Day 43 - 12th February - Shutterbug Giggles

This is the gorgeous baby of one of my friends. I am taking photos of him over the next year and can't wait to see how he grows up. I did a shoot with him the other week but didn't really get any of him smiling so went back for a 2nd go today. He is 3 1/2 months old and has started to really giggle. I had great fun making him laugh (although I would hate to see a video of me doing that!) and I got a few gorgeous shots of him really laughing. This, as they say, is my money shot of the shoot!

Day 42 - 11th February - Serendipity's 2nd Anniversary

2 years ago today I had a launch party to celebrate the start of my photography business. 2 years in I'm still going strong and am loving my job! I've photographed some gorgeous babies, wonderful families, stunning brides and grooms as well as taken headshots and fashion shoots. I have networked, got to know some amazing businesses and suppliers who I am now working with. I still have to pinch myself that this is happening and is successful and can't wait to see how things get bigger and better in the next few years.
I don't think you can celebrate a birthday without a cake and so my photo had to be of Serendipity's birthday cake. I added the strawberry because of course I am the "strawberry photographer".
Thanks for all of you who have supported and encouraged me in my business.

Day 41 - 10th February - The Cheesegrater

I led one of my photography training days today with 2 very willing and keen students. I spend the first part of my training day looking at the theory behind taking a photo and then after taking them out to lunch we go out to play with the cameras and put what they have learnt into practice. This afternoon we had a cold wander around Sheffield town centre working with snow showers, grey clouds, sunshine and blue skies! There are always so many photos to take when you are out looking for them. I am always on the look out for red, white and black compositions to take for a collection that I am doing. This photo is of one of Sheffield's most photographed and newest car parks which had a bright red all nearby, perfect for the sort of colours and composition I was looking for.

Day 40 - 9th February - Champagne

This is a week of celebrations as I am celebrating 2 years in business and my birthday. When my friends Kim and Lou came round for the evening I thought I'd start celebrations off early with some champagne which my parents had left for me. If I had the money I would always have a bottle of champagne in the fridge but unfortunately the odd bottle every now and then will have to suffice!

Day 39 - 8th February - Sleeping Beauties

I did a photo shoot today with a lovely family. We went up to Graves Park Animal Farm for a family outing. We had to compete with some snow showers so we took some shots in a covered shelter with some animals and then dashed outside for some shots around the farm when the snow had eased up a bit. Life would be dull if there wasn't a challenge involved!
After I had finished taking the photos of the family I went back into the covered pens and had to take this photo of some gorgeous piglets who were snuggled up together keeping warm. Beautiful.

Day 38 - 7th February - Student Night

I have been commissioned to take some shots of students so in order to get a few "bar" shots I went along to a student night that a friend of mine was involved in. I got there at about 8:30pm after going to a wedding suppliers' networking meeting so wasn't really dressed for a night out clubbing. When I got there the only few people around were the guys who were organising the evening so they became the subject of my photos. These guys had planned the whole evening as part of their degree in event management and as I was chatting to them I realised that they could have been in my year group at school when I was teaching!!! I felt old! I did hang around until about 10pm but still the evening hadn't kicked off so I went home with not as many "student" shots as I would have liked. I was told that if I hung around until about 11:30-midnight I'd get some great shots but with my parents visiting and the thought of a hot chocolate waiting for me I went home!! (I am old!)

Day 37 - 6th February - Mi-Phone

This is the 20 month old son of my friend Simon. I have taken photos of him since he was 3 weeks old, he was in fact my 2nd ever Shutterbug! He is at a very cute age, chattering away, running around, throwing himself on the floor to show his version of a somersault and hiding behind the curtains in my living room! Simon came over this morning to collect his car after coming round with other BNI colleagues of ours for a WWF (Wine, Wii and Food) evening last night. There was a lot of competitiveness and wine being drunk so taxis were the only form of transport to get people home!
Simon gave Oli his i-phone to play with whilst we were having a cup of tea and I was amazed at how easily he picked it up and started playing with one of the apps! (It was an app that had different animal sounds on it which changed every time you shook it!) The cutest thing was that he started dancing at every different sound that came out of the phone, from oinking pigs to quacking ducks! I-Phone users get younger every day!

Day 36 - 5th February - Peek a boo

Another beautiful Shutterbug for me to photograph. This little one is my newest and tiniest goddaughter. I have 3 other godchildren who are all wonderful and really special to me but it was a real surprise and an honour when my best friend Kim and her husband Mark asked me to be godmother to Becca. One thing I am doing for them is doing my Shutterbugs "Bump to 1st Year" package and it's going to be really special to document Becca's first year in photos.
When Becca's brother was born 3 years ago I took a photo of him at about 3 days old looking over his dad's shoulder so had wanted to get a similar shot of Becca. She's a few months older but I hope this works. Becca is a very gorgeous baby with the most amazingly deep blue eyes.

Day 35 - 4th February - Mother and Daughter

This is the very gorgeous (and new) Blair and her mum Jessica. I met Jessica and Alex about 2 years ago when I spoke to them about taking their photos for their wedding which is going to be this year, 1st May 2010. In between now and then Blair has come along and their plans for their wedding has changed slightly. They are still getting married in May and I am very excited to be doing their photos but they have changed a few things on the day to fit in with being new parents and having new responsibilities. When they knew they were pregnant they got in touch with me to ask if I would do my Shutterbugs "Birth to 1st Year" package for them so it was really exciting when I heard that Blair had arrived 2 weeks ago.
We had a great morning doing a selection of photos and I got some lovely ones of her awake but just loved this one of Blair with Jessica. They are besotted parents...and rightly so! I can't wait to take more photos of her throughout the year, as well as photographing Alex and Jessica's special day in May.

Day 34 - 3rd February - My Mobile Office

I decided that today would be more productive than yesterday. I started with my weekly BNI meeting which is a breakfast meeting from 6:45am-8:30am. I then did a good hour's work out at the gym before ordering a wedding album for one of my 2009 couples. It was then on to sorting through my inbox, updating the calendar and ticking off the "to do" list. All those things were done on my mobile office which has been a godsend since I got it about a year ago. Although yesterday I spent most of the day at home today was different so it was great to be able to keep in touch with everyone who emailed/phoned me.

Day 33 - 2nd February - Pizza

Unfortunately today was another of those days where I was struggling to get any inspiration. I think this grey weather doesn't help as I found getting started at all really hard. It's days like this when working for yourself and working from home can be a real downside because you don't get out and see people. I thrive on people, it's what I do for my job so to be stuck at home, struggling to get motivated and feeling constantly exhausted the only thing I could eat was comfort food....pizza!

Day 32 - 1st February - Jack Evenings are Back

I am a big fan of 24 and so with the new series back on Sky my "24" nights with my lovely friend Kim have started up again. They are basically a good excuse for us to catch up, have a glass of wine and chill out in the Penthouse. We only managed to watch the first episode of the series as Kim got a call from her husband Mark to say that their baby Becca wasn't settling so she had to go home. Fortunately we have many more "24" dates booked in.
This photo is taken down the neck of a wine bottle. A different shot to what I usually do but that's what this project is about...trying new things and experimenting.

Day 31 - 31st January - Sheffield Station

After a great weekend in Newcastle it was time to come back home to Sheffield. I managed to book 1st class train tickets both ways so enjoyed a chilled out journey home. There had been a lot of snow in Newcastle but it was just grey and wet in Sheffield. This photo is taken at Sheffield station. I love photographing this so it was an easy choice for my photo of the day. (The colours in the wall are of the traffic lights at the end of the pedestrian walk way.)

Day 30 - 30th January - Birthday Boy Caricature

Meet Mark. For Mark's 30th I wanted to get him something a little different and was struggling to know what to get someone who has all the latest gadgets so I thought a caricature would be perfect. The theme for Mark's party was James Bond so I made sure that was incorporated into the caricature. Mark also loves Dr Who, Liverpool FC and his gadgets so they all feature too! One of my business contacts is an amazing illustrator so I asked him to do this caricature of Mark. He turned around my request in record time and produced a great gift that I could give Mark to celebrate his 30th.

Day 29 - 29th January - Fish Face Friday

Meet my cousin Ben! I went up to Newcastle today for my cousin Mark's 30th birthday party and was staying with Ben and his wife Claire. Ben is also doing the photo a day project and one of our flickr friends has started a group called "Fish Face Friday" so I thought I would do my first attempt at this photo. Ben's photo for today was taken at the cinema. We went to see "Up in the Air" with George Clooney at a beautiful old refurbished cinema. A lovely evening, even if the film was a little depressing!

Day 28 - 28th January - Roses are Red

During this Project 365 I am fully aware that some days will be incredibly boring and I will be lacking inspiration for a photo of the day. Today was one of those days and so with my camera I went on a search around the house to take a photo of a household object! I then came across this rose which was given to me by my very lovely friend Kim. A great excuse to use the macro setting on my point and shoot, get my photo of the day and make it look like I have an admirer! As one of my photography contacts said about this photo...isn't it funny how photographers think? Most "normal" people would get roses, and think "I need to a vase with some water, and put these on the table near the window". Whereas our train of thought is almost immediately more along the lines of "ok, where is the best lighting so I can get a picture of this sucker"

Day 27 - 27th January - Rivelin Valley

I am very excited about today's photo. I am working with a new business contact of mine, Laura from Little Wedding Book, who is a wedding and event planner. I only met Laura a few weeks ago but we got on great and it wasn't long before the creative juices started flowing and we were putting together ideas for a photo shoot. Today we went scouting out different locations to do the shoot and found some amazing places in Rivelin Valley. I can't wait to put all our ideas together and do the shoot. It's great to be working with other local businesses and meeting like minded people.

Day 26 - 26th January BBC Radio Sheffield

I had a call a few weeks ago from BBC Radio Sheffield asking whether I'd want to go into the station to do a stint on one of their shows called "Where in the world". I have been on the radio a couple of times to discuss my business and to give photography tips to the listeners so it was good to do something a little different. I lived abroad as a kid due to my dad's job and have done a fair bit of travelling so they asked me to come in to talk about 2 different places. The idea of the 5 minute slot on the show was to describe the location and then get the listeners to phone/text in with "where in the world" they think I am talking about. I chose to talk about Barbados and they got it in the end but not after guessing Trinidad, Jamaica, Cuba, St Lucia and Antigua.

Day 25 - 25th January - Walking on Thin Ice

I arranged a meeting with a business contact of mine at the Millhouses Park Cafe. It's still very cold and the small boating lake was still frozen. It was good to see the council had been out in force taking care of the health and safety issues. However I would hope that no-one in their right mind would want to walk or skate on this pond!