Junior Photo Shoot

My dear friend and old housemate Junior is without a doubt the best male dancer I know, he has such energy and passion for dancing. We decided to do a photo shoot for his dancing but despite living together for years we didnt get round to it, anyway, after he had moved back to London he came to stay with us for a bit and we were lucky enough to have a sunny and bright day so we headed to the common to take some snaps, was such good fun and we wasted a lot of the time laughing. Here is the outcome. hope you enjoy them :)

Week 6 in photos

It has been a week of really good and bad things, It has mostly involved lots of doctors appointments but also lots of photo shoots. I seem to have been in the doctors a lot the last couple of weeks (even more than usual) for various things and I have caught lots of bugs and colds. I'm currently still trying to get rid of a stubborn cough that is not allowing me to sleep, however I did have the flu jab today tho so hopefully I will be a little healthier over the next few months :) I did a few freebie photo shoots this week to build up my portfolio, one was a winter themed shoot with flick (which you can see on the previous post) and the other was with my old housemate Junior, he is a dancer so we did some dancing photos down on the common (A post about this shoot will follow soon). It was lovely having Junior come to stay for a few days, we celebrated with a little flat party on Saturday night. It was an awesome night, which resulted in a whole day written off to recover, still not feeling great from it but was worth it. Now the week ahead has more doctors appointments, hospital appointments and hopefully a few work experience photo shoots :) got to get cracking on the present I am making my boyfriend for his birthday next week and on my 'halloween bloggers swap' gift.

1: accessories for the winter photo shoot, 2: first DVD cover I made for one of my shoots, 3: a giant pizza to help cure the hangover, 4: watching the boys playing football on the common, 5: Junior's dancing shoot, 6: gorgeous clouds over the sea, 7: me and gizmo having a cuddle.

Photo shoot with Flick

With the recent cold weather i've been getting really excited about the impending winter. I'm looking forward to all those chilly evenings snuggled up with a blanket, hot water bottle and a glass of mulled wine. Venturing out to watch fireworks all wrapped up in wooly hats and knitted cardigans. I love winter accessories and its this time of year that I start to get really excited to dig out the old gloves, fluffy socks and ear warmers from the past year.

Because of this, I decided I wanted to do a Autumn/Winter themed shoot. My friend Flick said she wanted to model for a photo shoot, so we decided to do the winter style shoot down by the seafront where it was very windy and quite cold. Here is a selection of the photos from the shoot, if you would like to see more then head over to my Facebook page. I hope you enjoy them and would love to hear any comments.

Liebster Award

The lovely Tamsyn at Seaside in the city has nominated me to take part in the Liebster Award. This award gives you the opportunity to discover new blogs and learn more about the people behind them.

If you're tagged you have to write 11 things about yourself, and then answer the 11 questions from the blogger who tagged you. You then choose other bloggers with less than 200 followers that you want to get to know, and choose your own 11 questions you'd like to ask them.

11 things About Me:

1: I am from a tiny village in Somerset - My heart will always be in the South-west of England, I dream of one day having my own little cottage in Cornwall.
2: I recently graduated with a first class honours in Television and Broadcasting at Portsmouth University,
3: I have 2 pet rats called Petal and Blossom,
4: I am currently in the process of starting up my own portrait photography business, called Amy Sapphire Photography,
5: I have had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for the past 7 years,
6: I have 7 piercings and 1 tattoo which is a silhouette of a fairy, with plans for 2 more little tattoos,
7: I have a big passion for crafts and they are what I do with a lot of my free time.
8: I have had 6 jobs since I was 16 (in 5 years) all very different. Now I want to be my own boss,
9: I have an amazing boyfriend who always makes me laugh and takes good care of me when i'm poorly,
10: I live in a gorgeous little flat by the sea with 2 of my best friends,
11: I love drinking tea.... I couldn't live without a good cup of tea and a biscuit.

Answers to Seaside in the City's Questions:

Who is your favourite musician?
It's really hard to pick one..... Probably Newton Faulkner, his music is really beautiful.

If you could meet anyone, in any location, who would and where would it be?
I would meet Stephen Fry in a little pub in Cornwall somewhere to drink ales

Whats your favourite hobby?
All crafts!!! Especially sewing, crochet and jewellery making.

What's your ideal Sunday?
It would start with a lie-in with my boyfriend including drinking tea and watching TV in bed, then a nice trip out to somewhere with lots of gorgeous nature for a little walk and picnic. Afterwards I would have one of my mum's roast dinners with all of my family, I dont get to see them enough these days and my mum's roasts are the best.

Biggest adventure of your life so far?
Leaving my tiny village in Somerset to move 120 miles away to a city on my own to go to University. I was still quite ill with my CFS and my mum had always looked after me so it was scary, but by far the best decision i've ever made.

Favourite accessory?
This is a tough one, I will say my jewellery, I cant really be more specific then that, I literally wont leave the house without a pile of jewellery on which is carefully picked to compliment my outfit. It takes me forever to take it all off before bed.

Desired holiday destination?
I'd love to go anywhere which is so far removed from England. I'd love to be immersed in a culture and way of life which is soo completely different to our everyday lives. I think I will go with India, as it has such a wide range of lifestyles to experience, also i've always been fascinated with the colours and patterns in their fabrics so i'd love to see them in their natural setting.

Tea or coffee?
Tea - definitely tea.

What inspires you to blog?
My blog started as a way for me to inform and educate people about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but it has evolved to include a lot more crafts, photography and generally what I get up to. I'll admit that i'm now addicted to blogging.

Favourite Celebrity and why?
It might have to be Johnny Depp for the shallow reason that I really enjoying his face, however he is also a very versatile and interesting actor.

Top tip for being a blogger?
Write about what interests you, dont write what you think other people want if its not what you want. If you aren't enjoying it then it becomes impersonal.


My 11 Questions For You:

1: What drove you to start your blog?
2: What is your favourite TV show?
3: Who is your favourite actor/actress?
4: Mornings or evenings?
5: What is your favourite type/style of jewellery
6: What is your favourite craft?
7: If you could only eat the food from one country for the rest of your life, what would it be?
8: What is your fondest memory from when you were a child?
9: Cats or dogs?
10: Do you have any pets?
11: What would your dream job be?

I Nominate:

http://themorosebee.blogspot.co.uk/
http://creativitylizette.blogspot.co.uk/
http://onetworee.blogspot.co.uk/

Southsea Festival

So i've wanted to try Live Music Photography for a while but been waiting for the opportunity to arise. On saturday the perfect opportunity came along, my housemate (who I am very grateful to) managed to get me my first ever photo press pass. It was for Southsea Fest, which is a little festival held down the road near to our flat and has 100 local bands and musicians playing in all the cafes, pubs, bars and gig venues. It was a great first experience as I had to adapt to lots of different types of venues and acts. We went from a tiny cafe, to the theatre to a large gig venue. It was an absolutely incredible day and night, to top off the night I caught the drummers drum stick from the headline band....... I usually cant catch anything so I was over the moon. It was an exhausting day as we were there for 13 hours, but I kept going and still managed to really enjoy it after some rests. We managed to stay out till 2, which I was not expecting, however was a little sore the next day. I can not wait to do more Live music photography now, just hoping I get some of the passes i've applied for.

My highlight of the night was definitely Clock Opera who closed the festival (see above). I got the chance to photograph them while my housemate was interviewing them before their set (see below) they were such nice guys. Their set was amazing and each band member at one point would look right down my camera lens, it was an incredible feeling to have some-one on stage look into your camera while they are preforming to a whole room of people there to see them. I had such a buzz after Clock Opera and think I've found a new addiction...... Live Music Photography.

Others artists who were awesome were Luke Ferre, Tom Williams and the boats and The boy I used to be - All can be seen below. If you would like to see more of my photos from Southsea Fest then they are on my Facebook page i'd love to hear any feedback or comments.

Week 5 in photos

This week I really started to knuckle down and focus on the business side of my photography again. I started with a nice bit of room re-arranging, I created a proper office space in my room with all of my photography stuff in one place thats easy to get to, this really motivated me and I started a marketing plan and did lots more research. At the weekend a close friend of mine came to stay, all the way from the dark depths of somerset, we had an amazing time, the table tennis was brought out again and was really lovely to catch-up. On saturday I had my first photo press pass experience. My housemate had managed to get me a pass to Southsea Fest, which is just down the road from our flat. It was incredible and had an awesome timeI I will write up another post soon to tell you all about it and to show you my first live music photos.

 1: Me and my friend who visited at a BBQ, 2: Gizmo - the newest and fluffiest addition to our little group, 3: Playing pool at the pub (I actually got a winning shot which shocked everyone, including myself) 4: hot chocolate on a cold evening, 5: doing work in my new office space with a little glass of wine, 6: the most delicious fajita's i've ever eaten, 7: new angel lights, 8: my new flower hair slide, 8: the first book i've actually finished in a while, strongly recommend it.

Photo shoot with my pet rats

So I was a little bit bored the other day but actually had some energy so decided to take some nice photos of our pet rats based on a pop-art style photo I found that I woman did with her cats. I know a lot of people dont like rats but I adore them, they are such good fun and I wanted a nice photo to remember them by when they are no longer with us, (the older 2 are way past middle aged for rats). It was very tricky to get them to stay in the right place for where I had the photo framed. The camera was on a tripod and I used a wired remote because I needed both my hands to stop the rats running all over the place. This was the outcome.....

1: Wiki - she's the smallest and absolutely mad, 2: Petal - she's very blind and often poorly so she is very nervous and gets scared a lot (hence her expression in the photo) 3: Lemmi - is the one who will eat everything and anything, 4: Blossom - she's the best rat in the world, so friendly and fun, she loves exploring and is soo curious of everything, she's good company on my not so well days when everyone else is out.

Here are some of the pictures which didn't go quite to plan, they wanted to explore and play but I wanted them to pose for the camera. Distracting them with treats seemed to work, thats why so many of them are eating in the photos.

Hope you enjoyed my random little post about the rats and an example of what I get up to on my bored days when im not doing crafts. I'm aware of how mad this all sounds but the rats really are such great pets, always a great form of entertainment and awesome company when you are unwell and bored.

Week 4 in photos

Well its been a really pleasant week this week. It involved lots of meeting up with friends, some of which I hadn't seen for a long time, its always nice to have a good catch-up. I started the weekend by cooking a delicious meal for my boyfriend, shockingly it was the first time I had properly cooked for him and was the first time I followed a recipe book for a whole meal. It turned out really well and I am looking forward to trying another recipe. The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with friends and of corse eating lots of delicious food. However, sadly yesterday and today have been spent on the sofa with my duvet and a horrible bug of some sort, not feeling good but lots of films and tea are helping. Overall, it was a lovely week. I have lots of photography things to get on with once this bug has disappeared.

1: new rose headband, 2: silhouette of my boyfriend  3: the infamous meal i cooked, 4: strawberry cheesecake, 5: icing flowers, 6: me, 7: baguette pizza style slices, 8: me and my housemates in a hot tub :)

Photography Brand

I thought I would briefly share with you what I received in the post the other day :) I also realised that I havnt talked much about my photography on here yet, so here is a taster. The photography has been a bit quiet recently so one of the many things i've been using the time for is to build up my brand and idenity now that I have my new awesome logo :)

1 and 6: new business cards and nifty silver holder, 2: canvas bag for carrying all the release forms etc, 3 and 4: pen for signing all those forms, 5: close-up of the logo on the canvas bag.

There was also supposed to be a mug with the logo on but it didn't make it to my flat in one piece so I am being sent a replacement. I also got a photo-book of all my portraits so far (which you can see below) is lovely to see my work so far nicely bound and in good quality print, I get so used to just seeing it all digitally on a screen. I am very happy with all the new stuff, makes me feel very professional and I cant wait to take it all out on the next job.

Icing Flowers

It's been many many years since I've played around with icing and honestly, I had completely forgotten how much fun it is. The mission was to make icing roses and leaves for my housemate's parents anniversary cake..... we definitely succeeded. However it did leave us with a yellow stained dining room table and blue stained hands, but sacrifices had to be made. We were pretty chuffed with the outcome and the method was quick and easy as we had very limited tools available.

So here is the first of many tutorials for you. I hope you enjoy it and have fun giving it a go yourself.

Icing Flower Tutorials

1: Use food colouring to dye your ready-to-roll icing to your desired colour (this is the messy bit), then separate the icing into 8 small balls all of an equal size and 1 smaller sausage shape and place into a plastic wallet which has been cut open.
2: close the wallet over the icing and use your thumb to flatten the top edge of each ball to make a petal shape, do the same with one side of the sausage.
3: peal the sausage shape off the plastic and roll up to make the centre of the rose.
4: add each petal to the centre piece overlapping over the joins, making sure the fatter edges are at the bottom.
5: once all the petals are added, cut the bottom off with scissors and smooth off the edge.
6: Optional - cut out leaf shapes from rolled out green icing and you have a finished icing flower :)

Week 3 in photos

Well its been a really quiet week. It wasnt a great surprise that Reading Festival left me feeling a little run down to say the least. My energy levels were non-existant and my knees are still very painful. Therefore the majority of my week was spent in bed or on the sofa. It did mean however that I got to watch a lot of films I had been dying to see recently and I decided to re-watch every episode of Dexter (really cant get enough of that show). The weekend was a lot nicer as the boyfriend treated me to pizza and a movie which was lovely then we met with some new friends at the pub, this was finished off by a game of drinking table tennis (which is a dangerous game and not for the light hearted, you have been warned). Overall a quiet and calm week which lead to a lovely weekend. Energy and general health is slightly getting better so maybe this week I can do a few more things.

1: new make-up bag, 2: blossom (one of our rats) doing a ninja mission to the top of the door, 3: my broken photography mug :( very sad about this, 4: chocolate pancakes with bacon and maple syrup...... yummy, 5: Pizza!!!!!, 6: drinking table tennis with wine........