Day 121 - Mosaic Portrait

I've been playing with lots of ideas to offer clients when I do children's portraits and one which has been suggested several times has been a mosaic made up of lots of small images. I put one together and it arrived today. I wasn't too sure what I thought of it at first and am still not 100% convinced it's something people will want but am impressed with the quality of the print and will definitely be showing it to people and see the response I get.

Day 120 - Square Head Dave

Give a guy a Macbook Pro and Photobooth and this is what you get! This is my friend Dave doing his Elvis Costello impression! We had tried getting some "arty shots" of candles being reflected in the window for my photo of the day but when I looked through my computer and saw these ones Dave had done in Photobooth there was no contest as to which photo to use for today!

Day 119 - Brothers

One of the main reasons for coming down to Luton (apart from catching up with friends, seeing my parents and having high tea at Luton Hoo) was to go and see my friend Caroline who has just had her 3rd boy!! One of my ideas for Serendipity Photography is to offer a baby package for people who have just had babies or who are a few months old. In order to market my package I needed to take some photos of a new born so that's where baby Oliver came in! Oliver's eldest brother, Malo (4) is my godson and I always have fun with him when I go to see him. Before I took the photos of Oliver I was playing with Nolan (23 months) and Malo in the garden and decided to take some shots of them. The only problem with that is that Malo thinks it's really funny to stick his finger up his nose whenever I try to take a photo! So, I love this shot of the two of them but as you can see Malo is sticking his finger up his nose!

Day 118 - Bluebell Woods

I went home to mum and dad's in Croxely Green for lunch today. We had a really lovely afternoon and went for a walk in the woods which have been known as the bluebell woods by me and my sister for ever. In fact the bluebells are only out for 3 weeks each year but when they are the woods look amazing, a carpet of bluebells everywhere. Mum only came for part of the walk and then left dad and I to do the rest. I think the walk took us 45 mins longer than it should have because Dad and I kept stopping to take photos....I now know where I get it from!

Day 117 - Afternoon Tea at Luton Hoo

My birthday present from Leanne was "afternoon tea" at Luton Hoo which is an old stately home that has been recently renovated into a hotel. I drove down from Sheffield this morning, fortunately I didn't need to be in Luton until at least 3pm so I got to get a bit of sleep before heading down the M1. It was a gorgeous day so when we arrived at the hotel we were chauffeur driven (in golf buggies) from the car park to the hotel and then we were taken to the terrace for tea! They brought out a 3 tiered cake tray with sandwiches (crusts cut off), small cakes and scones with cream and jam. It was such a great afternoon and for a few hours we both felt like ladies! I even found out that my little finger sticks out when I was drinking the tea...clearly born to be lady who lunches!

Day 116 - WWF 3

Two WWF nights in a row...you'd have thought I'd be getting good at some of the games by now but still can't quite beat people at tennis! Although I did beat the boys at boxing.....I ached for days afterwards though!
I had some more friends round for another WWF evening, Scott brought cabbage rolls (canadian speciality) and Dave brought Baileys and Banana Bread and butter pudding. I was amazed we could still play the wii after that! Another great evening and didn't get to bed until 4am which considering I had to get up to drive to Luton the next day wasn't the best idea but I had fun! This photo was taken to get all of us in it, I tried taking the shot but my arms aren't as long as Dave's and I cut most people out of it!

Day 115 - Wii Girls

I have created something called a WWF evening at the Penthouse which has been going down really well with my friends. On Easter Sunday my friend Michelle came round to trial it and after that success I had my uni girlfriends over for the evening for Wine, Wii and Food!! Girls having fun, drinking wine and eating chinese before a few social games of bowling and tennis! I'm sure my friends won't love me for this photo but here they all are bowling for their strikes! (left to right: Helen (Crebster), Kim (Kimbo), Beth (Betty), Lucy (Lucy-Lou)).

Days 113 & 114 - Drama at Aston

I've had two great days working at my old school, Aston. I was asked by my friend Dave who is the Head of Drama, to come in and take some photos of the students working on performances so that he could put together a display for school. The Y12 students were performing their exam pieces so I went in on Tuesday morning to photograph one group and Wednesday for the other. It was so refreshing to be working with students as a photographer rather than a teacher and I loved it. I now have over 400 photos to process but have got some great shots which I hope they will love as much as I loved doing it.

I also had an appointment with the Head to talk about how I could work with the school to take photos for them. It was a really exciting meeting and it looks like I'm going to get a lot of work out of it with the possibility of being recommended to other schools which is exciting. As with all Wednesdays I am tired after the BNI meeting this morning but really excited about the doors which are opening up for Serendipity! This is really happening!

Day 112 - Lost love

A very uneventful day today but I had lots of paperwork to do so spent a lot of it in front of the computer. I'm trying to write an application for a photography competition which I would love to win but am finding it really hard to put the words together. I was then sorting out wedding contracts and orders from the toddler group I went to photograph a few weeks ago. When it got to about 4pm I'd had enough and had to get out of the house and have some fresh air so went for a bit of a walk. This piece of "artwork" is on a wall at the top of The Dale where I live and I always walk past it so thought I'd maybe do a theme of urban art in the next few weeks as there are a number of budding artists around Sheffield at the moment!

Day 111 - Runaway Girl

I had a girls' night out in town last night with my friends Michelle and Andrea. We started off in a few bars and then went to the Quarter Bar where Andrea knew the blues band that were playing. We then went onto Runaway Girl because I've been wanting to go there for a while, it's my kind of music. Unfortunately the band weren't that great last night, they took too long setting up and then were a bit all over the place. I was loving the didgeridoo though which is why I went up to take this photo. I did have another idea for a shot today but it didn't work so I remembered that I had this shot which was taken at about 1:30am which in my book counts as a photo for today!

Day 110 - Derwent Dam

Getting to bed at 3am knowing that I was meeting Michelle for a walk at 11am wasn't that great a feeling but I have to say that getting out for a walk is a great way to get rid of that "I shouldn't have had those last few glasses of wine" feeling! A few weeks ago I walked (struggled if i'm honest) up Win Hill and Michelle said that she'd like to do that so we met at Heatherdene and had a great walk up Win Hill and back around Ladybower Resevoir. I have to say second time round the climb wasn't as tough and I don't know if it's because I had someone doing it with me, or I am amazingly fitter, or the hill's shrunk. Not sure but it was great to do and still a challenge. When we got back to the car I mentioned that I'd never seen the water coming over Derwent dam so we went to have a look. It was more of a trickle but still impressive. I had to take a photo of this sign which must have been put up in the 1920s. It was warning all members of the public not to wash or swim in the water and if you did then you would have to face a fine of no more than £5!! It's a bit cold at the moment but if you're only fined £5 I'd pay that for a dip in the summer!

Day 109 - Networking

When I started my business I joined a local BNI networking group which has been an amazing help in getting me work as well as giving me advice on how to run my business. BNI had a regional conference in Wakefield today which was a great opportunity to network with lots of business people as well as listen to 3 amazing motivational speakers. I've been to so many different leadership conferences in my time as a teacher but never heard speakers as great as these. They had such amazing advice which was all equally relevant to me at this early stage in my business. The 3 speakers were Frank De-Raffele from New York , Andy Bounds and Chris Hughes.

After the conference a few of us from my BNI chapter went out for a curry in town. It was just going to be a quiet evening but we ended up moving from the curry house to a few bars and lots of wine later. It was a great evening, no planning, all spontaneous and a great way to get to know some the guys better. I took this photo in the Quarter Bar which was empty apart from the 4 of us who went in....great lighting though!

Day 108 - Oreo

I have loved these cookies ever since I had them the first time I visited the states when I must have been about 15. Tescos and Sainsburys are now selling them as "2 for 1"! It's taken us years to realise how great these cookies are and now I can walk 2 mins out of the house and buy a packet when ever I want! I've been fighting another infestation of ladybirds at the moment in my apartment so these were the best way to build my strength back up...well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Day 107 - Pink

Another flower for today I'm afraid! As with most Wednesdays I was so tired today the thought of being creative for a shot was too much! I had a phone call at 6:30am as I was heading out for my weekly BNI meeting this morning to say that Rob, who is the BNI director, had to take his to Dad to hospital and could I lead the meeting! 6:30 is just too early for me but I did it and it went ok but it meant I was really tired for the rest of the day! Fortunately the flowers I bought for my indigo day last week are still looking beautiful so I thought I'd have another go at a macro.

Day 106 - Ella

Lucy brought Amy and Ella over to mine this afternoon because she was going to a meeting this evening and had asked me to babysit them. I love spending time with them and I think they love coming to mine. Ella has this great fascination with the curtains in my living room and loves playing "peek-a-boo" which works for me because I can get some gorgeous photos of her cheeky smile! I know I took a similar photo of her in March but when she looks this cute I couldn't resist another shot!

Day 105 - Rainbow

My rainbow themed week has come to an end so I wanted to conclude it with a rainbow photo. Ironically the weather didn't help me out today even though it's been really temperamental and I did wonder if I was going to get my rainbow as I was out this morning in the hail and sunshine. I had lots of ideas of how to get a rainbow from oil and water to reflecting light but I wanted to get the colours of the rainbow through a stream of water. I got very wet taking this photo but it works!

Ok Ben, your turn for the next theme. I've enjoyed doing a theme, it makes taking a photo a day a little more interesting.

Day 104 - Violet

The last of my rainbow themed days is violet. I didn't have loads of time to be creative today because I had a bit of a sore head this morning after a party I went to last night and then did a photo session for a friend and her family this afternoon. These shoes are one of my favourite pairs and could have counted for indigo and violet but thought I'd use them today. Now I just need to find an excuse to wear them out sometime soon!

Day 103 - Indigo

As a kid I remember doing a performance at infant school where we sang the rainbow song. I have vivid memories of being "blue" and wore a huge blue cardboard hat whilst we sang the song at the front of the rest of the school in assembly. I must have been about 6! That song has stayed in my head and the colours of the rainbow were: red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue.

As I got older we were taught other ways of remembering the rainbow colours...why we needed to know them I don't know!! This time I was taught: Richard (red) Of (orange) York (yellow) Gave (green) Battle (blue) In (indigo) Vain (violet). Ok, this now means that I'm a very confused school kid...one teacher taught pink and purple, the other indigo and violet! Is one aimed at infant schools and the other secondary? Anyway I've decided that indigo means the darker purple and violet is a lighter purple/pink. Confusion over and here's my indigo photo.

Day 102 - Blue eyed girl

Continuing on with my rainbow theme this week I thought I'd take a photo of my eyes seeing as they're blue! I've seen this idea done a few times and think it works really well at bringing out the colour of the eyes so thought I'd give it a go. I then tried my hand at "eyes" drama which I'm not so sure how well I've done. It basically means that I tried to convey the "blue" emotion through my eyes when looking into the camera! Don't think I'll be getting phone calls from agents any time soon!

I've had a good Serendipity day today developing links with another photographer in the Rotherham area. I met her on flickr and we both do portraits specialising in Children. She is an amazing photographer and its been great to get to know her and see how she runs her business. Sarah also gave up her full time job at Christmas to focus on her photography so it's been so good to spend time with her and develop lots of networking links. Sarah was working on her photography for 18 months before she gave up her job so is a little further down the line than me and also has a background in marketing so I feel as though I've been learning a lot more from her than the other way around. It was great spending time with her and her little boy Rocco today. I'm hoping to go over to her's again next week to have a go in her home studio which should be great fun.

Day 101 - Green Day

Continuing with the rainbow theme it was green's turn today. Green is one of my favourite colours and so thought I'd do a montage of green things that I've got around the house. 1. My gym bag is a gorgeous minty greem. 2. Bottles from the bathroom..mouthwash, make-up remover & shower gel, 3. Veg! 5 a day and all that so here's 4 of the 5. 4. My clothes..I have quite a few green things! 5. A necklace which is one of many green bits of jewelry I have. 6. Pen and notepad. 7. A favourite and rather expensive dress I bought at Christmas. 8. Grass from the park just outside. 9. Plastic bag. 10. I am wearing a green t-shirt today so this is part of me wearing it. 11. My favourite green shoes..they're falling apart but I won't give up on them because I LOVE them! 12. I couldn't do green photos without including a wine bottle!

DAY 100!!! - Yellow

This photo-a-day project has reached day 100 and I thought I'd celebrate but obviously I had to keep with the rainbow theme of this week. Today is a yellow day so I got out my yellow plates, had a cuppa in a yellow mug and even went to the lengths of having to buy little lemon cup cakes to get the perfect photo! A mini yellow celebration of reaching day 100....only 266 to go!

Day 99 - ORANGE

Day 2 of rainbow week and it's orange! I actually had several options today for a photo. I did think if things got bad I'd take a photo of some...oranges....but didn't want to do that. The other thoughts were a photo of my hair (although techniqually it's strawberry blonde and not orange!). The other thought was a sunset but I couldn't rely on that. I did a day's supply teaching today and so thought I'd find plenty of things to take a photo of from orange colouring pens to exercise books and text books. I did take a few shots of those but it was the barrier into my car park which caught my eye as I got home this evening. Very orange and very shiny!
Tomorrow is yellow and day 100 so I'm off to think up something a little bit special for that photo.

Day 98 - RED

When I started this project of a photo a day, my cousin Ben also decided to do the same thing which is great because when we are struggling for inspiration and ideas we can encourage each other. We're now 3 months in and have done some great shots between us. When I spoke to Ben this weekend we decided to do a rainbow theme this week. Today is RED and here is a sneak preview of the costume I have started to put together for a fancy dress animal party I'm going to at the weekend. Can you guess what I'm going to be?

Here's a link to Ben's RED photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bengarside2008/2396409972/

Day 97 - Friends

2008 is proving to be a great year for me. I know it'll be a year of learning curves and ups and downs but I definitely feel the happiest I've been in a long time and I'm loving all the new people I'm meeting as well as the things I'm experiencing. In January I went along to the local Sheffield walking group and hit it off with Michelle from the word go. It's been great getting to know her and lots of others over the last few months. Michelle is a girl after my own heart, a girl who loves wine & walking.
This photo just about qualifies as a day 97 photo as it was taken just after midnight! We were at Caitie's housewarming/off travelling party and experimenting with different photos trying to see which was the best angle for a good shot. I think we're both as bad as each other when it comes to criticising photos of ourselves so it was good when we both found a photo we liked!

Day 96 - Polaroid

I thought I'd experiment with a photo today. I'd seen this idea on another photographer's photo stream so thought I'd personalise it as my own. I like the idea of it being two photos in one. I did experiment with putting my face in black and white with the rest in colour but I think this worked best. This idea reminds me of the film Pleasantville with Reece Witherspoon where they enter a black and white world and slowly as they change what's going on around them the people change into colour. A little bit of creativity for a Saturday afternoon.

March Mosaic

Here are my photos from March. This year is going really quickly and I can't quite believe that I've done 3 months already of this photo a day project. I have to admit that there are days when I struggle for inspiration for a shot but the majority of the time I love being a little more creative and it combines my obsession with finding a photo in everything I look at with documenting my Serendipity Year.

Day 95 - Brown Eyed Girl

I popped in to see Lucy, Kevin, Amy and Ella this afternoon. I always love seeing Amy we always have a giggle. I'd been into Crookes today to buy something for an outfit I'm putting together for a party next week so I thought I'd get some advice from Amy about what worked and what didn't! She's a very astute 4 year old and was very honest with me....she laughed..a lot!! This photo is of her telling me what she thought! I guess it means more to me than anyone looking at the photo but it makes me smile! Also means I may need to rework this outfit!! More sparkles and glitter maybe?

Day 94 - Tell me your secrets...

There are days like today when I lack inspiration for a photo. It's been a good day because I've broken the back of the paperwork which I need to get my head around. The photos I took today for a portait sitting I didn't feel I could use for my photo a day so was sitting at home wondering what I could photograph. When I asked for inspiration from a friend he suggested: my ear lobe, a tree, my knee or a bee! Now the powers of deduction resulted in a photo of my ear lobe. I couldn't take a photo of a tree because it's dark and cold outside, trying to find a bee in the dark would be a long and drawn out process! A photo of my knee wouldn't be a good look so here's my ear! I promise not to leave it so late tomorrow! Tiredness won on this one today.

Day 93 - Upper Derwent

I absolutely LOVE waterfalls and am always looking at other peoples' photos of water. I'm not a landscape photographer but am always on the look out for a good photo. I had planned to go for a walk today and so decided to climb/clamber/struggle up Win Hill!! Man that's a big hill to climb! I parked at Ladybower and managed to choose the steepest way to climb up to Win Hill. Everyone I passed was coming down hill and was out of breath!! I finally made it to the top and it was definitely worth it but it did make me feel really unfit! This feeling wasn't helped when I saw a couple walking up the same steep climb I'd come up but they were carrying what looked like their homes on their backs!! I did feel better when I caught up with friends later and they all said that it was a tough climb..phew, maybe not as unfit as I thought!
On my way back to the car I walked past this waterfall and couldn't resist climbing down to get some shots.

Day 92 - Leadership Team: In with the new...out with the old!

I joined BNI in January and it's been great in supporting my new business, getting to now other business people as well as widening my networking group. In February I was asked if I would take on one of the 3 Leadership Team roles which starts on 1st April 2008. (each leadership team takes on a term of 6 months). My role is Membership Team Co-ordinator and I'm looking forward to doing it as it has similar roles that I used when I was teaching and leading my Faculty/Year Group. Tonight I spent the evening wrapping presents for the old team leaders to say thank you before I went out to the pub. Here is my new badge to represent the role with the gifts for the old team.

Day 91 - A Pinch of Salt

Today was another really uninspired day for a photo!! I started the day at 6:15am in Leeds for a Leadership Training session for BNI. I have been asked to take on one of the 3 Leadership Team roles for the next 6 months and we had a training session today. In true BNI style it started at 7am so Kim and I drove up and stayed at the hotel last night so we didn't have to get up at a ridiculous hour like all the others! Even though we'd had a relaxing evening I was still shattered when I got home having been up since 6:15am. I was feeling really uninspired about taking a photo and so went round the house trying to find some photogenic! This magnet became my target! Good advice which has done me no harm so far!

Day 90 - Nearly Summer

I needed to get out for some fresh air today so went for a walk up onto Burbage and Haggor Tor. It was an amazing day and I would have loved to have gone on a longer walk but Kim and I were going up to Leeds for the evening so I made the most of the morning. The sky was an amazing blue and I know you shouldn't look straight at the sun but I loved the contrast with the clouds and sky. Summer is nearly here and I am loving it, it makes me smile!