Little Miss C - 12 months old

You may recognise this little girl if you've been following me for a while. This little lady and I met on her first day in this world, then 3 months later I persuaded her mummy to let me squeeze her in a giant teacup and now, here she is, almost 1 year old. Doesn't time fly!

With a beautiful garden as an additional backdrop and the delightful crafts of her parents' hands, including the crib daddy made and a blanket mummy knitted we all had lots of fun during our session. Looking forward to seeing you again soon.

New colours for Spring

Spring is coming early for me and my website. The benefit of a slow start to the year after a busy end is that I have been able to think about my marketing etc. January saw me mostly picking up props for the new year in the sales and February has seen me brainstorm a lot about where my business will go in 2009.

I do like my Black and White website and am really pleased with myself for creating it all myself, but I've been increasingly thinking that perhaps it was a bit too harsh for newborns and little people So, I have started converting my site after finally coming to a decision on the colours.

I also have a new signature/logo designed from my existing fonts and background pattern. There are also ideas for new Packages and I am working on developing a Landscape Course side to my website. I trialled this last year with huge success and am looking to offer the Course again soon. If you are interested in more details please contact me.

So, the blog has been converted in advance of my website (mostly because I accidentally overwrote my last blog settings whilst testing out these colours). I hope you like it. Comments always welcome...

As always here are some recent images to share with you from Birthday Parties Maia and I have been guests at:

Great ideas

I subscribe to quite a few photography magazines, e-newsletters and blogs etc. Everyday I immerse myself in being inspired or learning new things. This idea just dropped into my inbox and I just had to share it with you all.

GLASS JAR PHOTO FRAMES!

Yes, what a great idea. Thanks to Photojojo, which published this idea. It's really easy to sign up for your own copy of the newsletter if you like this idea.

From Photojojo:

We hate getting rid of jars. We’re so sure they’ll come in handy someday, but in reality a person can only use so many jelly-jar glasses.

We’re happy to say we’ve finally found a use for our motley collection of pickle jars, soda bottles and assorted glass receptacles: frames!

It’s so simple we can’t believe we didn’t think of it before: just slide a photo into a jar, turn it upside down and display your upcyclin’ genius for all to see.

I have just written an article for the March edition of the BCT Newsletter about what to do with your pictures once you have taken them, but this little snippet is not included.

I think I'm going to see if we have any empty jars floating around. I guess if you were really creative you could hang them in a window or out on your balcony too.




picture courtesy of photojojo.com

Home alone... sewing, knitting and bumps

I was left home alone this weekend. My lovely little girl and her daddy went on an adventure to Sheffield together to surprise the Northern Grandparents and to see Maia's pregnant Auntie Rachel (where Maia gets her middle name from). On all accounts the surprise visit was very welcome. I think I enjoyed it just as much though. I got to watch a film, lay in both mornings, have a long bath and get a bit creative.

I used to do a lot of sewing pre-switzerland and I swapped my sewing machine and overlocker for knitting needles when I came here, the latter being more portable. Every weekend in my first year or so here, I would go to Zurich for their Sunday Stitch 'n' Bitch (SnB) group. I would stay with a dear
friend and her family most of the time and I loved it. Now, I still knit, but less often with friends (although there are a few of us that meet up semi-regularly in Basel). I find that although I still knit a lot for me, I have now started knitting a lot for my work. It started with little hats for newborns, but has progressed to snugs (cocoon type wraps, often with matching hats) and now knitted bowls. I love being able to use all my lovely luxury yarn that I have collected over the years and have got quite addicted to browsing handspun yarns that other creative people have made and are selling. Keep your eyes peeled here for images using my beautiful creations. In the meantime, here are a few items modeled by my new baby (a plastic doll, the same size as a real newborn).

As for the sewing, I did get my machine out this weekend too and knocked up a little dress/top for my sweet (see above). I also got into a cute craftshop in town that isn't so pushchair friendly and thus mostly inaccessible to me and I made her a little necklace too (see below).

Finally, the main reason I didn't join my family on their journey was that I had a shoot on the Sunday. A bump that will soon be a babe. No bump images will appear here, they are for the parents eyes only, but soon there will be babe pictures to welcome their little girl into the world. I can't wait! :) Enjoy the rest of your pregnancy Mummy L.

Bi-annual hair cut and a fantastic surprise!

I've had two lovely gifts this week, the first appeared after lunch on Monday when I was working from home. A much lusted after Canon 5D Mark II!! I was very excited and couldn't stop jumping up and down in disbelief that this lovely new camera was now mine :) The past few days have seen me get to grips with the new menus and settings and experimenting with the HD video function (it's very good!). I feel like a real pro now I have a back-up camera. ~ To my trusty 30D - I still consider you to be my second baby and won't be selling you any time soon, I promise. ~

The second surprise was a gift voucher for a head massage and hair re-style. Not something I would think about doing for myself, but after Maia's trendy haircut
(see right) at the beautiful salon, Reference Coiffure (James' hairdresser) I began thinking that I might suit having a fringe again and having some length taken off.

The head massage was divine and truly relaxing. It's not often these days I get to really relax. If I'm at home, I am too close to work and can't stop thinking about it or working on stuff. The nearest I get is actually with my knitting, but even that these days has become mostly work related! The head massage was given during a deep shampoo and condition and took place whilst laying in an electronic massage chair in a curtained off area in the corner of the beautifully light salon - a very nice touch.

I would highly recommend this salon, for both men, women and children. They were very friendly and I absolutely love my re-style. I just hope that my very low-maintenance beauty routine can keep it looking good.

Newborn baby A - 2 weeks old

This is my third shoot with this lovely family, this time we managed to get Daddy in too! The giant beanbag that my mum had brought over in her case from the UK (empty of course) had been half filled up with foam pieces (18 bags later and it was still only about half full, so I rolled up the bottom to make it feel fuller) and was a HUGE hit with the older boys. So we had a bit of fun just jumping on that and throwing pillows at each other before getting down to business.

Once little baby A fell asleep, we managed to get some more arty shots of him in my newborn props. He stayed sleeping and seemed to like being wrapped up in my wraps and snugs. Thank you Family P and congratulations on your latest addition to the family.

My first Couple

After seeing family pictures I took for a co-worker, this lovely guy got in touch with me with regards to having portrait pictures taken, including casual ones as well as professional headshots. I explained that I mostly take pictures of children, but he was still up for me coming. Joined by his girlfriend in a lovely little place just the other side of Bern we embarked on a full 2 hour shoot.

On a little walk in the surrounding area we found a lovely little shed that provided a perfect backdrop. I hope you are happy with your pictures. Thanks for being my first couple booking!

Little Miss L - 14 months

This little lady was a bundle of fun from the word go. I think she really liked having her living room turned into a studio and was posing for me effortlessly. She was also quite interested in coming to have a look at the pictures too and at points through our session was busy investigation different pieces of equipment.

A budding engineer perhaps? Or supermodel? Or both? Why not? :)

Maternity Shoot 3 days before birth!

So, I need to add some more maternity images to my portfolio and a loyal client is having her third boy and has also booked me in for a third shoot with her and her family, this time a Newborn Package (thank you lovely client!) So, the very least I can do is offer her a free maternity session to help me bump up my maternity images. She said yes! :)

These were taken 3 days before her lovely little boy was born. As you can see Maia joined in too and was trying to tickle the baby :) Keep your eyes peeled for more images of this little cutie after our follow up session in a couple of weeks. This time with the whole family, including Grandma!

I am opening this offer up to anyone else too until the end of April 2009. If you book a Newborn Session, you can get a FREE maternity shoot including 5 prints.

Happy New Year

Welcome 2009! 2008 was a fabulous time for me and my business, I must say I've enjoyed the journey greatly. Here's to an even more exciting 2009! I have lots of plans and ideas and creative energy to share. I wish all of you and your families lots of smiles and happy moments. Perhaps some of them will be captures on camera forever. :)

We went to the mountains with friends for our first day of 2009. It was beautiful.