| Monday, July 13, 2009 |
| Wild west fun with Mary and the girls |
On Saturday I had a very important shoot, it was Dawns very special birthday and she had decided that she and the girls would all go out in wild west bar girls outfits, Mary then decided that the best way to remember the day would be to get some great photographs of them all in their outfits and so off I went to Old Orleans to capture the fun of these cheeky ladies.
I wanted to make the photographs as authentic as possible and I think with these next 2 I have really acheived that, don't they look like they've just moseyed on down to the local saloon, lookout cowboys, here they come!!
Dawn I hope you had a wonderful evening out, it was great to meet all of you ladies and especially you mary with whom I've been liasing about this very special shoot. I hope I get to shoot you ladies again when the next one of you celebrates that very special birthday
Labels: events, fun, newcastle photographer, old orleans |
posted by mandy @ 11:06 AM   |
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| Saturday, July 11, 2009 |
| Back to photography and business in general |
Yes I'm back, my neck is firmly on the mend, today it's a little tight but it's not so very painful as it has been and I'm delighted that I have my first shoot in a month today. I've got so much catching up to do and I know I have to take it easy in between the shoots but I am so very delighted to actually be able to do some work again.
I realise now just how important my business and photography are for my sanity and I can't imagine having to go any longer without sitting at the laptop editing or out with the camera shooting, it's been the longest month of my life without photography.
I'm actually quite excited as well because during all of this I picked up a wonderful new job teaching primary school kids about photography, come September I embark on a new weekly adventure of running photography club at the girls school. I love kids and I love that I'm going to be able to teach them about photography and hopefully get them excited enough that a few of them might end up being photographers. It really is going to add an exciting new part of my business.
So now I'm getting back to work I've had so much time to think about new things I want to do and things I want to offer in my business, these next few months are going to hopefully lead to exciting new developments and a whole new phase of photography. Did I mention that I love my job?!
Have a great weekend and I'll look forward to sharing faves from this afternoons shoots with you all.
If you want to book a family or kids portrait shoot, it's only £25, so why not give me a call on 07918 121838 or click through to my website.Labels: business, mandy charlton designs, personal stuff, yay me |
| posted by mandy @ 11:40 AM |
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| Wednesday, July 08, 2009 |
| Neck Update - No longer a Cyborg! |
Yes it's true, I can now turn my head in both directions!! It's still painful, especially in the mornings but it's so much more improved thanks to my amazing Chiropractor, goodness only knows what I would have done without him considering I'm not due to see the neurosurgeon until the 16th of September.
I do have a photoshoot on Saturday but I also have a sparkly and wonderful assistant who will be carrying all the bags and equiptment so we'll see how it goes.
The great news is that I'm pretty certain that I shall be fabulously well for the 9 weddings in a month which start on the 18th of July. I have been advised to carry an ice-pack so if you see me at dinner with an ice-pack gracing my neck please don't worry, it's better that I'm well and fully functioning for the whole wedding I'm sure you'll agree.
When I set out to start my business I was fully aware that I was documenting the most important day of your lives and I went into it with the full knowledge that I would have to be there barring a coma or death! I take my business incredibly seriously and your weddings are as important to me as they are to you and I'm just delighted with the improvement i'm making thanks to pain-killers, ice-pack treatments and twice weekly trips to my wonderful Chiropractor.
I'm going to give it another couple of weeks before I think about restarting the regular portrait sessions so I hope you'll bear with me and I'm also still going to be resting in the off days between weddings but my new assistant is helping with admin, print orders, wedding processing and other bits and pieces. I beleive there's nothing you can't conquer if you have the right attitude, great staff and brilliant friends, just as well that all my staff are brilliant friends too!
I'm so excited about what is going to be my busiest wedding season ever, I really can't wait to document the most special days of your lives and I want to thank you all so very much for all your support over the last couple of weeks.
Onwards to the future....Labels: mandy charlton designs, neck, personal stuff |
| posted by mandy @ 11:02 AM |
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| Thursday, July 02, 2009 |
| Note to Clients |
So you may remember in my last post I indicated that I had injured my neck, well after xrays and a couple of trips to the Chiropractor we now know exactly whats up, I have a prolapsed disk in my neck. This is one of those things which has happened completely out of the blue and knocked the whole family for six. It's come at an especially bad time for me because it's just before the start of my busiest wedding season ever.
So obviously the question on your lips is will I make it to your weddings?
Well at this point the answer is a most definite yes but other things are going to take longer.
For the next couple of weeks I've been put on complete rest to the extent that I'm only allowed to walk around for 10 minutes a day maxium. We need to coax that disk back into the neck with as little trouble as possible.
So if you're waiting for something to be done I would ask you to bear with me and have patience, my job is one of the most important parts of my life and to enable me to shoot the weddings I have to put other things on the back-burner.
For the time being I'm not going to be booking any portrait sittings for the rest of the summer and my focus will be on the weddings I have already booked, I also won't be taking anymore weddings on for dates before November, so if you're planning a wedding and it's November or later please do give me a call.
I'm still going to try and get to meetings but if we can make those local to me then thats going to help a great deal.
At all weddings this summer you'll see me with an assistant because I need someone to carry all of the equiptment.
Processing the weddings may take a little longer than planned because on my days off I'll need to have complete rest, I will of course keep you all up to date on whats going on with your wedding processing.
Album design will be mostly put off until the winter months at the moment, it's the only way I can fulfil my oustanding commitments but if yours is urgent please do tell me and I will see what we can arrange.
I want you all to know that I am looking forward to this summers weddings more than ever, there's nothing that a few painkillers and a bit of assistance can't help and you know it's the thought of all your wonderful weddings that is keeping me sane at the moment.
So for the next couple of weeks my feet are firmly up, I'm on painkillers, intensive treatment from the Chiropractor and ice-pack treatments as well as being referred by the doctor to see a specialist and get on the waiting list for an MRI
I'll try and keep regular updates on this blog but if any of you hae any worries or concerns please do call or email me.
Lets make this summers weddings the best ever!Labels: mandy charlton photography, newcastle wedding photographer |
| posted by mandy @ 7:58 AM |
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| Sunday, June 28, 2009 |
| I've haven't been abducted by aliens |
Though you might be forgiven for thinking that I have if you follow the blog as I've only blogged once this month.
Forgive me dear readers but I've been so busy, we've been to London, I've shot weddings and portraits and E-shoots and I've not had time to post any of them.
I'm going to promise to blog them this week.
So just in the last couple of weeks something has changed my life, about a month ago I invested in an iPod touch and it changed my life, I couldn't believe the wonders this wafer thin piece of technology could do. Indeed I fell in love so hard that on Thursday I bought myself an iPhone and then yesterday to top it all off I bought a Macbook, I am an iConvert, this week I already have plans to by an Apple TV gismo.
Other than that one major thing has happened, I have damaged my neck, no one quite seems to know what I've done but since midweek last week I've been in agony, I've bearly eaten in the last three days and the industrial painkillers the dr gave me are only just taking the edge off the pain. I'm calling in the big boys tommorrow and booking myself in with an Osteopath, at the same time I have a team of cleaners coming for 4 and a half hours to try and get on top of the housework.
Whatever happens I shall be well and back to my bouncy old self by the time the main wedding season starts, 3 weeks and counting....Labels: apple, illness, iphone, ipod, macbook, pain, personal stuff |
| posted by mandy @ 8:34 PM |
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| Saturday, June 06, 2009 |
| Take That present The Circus at the Stadium of Light |
Yesterday there was much excitement in the Charlton household as we were going to have what would turn out to be one of the best nights of our entire lives at the Take That concert at the Stadium of Light.
We didn't know what to expect because it was the first night of their latest (and rumoured last) uk wide tour.
What we got was the most amazing spectacular show on earth, so good was it that we managed to get some cheap tickets for tonights concert.
I didn't take my DSLR because you're not allowed and also I didn't want to be worried about my camera all night so instead I simply snapped a few random pics with hubbys Nokia camera phone, at 3.1mp I really didn't expect much but actually as personal memory photographs we have some great ones.
Here we are waiting in the queue for the general admission tickets, an absurdly long queue which paid off because we got seats. Note I'm sporting the official Take That Bowler Hat which as official merchandise set me back by £12! yes if you want your TT goodies it's going to cost you, £15 for the official programme (gorgeous photography of the boys though) and I also got a canvas bag which cost £12, T-shirts are all £25 and if you're feeling flush a hoodie will set you back £50.
just in front of our seats here, great views due to the humongous screens at either side of the stage and we also had quite good views of the stage and the infamous B stage where they start the concert from, be warned though if you stand within 8 foot of the B stage you get soaked as the water jets shoot upwards for Back For Good.
One of the most amazing moments is when a lifesize Elephant arises from the B stage, I screamed like a girl at this point.
Paul borrowed some funky glasses from our concert mates who I've never met before and might never meet again but they really massively helped with the amazing atmosphere.
small mention about the support acts, James Morrison was awesome, Gary Go is, well I thought he dressed like a banker and was altogether bland but your mileage may vary!!
The boys performed a good range of classics as well as some from the 3 albums since their comeback. My fave song which I had always wanted to see live "Never Forget" absolutely lived up to my expectations and I also loved Greatest Day and Shine.
They ended the concert with "Rule The World" accompanied by sparkly stars and fireworks and when they left the stage I could have quite happily listened for another hour or so, LOL
wonderful value for money as a night you'll always remember and you know you might still get tickets for your venue, I got 2 tickets for just under £70 for tonights show, they're billed as restricted viewing but we had great seats and got all the pics last night, tonight we're merely going along to sing and dance and share in the atmosphere.
Take That, thank you for this delicious spectacular and I hope it's not the last tour as no one quite puts on a show like you guys.
Let me share some photographs and tell you all about it.
Labels: good times, hubby, personal stuff, stadium of light, take that, The Circus Tour |
| posted by mandy @ 2:37 PM |
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| Thursday, June 04, 2009 |
| Holly and Craigs wedding - Horton Grange, Northumberland |
On Saturday I had the most wonderful wedding to photograph, Holly and Craig live just around the corner from me and they chose to marry at the beautiful Horton Grange in Northumberland.
I can't share all of my faves on here without it becoming the biggest blog post of all time so if you want to see more click on any of the photographs to be spirited away to the Facebook album.
Ok, here we go....
I really loved the detailing on the back of Hollys dress
Isn't Holly a beautiful bride?
Love this one of all the men in their finery!
I adore the romance in this one
They're such a gorgeous and wonderful couple
This little girl was so gorgeous and very well behaved, a real credit to her parents :o)
Holly and Craig, may I wish you all the best for your future together, thank you so much for letting me share your special day and have a wonderful honeymoon in Texas.
Labels: Horton Grange, wedding photographer northumberland, weddings |
| posted by mandy @ 10:09 AM |
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