Some of you who have known me a while might remember that a couple of years ago I attempted a 365 Project. For those not in the know, this is a personal challenge where you aim to take and share a photo a day for a year. Hence the 365 in 365 Project. Some people do it to document their lives, the first year of their child's life for example or some do it - as I did - to work on developing their photography skills.
I had a great time doing it and I know for a fact that my confidence in my own photographic abilities was built up over those months. It was a lot of fun and gave me a wealth of photos that are special to me for a variety of reasons. Shots of our daughters with Great Grandparents who are sadly no longer with us, memories of trips and events. They might not be shots that I'd attempt to sell as prints or postcards but they are photos that I treasure.
If you're curious, you can see my 365 Project, or as much of it as I managed on my other blog - here. I would ask, while you're over there, if you see anything you like, please do feel free to comment on it - either here or there - it's always awesome to know what people liked or found interesting!
Anyway. While working on updating this blog with all the lovely new photos I've been so lucky to take recently and in preparation for the sessions and events that still ahead this summer, I rediscovered my 365 blog and spent a while looking through the photos and smiling myself silly. And it got me thinking....
I never actually finished my first project, even though I had so many photos taken and ready to add to it, and that fact has always annoyed me. Just a little.
So. I think I'm going to start a new one. Woo hoo!
I'll be sharing my efforts on this blog which will, hopefully, mean something new to see and read from me every day. I promise I won't be spamming your FB though with new posts every day because I know how annoying that can be but I'll try to post a round up every Sunday on FB so you can catch up on the week's photos that you might have missed.
One of the best things about the 365 Project was it meant I had to take a few minutes for myself, with the camera, every day. This was more special to me than you might think.
I don't know about you, but giving myself time for me is a very hard thing to do. Friends will be unsurprised when I tell you that I procrastinated for about two years before getting my hair cut short. Short hair meant regular maintaining. Regular maintaining meant visiting the hairdresser every other month or so and that meant spending money and time on myself and it took two years to convince myself that it was ok to do that. I felt I had to justify my choice to myself.
At the end of the school year, the lovely pupils that I'd taught (and their amazing parents) gave me and the other teachers a gift card to say thank you. I've only just managed to buy something with it because every time I went to use it, it was going to be on something for the kids, or something for the kitchen and my husband - bless him - wouldn't let me do that. It was for me. I argued I didn't need anything so why not use it on something for everyone. But that was the point. It wasn't a case of what I needed, it was about what I wanted. So yesterday I bought myself a lovely new handbag, some of my favourite perfume and some new cosmetics (I can tell you now, I nearly had a panic attack in the queue to pay!!).
Doing a 365 Project isn't something I need to do, it's something I want to do and so I'm going to do it. And I can't wait to have you along for the ride!
One of the reasons I shared all of this with you is that I know for a lot of people, having their picture taken is something special. Something that happens for a special occasion, like their wedding day or for a baby's first birthday and that's it. Something that they don't think they can justify having done...just because. But I want to tell you that it is. Totally. (And not just because I'm dying to take beautiful photos of you and your family :D )
I have hundreds, probably tens of thousands in all honesty, of photos of my family. And I can probably count the number of photos that I'm in on my two hands. This is common to a lot of Mums and Dads. Whoever tends to take the family pictures...isn't in the family pictures. So why not let me take them for you.
Why not spend an hour in the park, at the beach, or even in your garden with those you love and let me take photos of you all that I know you're going to treasure.
Having a family portrait session probably isn't something you need, but if you're here and reading this, it might well be something you want.
So, if you're curious...why not drop me a line and I can tell you a little more about how I work and we can see if we can get something arranged.
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