a little bit of love from York and the yearly Christmas offer

It's been a busy old time since I've been back at work and would you believe it I'm full of cold and germs, I'm trying to not let it get in the way of lots of portraits and fun but believe me when I say that the Benylin is working overtime!

So firstly I went off to photograph Laura and Tom in York on Friday, Laura is a wedding blogger extraordinaire getting married on Bonfire Night and if you want to see the whole collection of photos just hop over to her blog Bonfire Night Bride. here's just a couple of my favourites -

don't you just love their puppy Daisy, cutest doggy in the world!!

So, my second thing today was to launch my Christmas family portrait offer and I think I'll just let this photo say it all

and don't forget you can buy a gift certificate for a half price shoot to give at Christmas knowing you'll have saved money when they recipient books, all vouchers are valid for 1 year from the date of purchase.

Now I've heard a rumour that this week is going to be fantastic weatherwise and as the leaves have fallen from the trees it's the perfect time for leaf kicking and having fun outdoors capturing perfect family portraits, I have availability at the special price this weekend so if you want to take advantage either give me a call on 07918 121838 or email me

Portraiture, I won again!

Well blow me over with a feather, I'm not even sure you can blow someone over with a feather but if you could that would be me right now!!

It seems the portraiture categories weren't announced until 3am this morning and I awoke to an email telling me that I'd won another 3 best of awards for the following portraits, how cool is that?!

To beat other international photographers who are amazing in wedding photography was astounding but to win in the portraiture sections (couples, women and children categories) is beyond my own belief, I am just so flippin greatful that I have such amazing clients who put their trust in me and let me create amazing images with them, dear reader I couldn't do this without my amazing clients.

A Very Happy Weekend!

I won, I won, I won

Yes indeed, last night I heard news that I'd won 2 best of awards from the lovely people at Pixoto, I won 2 best of awards both in wedding photography categories (still desperate to win an award for portraiture and came so close it was almost painful)

I was competing against many internationally wonderful photographers, the competition is voted on soley by other professional photographers worldwide and competition was steep so I'm quite thrilled with these small wins.

I'm always quite taken aback when I win anything and obviously this is the first international awards that I've won, I never take it for granted though and I couldn't do it without the amazing couples I get to photograph.

It's certainly a great start to the weekend.

Blog Giveaway Winner

I met up with Elanor on Saturday after she'd won a shoot on my blog last week.  I've photographed one of Elanors daughters before but now she has 2 and I have to say that they were both total cuties and ever so well behaved.

This is just one shot of many which I love, there's nothing like shooting through a large tube, it makes a great frame don't you think.

Dressing Up, The Book is now available

Dressing Up by Mandy Charlton | Make Your Own Book

I'm so pleased to be able to finally publish the book so that you can buy it for your friends and family this coming Christmas, it's going to make the ultimate stocking filler!

Back to Work, it's the Autumn term

and so I returned to work this week feeling pretty fabulous and completely refreshed, of course it's always with a heavy heart I send the kids back to school but it does sort of feel like a new year for me too, lots of exciting plans in the works both professionally and personally and I hope that you'll stay round and join me on my adventures.

So first on todays list of things to tell you, I met these lovely people above for a Jack Vettriano inspired shoot down on the beach at Tynemouth, this is just one of many shots which I'm truly chuffed with.

On Tuesday I spoke at a seminar on "Memory Keeping and Shooting your Kids" and just want to thank everyone who came along on the evening, I really enjoyed sharing some of my favourite kids photos with you and chatting with a really friendly audience.

This autumn "Shoot Your Kids" kicks off, it's a half day course to help parents get the most out of their cameras so they can capture great photos of their kids, there'll be two seperate courses, 1 for parents with any camera or mobile phone and a slightly more advanced one for those parents with DSLR's and prices are likely to be in the region of £45 per person which will include an hour in a gorgeous quirky room with presentation and refreshments and then 2 hours of practical on location tips and I'm also promising to photograph every parent who brings their child along, and thats really the joy of this, it's a great thing to bring the kids too!

The course will only be for a maximum of 5 parents per session to make sure that I can spend lots of time helping and advising and having fun and I do expect that it will sell out quite quickly

To register your inital interest (and at this point it's just that, no commitment required at this point) just drop and email to mandy@mandycharlton.com and tell me which one you are most interested in.

Next week I'll be announcing a special Christmas Photoshoot package, these are always popular and fill my diary from October - February so keep a look out because I'd hate for people to miss out.

Published in Hitched Magazine and a giveaway

So it's been a busy old summer doing family things but I'm happy that it's the start of a new term for me as well as the kids and yesterday news reached me via the very wonderful Julia that I'm published in Hitched magazine, a national publication read by thousands of brides, you can read more about it on Julias Brides Up North Blog and you'll also see that I had a 2 page spread in the Evening Chronicle last Friday!!

Yesterday I photographed these gorgeous girls -

and now I think it's the perfect time to start booking shoots if you are thinking of giving photographic gifts at Christmas, a family shoot is only £40 and you get your favourite shot as an 8x12, you also get a gallery for 30 days and 15% off all prices for the first 7 days, prints start at £8 for a 7x5.

With that in mind I'd like to give away a shoot, all you'll pay for is the prints saving yourself a whopping £40, you can't get a better deal than that now can you?

So all you need to do is leave a comment and I'll pick a winner and arrange the shoot, I'm happy to travel to shoots but I do charge 40p per mile if you are over 15-20 miles away.

So happy Saturday everyone :)