Day 24 - 24th January - Gorgeous Baby Feet

I did another Shutterbug shoot today with a very gorgeous 2 1/2 month old baby, Finlay. I got some lovely photos of him with his mum but I just loved this photo of his very cute feet so this is my photo today.

Day 23 - 23rd January - Fun & Games

A Saturday night of fun and games at the Penthouse! I'm a fan of board games and don't play them often enough so I invited my uni friends round to mine for an evening of wine, take away and games. We had a great evening with lots of laughs & great company. You can't ask for more than that!

Day 22 - 22nd January - Old School Communication

What a week! I have met with 4 engaged couples who have all booked me to do their wedding photography later this year. I have taken business portrait shots for 2 young, up and coming entrepreneurs. I have done my first Shutterbug shoot of the year with a very cute 6 week old baby and today I spent the day with a gentleman who had been given my Serendipity Photography Training Day Voucher as a birthday present! This week has seen all aspects of my business which is exactly how I like it!

The training day that I led today was with a retired gentleman who is a very keen photographer. He wanted to develop his knowledge and improve his skills when taking photos. We had a great day and it was a real pleasure to teach someone who was so keen to learn. It was great for me to see immediate results over the course of the day and I look forward to hearing how he gets on in the future. I had to apologise to his wife because I have a feeling he will be taking even more photos than before!

The photo for today was taken in the village where I did my training today. It is a beautiful village just outside Wakefield. I loved this phone box and letter box. These say "England" to me but unfortunately due to emails and mobile phones I wonder how long they will remain. A simple selective colour procedure on this photo makes the dramatic red stand out.

Day 21 - 21st January - A 6 week old Shutterbug

My 1st Shutterbug of the year! I love doing my Shutterbug shoots. I meet some wonderful families and get to photograph some very beautiful babies. Baby Tommy is 6 weeks old and his parents were given one of my "Birth to 1st Year" vouchers for Christmas. This voucher means that I will be doing 4 sittings with the family over the year and I can't wait to see Tommy growing up. He'll definitely be part of my photo a day project so you will also be able to watch how he grows over the year.

Day 20 - 20th January - "I'd lose my head if it wasn't screwed on.."

I had a really manic day today starting with my 6:30am BNI breakfast networking meeting. I had lots of people to meet which included 2 wedding couples and several business contacts. By the time it got to 4pm I was shattered and had forgotten lots of things including car keys, pens, memory cards. My sister, mum and cousin all carry Jelly Babies around with them for when they need a sugar boost (OK so I don't have the diabetic excuse they do but...) so I decided to go and buy some for myself to keep me going until I could go home and stop (this was at 8:30pm). The Jelly Babies didn't only give me that sugar boost to keep going but also inspired me for the photo of the day!

Day 19 - 19th January - Business Portrait

Another business portrait shoot day today. I have been doing work for Ashley for a few months. He has set up a Student Letting Agency business and has needed photos for the website. My job spec was to get "funky, quirky student life style shots" for them. I have taken photos around Sheffield which will go onto the website and then had to do some business portraits of Ashley and his colleagues. I didn't want to do the usual head shots because Ashley and his business is youthful and aimed at students. We did a mix of shots around their office, we took the living room & office outside and had great fun doing something a little different. I love jobs like this as it lets me get creative and experiment with lighting and backgrounds.

Here is another of the shots I did with Ashley. We took the idea of a living room and put it outside the office.

Day 18 - January 18th - An Apple for the teacher.

One of the jobs that I am doing at the moment is to write a Scheme of Work for Sheffield Museums. I did a job for the Museum last year and it's great to be working with them again. One of their current galleries is Robert Mapplethorpe who is an iconic portrait photographer. I am creating a scheme of work aimed at GSCE and A Level students who are studying Art and Photography. The idea is to encourage schools to bring their students into the museum and see the different galleries that they have. It's a great job for me combining my years of teaching with my love of photography. I thought an apple for the teacher would be an appropriate photo for today.

I also found out this afternoon that my photo of the snowboarder in Sheffield has been put onto the local BBC website. I was also called by BBC radio Sheffield to ask if I would go onto one of their shows next week to talk about travel and photography. It's been a good day. : )

Day 17 - January 17th - Business Woman

I did a photoshoot today with my friend Sophie. I met Sophie just under a year ago when she needed a photographer to photograph the launch event for her business. Since then we have done a lot of work together, supporting each other's businesses and developing a good friendship along the way.

Sophie works in the Media industry. She started by getting to the semi finals of "Britain's Got Talent" in 2008 with her belly dancing. She is a fantastic belly dancer and part of her business is teaching others to belly dance to combine fun & fitness. She is also working with local radio and wanted to get some more professional shots done for her portfolio. We spent the afternoon doing a mix of shots, coming up with new exciting business ideas and having a good old catch up. I got a good set of photos, the struggle came trying to pick just one for me photo of the day!

I also really liked this shot of Sophie. We wanted to get some relaxed shots of Sophie working at her desk to show a different side, still professional yet fun. This wasn't my photo of the day but was a close second.

Day 16 - January 16th - Snow Geese

I had quite an adventure today. The snow is finally thawing in Sheffield so I decided to take the car out for a drive in the search of snow out in the peaks! It didn't take long to find some.....and then get stuck in it! I went to see the Alpaca Farm on the outskirts of Sheffield and managed to get stuck in the snow and ice and had to wait for a tractor to come and rescue me. It was all a little embarrassing but whilst I waited for the tractor to make it's way to the farm I had a wander round. Its' an amazing farm and the alpacas are beautiful creatures. I did take a few photos of them but I then came across 3 snow geese who really caught my eye. They weren't so pleased to see me and did spend most of the time "shouting" at me, don't think they were loving the camera! However the contrast between their orange beaks & webbed feet and their blue eyes next to their white feathers and the snow made for some really striking photos. Getting stuck in the snow had it's advantages. However I have learnt that my Yaris is not a 4x4 and maybe I should carry a shovel in the boot!

I did take a photo of the tractor with my car but didn't post it as my photo of the day because I loved the one of the geese. However I thought I'd put it up here so you could see it with your own eyes. It doesn't look like the car is stuck but believe me it is all ice & slush and if I tried moving the car the wheels just went deeper into it! Nothing like an adventure on a cold Saturday.

Day 15 - January 15th - Paperwork

I have spent the last week chained to my desk sorting through the paperwork side of things which comes with running your own business. It's January which means tax return so I have spent ages working out all the expenses, incomes, fixed rates, capital, etc.... I think my head is very close to exploding so I am very glad to see that it's nearly done. The main lesson learnt is to keep up to date with my expenses...don't want to be having another January like this one again! Who knows, I may even sort myself out and fill in my next tax return in June...now that would be organised!! The photo today was something to cheer me up. With all this paperwork I needed something colourful so the paperclips saved the day.

Day 14 - January 14th - Is it thawing?

After these weeks of snow and days of treacherous black ice it actually looks like it may be thawing! It's very cold out and more snow is forecast but it was great to see the snow melting, maybe life will start to get back to normal!

In the UK we seem to be so caught up in the winter freeze, which is causing problems for so many, but we appear to have become blind to other things happening around the world. It has been horrible to hear the stories of the earthquake in Haiti. I have been watching the news and have been so saddened by the photos and stories of people who have lost their lives. I think it's really important for us to support the victims of one of the worst earthquakes ever. If you do want to donate then here is a website which is supporting the cause. http://www.dec.org.uk/

Day 13 - January 13th - "I'd like to thank..."

This morning was our first BNI (Business Network International) meeting of the year. We were meant to meet last week but the snow put a stop to that. Our meeting starts at 6:45am so I was out attempting to de-ice the car at 6:20am....far too early and there was far too much ice! When I finally got going I realised how treacherous the roads were. The snow had started to thaw yesterday and it had rained but then went down to -5 over night so everywhere froze and Sheffield was covered in black ice. When I arrived at Sheffield United Football ground, where we have our meeting, their car park looked really clear...but I soon found out that it was a one pure sheet of ice! I managed to swerve into a space but then had the nightmare of making it down the car park to the meeting. There were moments when I was clinging onto cars just to keep upright. I've never experienced black ice quite like it. There were far to many accidents and I think the ambulance service had all their vehicles out all day.

The BNI meeting I go to is a networking group of 34 different business men and women which meet once a week. The aim of the meeting is to share with all the members about our businesses and then we work on finding referrals for each other. It has been a great way for my business to grow over the last 2 years and I have found that personal recommendations means a lot more to people. As part of the meeting we get 60 seconds each to tell the others about our business and what sort of work we would like people to find for us. We then vote for the best one of the week and they win the 60 second Oscar....this week I WON!!! I only get the Oscar for the week so I'm making the most of it! Now, need to go and write my speech.

Day 12 - January 12th - Sheffield Wheel

People are finally thawing out after the all the snow we're getting and finally enquiries for wedding photography are starting to come in. Over the last few days I've had 5 emails/phone calls from couples asking to meet with me to discuss their weddings which has been really exciting! Christmas was obviously the time when everyone was getting enagaged!
This evening I had a meeting with a lovely couple called Nathan and Jo. They are getting married in Sheffield in June and I went to meet them in town to show them my wedding albums. I arrived a little early so decided to go down to our wheel which is in the centre of town to take my photo of the day. The wheel was only meant to stay until January 2010 but it is now staying for another year. The views from the top are great so maybe I'll take a photo from there later in the year as one of my photos a day.

Day 11 - January 11th Christmas Chocolates

I've given in and opened my Christmas Chocolates that I was trying to be good about! I have been sorting out my online tax return and it has been sending me ever so slightly mad so I had to do something to lift me from the pit of accounts. I've never been a big fan of Guyian chocolates but my mum and dad found a dark chocolate version and I love them! I think I'd better go and try another one with a cuppa.

Day 10 - January 10th Travel Companion

A long train journey lay ahead of me today as I came back up to Sheffield. Sundays are always the worst days for traveling because the trains stop everywhere! Fortunately I had my trusty i-pod, Professional Photographer magazine and beloved Mac Book Pro with me to keep me entertained. I had hoped to get out for another walk by the canal before I came back up north but the light was so flat that it didn't really inspire me. I preferred to stay in the warm rather than go out in the -2 degree weather!

Day 9 - January 9th - Frozen

Before the birthday celebrations began today I went out for an amazing walk along the Grand Union canal. It was completely frozen and so pretty. I went a bit mad with taking photos so had a few to choose from for my photo of the day. I picked this one because I loved the shadows. I took this photo at about 11am but it looks a lot later in the afternoon...winter sun.

Day 8 - January 8th - Snowbear

It's only been just over a week since I was down in Croxley for Christmas but I headed back down there again today. My Granny celebrated her 90th birthday on Thursday so we had a family meal planned for her this weekend. Fortunately I had booked the train back home because I wouldn't have wanted to brave the roads in this weather.
When I arrived at my parents the kid in me came out and I went out into the garden to build a snowman! Unfortunately the snow was too powdery to roll round the garden so I ended up sculpting a little snowbear on the bench.

Day 7 - January 7th - Sheffield Boarder

Another gorgeous snowy day in Sheffield.....and another day of sitting in front of the computer going through receipts and accounts! It didn't take long for me to need to get out of the house and go for a walk in the snow. I live on the top of one of Sheffield's 7 hills and we have a couple of great parks nearby so I wandered round to Meersbrook Park. It's a really popular park in the snow because of it's brilliant hill which is amazing for sledging down. When I got there several groups of kids had found "For Sale" signs and bits of plastic to sledge on. Others had come better prepared with their snowboards! I was really jealous watching the guys having so much fun on the slope. It's all a little cheaper than heading out to the alps but Sheffield council could do with putting in a button lift....it's a nightmare to climb back up!

Day 6 - January 6th Snowy Self-Portrait

After being stuck in doors for most of the day yesterday I was really pleased to get out this morning. I had to cancel a meeting yesterday and we rearranged it for today so I wrapped up warm and headed down to Sheffield town centre. My road is completely snowed in but I was really impressed with the main roads and Sheffield's Street Force who were out gritting and clearing the pavements.
My meeting was with Anita (education co-ordinator) from Museums Sheffield. I did some work with them last February and they got in touch with me a few days ago with a new project for me to do. I have been asked to create a schools' resource aimed at GCSE and A'level students that looks at some of the photography galleries that are currently in the Graves Gallery. At the moment there is a selection of portraits by Robert Mapplethorpe so that is to be my focus for the scheme of work. However they have also asked me to try and make it a little more photography portrait based so that it can be used for other exhibitions in the future. I am really excited about this project as it combines my love of portrait photography with my 9 year teaching experience. I couldn't ask for a more dream job! After I had had a good chat and found out more about the work that they wanted me to do I went for a wander around the gallery to familarise myself with Mapplethorpe's work....and I loved it! The Graves gallery have also got a Comedians' exhibition which is from the Portrait Gallery and has some great shots of past and present comedians. I had a really self indulgent morning wandering around the gallery and can write it down as work.
I then made my way back up to Woodseats and had a wander through the local park which is where I took this photo....my first self portrait of the year.

Day 5 - January 5th - Snowed in!

It's well and truly winter...one like we've not had in years! We've had snow since before Christmas and it's showing no signs of letting up. It started snowing again in the night and as I'm writing this at 8:30pm it's not stopped all day! Fortunately I work from home so I cancelled the one meeting I had today and snuggled up with my computer and the accounts!! I did venture out to go and buy some more milk...I had a craving for hot chocolate...and so got a couple of photos. The first one in this montage is of my balcony first thing this morning. The 2nd is of my road....a winter wonderland! I'm hoping to get out tomorrow to take a few more wintry shots. I have a feeling that the snow theme could run for the next few days at least!

Day 4 - January 4th - Snowy Sunset

The first "official" day back at work and I was faced with the arduous task of getting started on my accounts and admin work! I managed to prolong the start of the day by going to a body pump class at the gym and then got home to settle down to the paper work. It felt like a very long day so it was great to see the sun setting over the snowy rooftops. Tomorrow is another day.

Day 3 - January 3rd - Sledging with Amy

We have had snow on the ground and below freezing temperatures for the last 3 weeks which is really unusual. It has it's moments of being very frustrating but on a Sunday, when you have all day to play and enjoy it, snow is brilliant! I went round for lunch with my really good friends Kevin, Lucy and their 2 girls Amy and Ella and it wasn't long before we were wrapping up and heading out with the sledge to find the nearest hill. Living in Sheffield that wasn't hard! This is Amy, she is my goddaughter and was very proudly showing off the gaps in her teeth. 6 teeth lost so far and 1 wobbly one....and counting!

Day 2 - January 2nd - Training

One of my (many) new year's reslutions is to do a 10K run this year. I had been planning to do one this September in Sheffield but have just found out that I am photographing a wedding the day before in Sussex so will have to look for another run to do. I am determined to do a 10K run and started with day 1 of training today. It was a successful day...I managed 4k which really surprised me. Long may it continue!

Day 1 - January 1st Finlay

What a year the last one has been! This time last year I had no idea I'd be meeting this very gorgeous little man and now here he is! Finlay is the very cute son of a very good friend of mine. He was born on the 1st November 2009 and I am looking forward to watching him grow up over the next year. He may well feature in a number of my photos a day as I am also doing my Shutterbugs "Bump to 1st Year" photo session with him.
Finlay brought his mum over to wish me Happy New Year...what a year it's going to be!

2010 - The start of a new photo a day project!

With the gentle persuasion of my cousin Ben I have decided to start the Photo-a-Day project again. I did it back in 2008 and really enjoyed it but it was quite hard to get inspired on different days so taking a year out to concentrate on other things was a good move. However we have just started a new decade, my business Serendipity Photography is starting it's 3rd year and I wanted to start the project all over again! 2010 promises to be an exciting year, I have great ideas for my business, my sister is getting married, I've been persuaded to train for a 10K run and we celebrate my Granny's 90th birthday. These are just a few things that I'm going to be documenting in my photo-a-day so keep coming back to this blog to see what I'm up to. Let's do this!