Day 211 - Sunflowers

Something to brighten up my day today. I was given these by a friend who felt that after the last couple of weeks I needed something to cheer me up. Perfect!

Day 210 - Skiing

I gave myself a day off today and went up to Castleford to Xscape with some of my BNI contacts. We'd decided that we needed to have a social and a few of us were keen to go skiing. 15 of us spent a few hours in our salopettes, gloves and thermals whilst the sun was beating down outside! It was brilliant and just the kind of thing I needed to do. After a coffee a few of us decided to have a go at the high wire assault course! I was fine until the guy told me to throw myself off the ledge and jump out to the first platform! I made the big mistake of looking down and realising quite how far up I was! Once I was off it was OK, scary, but I'm really glad we did it. I spent the rest of the day lying in the sun on the balcony. A perfect day off!

Day 209 - Cheeky

I am starting to get quite a number of family portrait bookings which is great. I had a sitting with a family (a 10 month old, 2 4 year olds and a 10 year old) up in Castleford. It was a really hot afternoon so not the best for taking kids into the garden but we found some shade and let the kids play whilst I took photos. I took some bubbles with me which the kids loved and I got a few good photos of them playing. I loved this photo of the 2 cousins, they were a cheeky pair and were coming up with all sorts of photos I could take of them together....my own little assistants. To keep them interested for a little longer I let them help me take photos of their dolls which worked a treat!

The shoot lasted for about 25 minutes before they all started to get fed up and the idea of eating an ice cream was a much better option than having their photo taken!

Day 208 - Jennie

I had another wedding today. This was booked about a year ago when I was first thinking about leaving teaching to start my own photography business. The bride, Jennie, is one of the teachers from the school where I used to teach and it was great to be able to take the photos for her. She was brilliant to photograph and I'm really pleased with the photos I took. I can't wait to put them in an album for her and Adam. I'm definitely starting to enjoy photographing weddings. It's an exhausting day but I can't compare a day photographing a wedding where everyone is having a good time to a day teaching teenagers! I don't regret my career change in the slightest!

Day 207 - Thank Crunchie...

...it's Friday!

OK this photo is an excuse to:
1. Buy chocolate and eat it!
2. Play with my macro lens again!

Even though it is Friday I'm actually working all weekend doing a wedding tomorrow and then doing two portrait sessions on Sunday. It's been good to get out for a drink tonight before the manic weekend begins!

Day 206 - Macro

I bought myself a new toy/lens today. I had been thinking about buying a macro lens after seeing it being used by many other photographers for portraits with excellent results. I'm shooting a wedding on Saturday so am looking forward to using it then.

I decided to have a play with it this evening...I think we're going to get on just fine!

Day 205 - Devonshire Green

For the second year in a row summer is struggling to arrive in the UK so it was great to have a sunny evening today. I went down into town to meet a friend who wanted to pick my brain about photography. He offered to buy me dinner in exchange for my wealth of knowledge! I'm easily persuaded so we met in Devonshire Green and enjoyed the sunshine with everyone else before eating pie and peas...true yorkshire food.

This photo is taken in the newly developed Devonshire Green area which was being made the most of by loads of people. The Forum has deckchairs set out and people were chilling out and enjoying the evening sunshine...just as it should be.

Day 204 - Spa

Still not particularly inspired so an evening spent at the spa with my friend Beth was just what I needed! During July Spa 1877 in Sheffield is doing a 2 for 1 so Beth and I made the most of the deal and enjoyed 2 1/2 hrs of pure indulgence! We chilled out in the sauna and spa, I braved the plunge pool...Beth put her big toe in and decided it wasn't for her! We exfoliated with ice and then relaxed with a paper and hot chocolate. (we could have had herbal tea but there's healthy and over healthy!)

After relaxing we went and joined a few friends for a glass of wine...or two. Just what I needed after the events of the last week. I feel chilled and relaxed...until tomorrow!

Day 203 - Uninspired

The photo says it all! I have been completely uninspired today with work and taking a photo for this project. I guess that's allowed every now and then! Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Day 202 - Who you lookin' at?

After a relaxing breakfast I spent some time photographing baby Charlotte. She was perfectly content and more interested in grabbing my lens than smiling but we got some good photos. I think photos of "behind the scenes" would have been far more amusing as I had 3 grown adults pulling faces, making silly noises and trying every trick in the book to get her to smile! Once the camera was away she was happy to give me lots of smiles but not so fussed during her modelling session!

Day 201 - The River Thames

I went down to Crowmarsh, near Oxford to take some photos for a friend this weekend. His sister had a baby back in February and he wasn't sure what to get her for a present so I suggested he get me to take photos of his niece. A win win for both of us!

Day 200 - Smashed!

I've had a really frustrating day today! I got down to my car to find that it had been broken into over night! Mine wasn't the only car, they'd obviously had a go at a number of cars in our carpark....all mindless vandalism. They'd gone through the glove compartment and even got into the boot of the car but stolen nothing as there was nothing to take! I've then spent the rest of the day calling the police, phoning my insurance company and trying to find somewhere that would replace my passenger window today. I found out why my car insurance is so cheap because they don't cover me for any replacement glass!! Very annoying! Not exactly fully comprehensive...very uncomprehensive if you ask me!

Anyway I now have a new window and a back log of work which I should have done today as well as a hole in my bank account! What a great day!

Day 199 - Hands

I had another baby portrait today with a very cute little boy. I love photographing kids and baby Sam was brilliant. He giggled from the moment I arrived until I left.

I am starting to get enquiries for baby portraits from friends of friends/contatcs which is great. I am being recommended to people and am starting to get a lot of families on my books which is exciting!

Day 198 - Snake Pass

After lunch with Granny I made my way back across the Snake Pass to Sheffield. I can't believe it's the middle of July! It felt like it was March with the wind, rain and miserable weather!

Day 197 - Love..a child's perspective

My Granny always has great books lying around at her house and one of my favourites is called "LOVE". It's full of kids' points of view on love. If only life and love was this simple! It makes me smile every time.

Day 196 - Flowers

I'm going over to visit my Granny tomorrow and wanted to take her something to brighten her day...apart from me! One of my contacts in BNI is a florist (The Little Flowershop, Abbeydale Road, Sheffield) and she makes the most amazing bouquets. All her flowers are ethically sourced and I'm always really impressed with what she creates. I phoned her up to ask for a bright and cheerful bouquet and she'd created this for me by the time I arrived at the shop! Granny will love it!

Day 195 - Tom

This is Tom, a legend! It's been about 2 years since I last saw Tom properly so it was great to meet up and catch up over lunch.

Tom was one of the young people I worked with when I was doing youthwork in Luton. He's a very gifted musician and it was great to hear about his ideas and thoughts on what he wants to do after he finishes uni. It was great to catch up.

Day 194 - HYHG Ball

One of the main reasons for coming down south was to take photos at a Charity Ball at Hatfield House. My friend Debbie works for Herts Young Homeless and she had organised a fundraising ball. She asked me months ago if I'd be willing to come along and take photos for them. The idea being that I would take portraits for people who wanted them then put them onto a slideshow for the end of the evening when people would be able to buy them. As the day approached I was feeling really nervous about the job as I've not had to process images on the spot and hoped I would have the time to do it. Fortunately the evening went really well and I was in my element. I got some great group shots for people and was able to help raise money for the charity as well as get my name known amongst new people.

Day 193 - Family

I headed down to Luton today to catch up with friends and also do two photography jobs over the weekend. After an arduous 4 1/2 journey I arrived in time to meet my godson from school and spend a bit of time with him. I then went over to my friend Stacey's to do some family portraits for them. It was a miserable evening but we managed to get 25 mins when the rain stopped and I dragged everyone outside to take the photos of them there, natural light is so much better! They were such an easy family to photograph, lots of fun and very smiley!

Day 192 - Marketing

I was asked to do a photography job today out at Robin Hood airport in Doncaster. It was for a web based company who wanted a few photos taking of their employees. It took us a ridiculously long time to get out to the airport and then once I was there I'd taken all the photos we needed in about 20 minutes!

Day 191 - Clumsy Katy!

I've been doing this Project 365+1 for just over 6 months. In this time a few of my flickr contacts have had various injuries which they've photographed and documented. Ben hurt his ankle and ligaments in a football injury. Jon broke his ankle when out taking photos. Now it's my turn! I fell over last Saturday evening on my way to the ball, before any alcohol was consumed!! I now have a very attractive scab and bruise which goes perfectly with all the other bruises I have! I didn't want to be out done by Ben and Jon!

Day 190 - Puerto Rico

A serious game's evening with Mark, Kim, James and me! I had an appointment with a couple in Wakefield to talk about their wedding this evening and then I went round to Mark and Kim's for a take away and game's evening. Mark introduced us to a new game which took about as long to set up as it did to play it! Great game though.

Day 189 - Serendipity

My lovely friend Leanne sent me a parcel today from her recent trip to the States. She'd found a "Serendipity" coffee shop and had to buy me a bag and chocolate bar! Serendipity is going global...Sheffield, New York, Milan, Paris!

Day 188 - Giggles

Today was a very slow day after last night. It was the Wimbledon Men's Final so my friends Kim, Mark and Rafi came over to watch the tennis, eat strawberries and have a cream tea. The best way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Rafi is full of energy so we were running round after him trying to tire him out. I found tickling was the best way to get a reaction out of him!

Day 187 - SWG Ball

I had a mad day today. This morning I was in Bradford photographing a bride getting ready on her special day. I wasn't the main photographer but had been asked to help because the bride wanted a female photographer whilst she was getting ready. I then had to get back to Sheffield and be down in town for 6pm to take photos for the Sheffield Walking Group Summer Ball.

This photo is from the Ball which was at The Ivory. A great evening and it was good to take some photos and then put the camera down and enjoy the evening.

Day 186 - Accessories

I'm off to a ball on Saturday and wanted to brighten up my little black dress so I took an old hair band and decided to sew it on. Nothing like a little bit of sparkle!

Day 185 - Neil

A few months ago my friend Neil asked me if I'd be willing to spend a day teaching him how to use his camera properly. For me this is the perfect combination of teaching and photography...I loved it! Neil came over to mine and I went through the basics of using the camera and learning about ISOs, aperture, f stops, exposure and shutter speeds. I also looked at how to compose a photo in a better way. We then went into town and put the theory into practice. It was a really fun day and great to see Neil's photography improving. When we left he said "This has been great, I can't believe these photos are mine! It's like looking at someone else's camera." You can't get much better than that! So, if anyone hasn't a clue what a f-stop or ISO are then let me know and I'll spend the day teaching you how to use your camera! I think this could be the next string to my bow...Serendipity Photography training...I like it!

Day 184 - Lovely Lucy

We went down to the Jazz in the Botanical Gardens this evening and met up with Lucy and a couple of her friends. I had thought it was going to get rained off but it was a gorgeous evening, really chilled and relaxed, just what we all needed. Wine, nibbles, spitting cherry seeds into a cup, great company and good music.

Day 183 - Katy & Ella

It was a gorgeously sunny day today and I got fed up of sitting indoors working so I went round to see Lucy and her two girls. We sat in the garden and played games...just the way every sunny afternoon should be spent. Ella is my goddaughter, Amy's, little sister. She's gorgeous but not much of a smiler so I love this photo because there's definitely a little smile there...or is she just squinting in the sunshine?!

Day 182 - Flowers

Ben and Claire bought me some star gazer lilies this weekend so they became the focus of my photo for the day.

Day 181 - Cousins

We tried several times this weekend to get a shot of the 4 of us together for Granny but every time we took a photo someone was pulling a face or pushing someone else out of the shot! It's amazing how we all quickly reverted back to being kids when we all got together!! This was the best we could do with a group photo so I hope Granny likes it!

Day 180 - Cousins & Project 365+1ers

We all got up and were treated to a HUGE breakfast thanks to Fiona and Bill. We then went out for a walk around Ladybower & Derwent Resevoirs and ended up in the pub for a late lunch. I thought it would only be right to put a photo of Ben and me into this project seeing as we're doing this together and supporting each other through it.

Day 179 - Arrival

The great Thomson/Garside Cousin weekend finally arrived along with my sister and two cousins (+ other halves) and all their luggage! We had planned a get together over a year ago when we were all at Mark and Claire's wedding but trying to find a weekend that we could all do was really hard! With 2 Doctors, an Event Manager and a Photographer free weekends are pretty difficult to find. Everyone came to mine in Sheffield as it is half way between Newcastle and London. Plus I have the penthouse with plenty of room for everyone to stay.

Day 178 - Coffee

I met up with my friend Michelle today for a coffee and a catch up. It was good for both of us to get a break from work and have a giggle before going back to work.