of 10 minutes! His dad was blowing bubbles behind me which amused him and gave me loads of wonderful photos.

Day 332 - Homemade Album

Project 365+1 is all about taking a photo a day and documenting my year through photos. One of the main things about this is year is the fact that I have started my own business which has been an exciting roller coaster of a ride. When I started Serendipity Photography I was really keen to use local businesses for some of my products. I found Anne Heppell through the recommendation of a friend. She is a local book binder and has been hand making my wedding and other photo albums for me this year. She makes each album specifically for the couple depending on their choice of colours for their wedding. No two albums are the same and it's great for me to be able to provide such unique albums for my clients. I popped in today to order a couple more albums and to check out the progress of a few that I had ordered. I didn't think I could finish my 366 days without a photo of Anne's workshop as it has been an integral part of my year and my business.