Steph & Sams Bournemouth Engagement shoot

With graduating university and concentrating on photographing weddings, moving home and assisting some other photographers I have unfortunately neglected this little blog!
I promise I'll keep it updated from now on though!

A few months ago I had the pleasure of travelling to Bournemouth on the hottest bank holiday Monday I can remember for quite some time to photograph the first of Steph & Sams engagement shoots! Steph had so many ideas it made my job so much easier!
I had so much fun on this shoot and I think the photos show how much fun they did too!

Picking yourself up.

So I've put off writing this for a while now, I didn't know if it was a suitable post for my photography blog, but I came to the conclusion it's pushed me further with my photography and therefore sort of justifiable.

Basically the end of 2012/beginning of 2013 started off on a rather low and sour note. I broke up with my boyfriend of 3 years just before my birthday and it left me in a pretty bad place. My confidence was stupidly low, my anxiety was silly high and my depression was creeping its way back in. I had to move out of our flat, try and finish my dissertation and go to work, all whilst battling these demons. I didn't know how to adjust or cope with things so for a long time I built myself a duvet cave and I stayed in there for weeks. I didn't want to go out or see anyone, I didn't want to eat and I didn't even want to take photos anymore. My heart just wasn't in anything.

It got to mid February and I decided I had to do something otherwise I was just going to pull myself further into the hole that I was already struggling to get out of. Luckily I have an amazingly supportive family, some awesome friends that helped me with work and showed me how to have a good time again and some awesome friends online that have been really supportive.

Slowly I've been picking myself back up again and pushing myself to do things I probably wouldn't have done before. Anyone that struggles with anxiety and depression will know what it's like when you just don't want to leave the house, at all, and if it wasn't for my family and friends I probably wouldn't have for quite a long time!

I ventured into university for tutorials and a presentations that went way better than I ever imagined. I went to see Russell Kane with one of my best friends and had the best time. I hung out with my blogger friends in Cornwall, Bristol and Bath and didn't stop smiling for days. I spent time with my family getting stuck in giant puddles.

I had two shoots this week and I think I've taken some of the best images I ever have done. I have another next week with Megan which is going to be insanely fun and I'm sure those photos are going to be amazing (if I do say so myself)

Basically what I'm getting to is I've realised life throws some rubbish at you when you're not expecting it and forces you to change your way of thinking and doing. It's okay to mope for a bit at first, everyone has to have a duvet day every once in awhile right? But it's important to surround yourself with people that will help pick you up and keep your spirits high. Sometimes you have to just say yes, even if you don't want to. Don't get me wrong I still have low days but they've been few and far between now and I've tried my very best to list at least one positive everyday.

So heres to picking yourself up again and enjoying life. My confidence is coming back and this year is looking like it's going to be a pretty exciting one!

Stay sweet,

Chloe x

A chilly walk...

So a few weeks ago, just after the rain and snow, I went for a little walk at a local(ish) park whilst I was visiting my parents. I had to go photograph some little wooden dens that I knew where there but I've had a lot of stuff on my mind lately so it was nice to get some fresh air and clear my head a bit... I definitely had a much needed laugh! 

Before we left my mum & dad put their boots on, but I didn't really think much of it until we got there and walked across the fields, I say walked, what I really mean is they walked off in front while I had to literally tiptoe through thick boggy grass trying A) not to get water in my shoes, and B) not to get stuck, fall over and throw my camera into a puddle! At one point my dad led us across a 'dryish' piece of grass, which was infact the boggiest bit there and I was standing on a twig laughing and trying not to fall over, it literally took us half an hour to navigate around and under a tree and to a drier piece of ground, it's a good thing I'm pretty short as I managed to crawl through the trees pretty easily whilst they stood and laughed at me, mean parents!

Anyway, I posted a few of the photos above, and you can sort of see how muddy my feet were beginning to get and how inappropriate my shoes/lack of socks were!

Chloe x

Ps; couldn't not include this photo of my dad pulling his 'model' pose!

Thursday Inspirations: Kirsty Mitchell

If you haven't looked at Kirsty Mitchells work then please do so right now! 

I first discovered Kirsty's work back in 2009 on Flickr, the first photo I saw was The Lavender Princess. I was taken back by the soft blue hues, blanket of lavender and puff of smoke pouring out of an umbrella made of buddleia, I was in awe that a place like this existed and and someone had captured such an awe inspiring photograph. I subsequently began following her work and reading into the story behind the Wonderland series.

Wonderland is a personal project that started as a platform for Kirsty to celebrate her mothers life after she sadly passed away from a brain tumour. It is an exploration and journey reliving the stories her mother read her as a child and using her skills as a fashion designer and photographer to create a fantasy world to escape in. 

Her strength and determination to stage and create such beautiful scenes is truly inspiring to me and it something I wish to adopt in my own work. It is far too easy these days to rely on the use of Photoshop to morph objects and change their scales but this isn't something Kirsty wanted to do. Everything you see in her photos was real and made or found specifically for a shoot. Large cakes, chairs made from lavender, fields of flowers and half a dozen ships made from steel were carefully planned, designed and made so they could physically appear in the photo rather than being cloned in. It excites the imagination and that belief that fantasy worlds can truly exist in reality. 

You can find Kirsty's website here and Facebook page here.

What do you think of her work? 

Stay sweet,

Chloe x

Thursday Inspirations: Tim Walker

I thought I would start a regular feature where I talk about people that inspire me, so I'm kicking this off with one of my biggest inspirations Tim Walker.

I first discovered Tim's work back in 2007 when I was studying for my A levels, I was doing a project based on fairytales and after scouring the internet for what seemed like eternity for suitable artists to research I stumbled upon his work and a whole avenue of ideas instantly hit me. It opened up a whole new way of thinking about how I could photograph people, how I could incorporate my love of crafts and story telling within the medium of photography. 

I love painting and writing, but I'm not very good at either of them, however I'd like to think (and hope) photography is where my talent lies. Every report I would get at school parents evenings since I was a small child all said there same thing "Chloe has potential but she's away with the fairies a lot" which I think is quite ironic now that a lot of my practice is centred around trying to create ideal magical worlds that only exist in a persons mind. 

Since then I have studied Tims work and he always features in everyone of my research books, I'm pretty sure my tutors must get fed up of my love (read as obsession) for him. I have the Pictures book and it's one of my prized possessions, whenever I'm feeling uninspired or down I'll grab myself a cup of tea and sit for hours studying the photos and letting my mind wander into a little fantasy land and inspiration seems to hit me from many directions!

I could probably go on for a while talking about my love for him but I'll  leave it at that for now, if you've managed to read through all of this then well done! I promise to buy you a cookie if we meet!

Who inspires you? What do you think of Tims work? 

Stay sweet,

Chloe x

Ice Cream Dreams

So you may have seen the inspiration mood board I posted where I mentioned I was going to Cornwall to shoot the look book for Crown & Glory... Well it was even more magical than I expected. Sophie was the perfect host, she made me glittery pancakes, endless cups of tea and we had the best shoot day ever.

We set up a studio with a lilac backdrop and metres of tulle hanging from the ceiling and covering the floor. We had some beautiful clothes sent to us from Sugarhill Boutique and Oh My Love which complimented the wonderful head wear perfectly!

Megan, as usual, was the perfect model for the job. She is such a joy to work with, we put some music on and had such a giggle shooting these photos, she's so comfortable in front of the camera and doesn't even question me when I ask her to pull silly faces or wrap herself up in tulle!

I hope you all love the photos as much as we do! I'll be posting a few more in a later post but for now heres a few to wet your appetites!

Stay sweet,
Chloe x

Sunshine, Daisy, Butter, Mellow...

Alright lovelies!

I thought I'd kick this off with a little "how I plan a shoot" style post.

Next week I'm hopping on a train to Crown & Glory HQ for a few days to shoot their S/S13 look book. I shot the autumn/winter one last year (you can see the photos here) and it was a dream! This time around to embrace spring and summer we're going for a fun, fresh and dreamy inspired shoot. Think pretty pastels, lots of tulle and big smiles. 

I have a folder on my computer full of inspirational photos, but with the addition of Pinterest it makes planning so much easier, and it fills my computer hard drive with joy that it doesn't have to save hundreds of photos all the time!

At the beginning stages of any shoot I always think of key words that I'm going to be inspired by, I also spoke to Sophie to get a good understanding of what she's after. Then we started up a shared Pinterest board so we could both pin things that we like. After that it's a case of searching for certain words, looking to some of my favourite photographers and ripping up copies of Vogue and various other fashion magazines.

You can see the Pinterest board here, and I've posted a few of my favourites below. (NB: I don't own the copyright to any of these images)

Stay sweet,

Chloe!

A New Direction...

So after spending the day with two of my favourite people yesterday Megan & Paige, I've decided I'd quite like to move this little blog over in a new direction. Now I have my website up and running I no longer need this as a place to solely display my photography work.

I haven't blogged in well over a month, and I guess in a way it comes down to me being so sucked into my university project that I haven't actually done any shoots! So I'm going to make this more lifestyle & photography orientated. Give you all a little insight to my day to day life, things I get up too and room tours. I also want to post more photography hints and tips, actions to share with you and previews into how I plan shoots, behind the scenes and editing techniques.

I'm feeling so full of inspiration and joy this year, I hope this blog can be a fun way to give something back.

Stay sweet,

Chloe!