Every night I wish upon a star, I believe that stars have the most magical properties, we're never as connected to the universe as we are when we are under skies filled with shining blankets of twinkling stars.  In my years of blogging, I've collaborated with so many companies and it's brought me the most amazing items and trips away but this collaboration is without a doubt the most special of all.

The lovely people at Star Name Registry asked me if I wanted to name a star and so after much thought I came up with the name Abilaurain Bobbins which is a combination of Abigail, Laura, Iain and of course wonder dog Holly Bobbins, you also get to choose a memorable date so I chose my birthday and that way our family star would have a bit of me in as well and now for all eternity we have our own named star, whenever and wherever we are, we will always be able to look to the skies and see the place in eternity where we'll always be together.

You know the best thing about naming a star?  I got to choose the constellation and being the biggest fan of greek mythology I had to choose the constellation of Cassiopeia, a story which I love.

Cassiopeia is the mother of Andromeda, she boasted that both she and her daughter were the most beautiful of all of the Nereids which angered Poseidon who threatened to flood Ethiopia, to cut a long story short, Andromeda was going to be sacrificed but was saved by Perseus who she married. Poseidon still believed that Cassiopeia should be punished so he tied her legs to a chair and she dangles upside down in the heavens with her dress covering her face so even though she's holding a mirror she can never see her reflection again.

In star terms, Cassiopeia is always visible in the northern hemisphere as it is so near to the pole star and even though I live in the city where light pollution is bad, I can always see Cassiopeia so everytime I glance upon her I'll know I'm with my family and my dog.

Now here's the best part, would you like to name your very own star?  Star Name Registry are giving one of their extra bright star packages worth £24.99 to one of you lovely readers and here's all you have to do, leave a comment below "I want to win a star because..." and I'll choose the best entry on 31/3/17 and that person will win and get to name their own start and you'll receive a certificate, guide to finding the star and a sky atlas.

Want to Win Tickets to See Disney On Ice?

Today I have the most special giveaway to tell you about, how would you like to win 2 tickets to see Disney On Ice presents Frozen at the Newcastle Metro Radio Arena on Wednesday October 19th thanks to the lovely people at Disney?

Well here's all you have to do, just go over to my twitter and RT this pinned tweet by noon on Saturday 27th August 2016, I will then choose a Retweet at random, think children picking something out of a magical hat and that's how you win!!

THE PRIZE   2 x tickets to the Disney On Ice performance at Newcastle Metroradio Arena on Wednesday 19th October 2016 (6:30pm)
TERMS AND CONDITIONS   One lucky person will be randomly selected as our winner from all valid entries. UK entries only. Travel/transport/extras are not included. Tickets are non-transferable to another date/show/location. There is no cash alternative or refund available.Giveaway closes: (noon 27th August 2016).

So what are you waiting for, go, go, go my pretties and enter the competition and you could be there, don't forget to wave at Looby and I doing our best Elsa impersonations!!

It's not about things, it's definitely not about things....

Come on, repeat it with me, it's about experiences, it's not about things...

Well except that I've had one of those rare moments where it actually was about a thing, you see it's been 2 years of love I've had with my iPhone 5 but our time had come and much as I loved it I upgraded - 

I know, I sound like a materialist or a capitalist but honestly I think apart from cameras my phone is the centre of my business with this one thing I can run my business from anywhere in the world.  One of the things is that the camera on my iPhone boasts a camera with a 10fps burst, that's incredible, I tried it today and took 28 photos quicker than I blinked!  Now just to compare this, my wonderful Fuji XPro1 shoots at 6fps and that is plenty for the average 3 year old who's running around wildly and no I'm not likely to start shooting portrait sessions on an iPhone but hell yeah I'm going to try it just to compare how it is.

For me there's always been something slightly disingenuous about the Instagrams that I post, i.e. it feels a bit wrong to upload professional photographs to Instagram because it clearly misses the point of it being in the moment and from the hip which I think is what an Instagram is all about but at the same time the average camera phone is not going to please the eye of the average professional photographer so I'd like to give this a go in some good light with a small person and shoot half an half and give them a proper comparison.

If you have got this far then well done, you'll be rewarded soon I promise... here goes, If you have a little one possibly about 4 or 5 and you would like a completely complimentary photo shoot with the understanding that half of it is going to be shot on my regular professional camera that I've used on every session since last March and the other half is going to be shot on an iPhone 6 then leave a comment on this blog post and we'll fix it up, if more than 1 person comments I'll do a draw.  You'll get all of the edited images and I'll edit them both in the same way as I normally do!

Please note that you have to be available in the evening as that's when the best light of the day is, think an hour before sunset sometime over the next week and if that's not a clash with bedtime then I'd love to hear from you.

I can't actually believe I am doing this but hey, it'll be an interesting experiment for sure!

Fancy a free portait session this week? - Swine Flu Cancellations

Argh to swine flu, in the last 2 weeks 3 sessions have had to cancel due to swine flu, I really hope that everyone gets well soon.

So, my prime dates for Christmas shoots have now re-opened and to celebrate I am literally giving away all 3 sessions.

All you have to do if you want one is email me at mandy@mandycharltonphotography.com or call me on 07918 121838 and so long as you don't have swine flu too we'll get that session arranged ASAP and you'll be able to give those you love the gift of wonderful photographs for Christmas.

Be quick though, as in previous giveaways these sessions have been taken within minutes of me posting.

Family or Kids Photoshoot giveaway

It's not long until Christmas so I am festively giving away a photoshoot worth £50, you can either have a family or kids session and there's only 1 requirement, it must be taken this week! Now because it's winter I can come to your house at any convenient time, I'll bring along my backdrop and voila great photographs whatever the location.

I can pretty much arrange this at any time this week apart from Saturday (when I have Maeve and Petes fabulous Christmas wedding).

Now for the best part, after your session I will upload all the images to a gallery as fast as lightening and as long as you are quick off the mark I can guarantee you'll have your prints in time for Christmas (at any size up to and including A3 borderless). You'll receive a 20% off code for 7 days and you'll be giving the gift of photographs for Christmas!!

If you want to enter this giveaway simply email mandy@mandycharltonphotography.com and the first email I read is the person who wins.

Good Luck

Boudoir Giveaway

Just because I'm in a great mood, the first person to email will get a complimentary boudoir session, all you'll pay for is the prints or album.

Be quick, this one is going to go fast!

NB, you must be happy for me to use selected images on my website gallery