The last 45 days have been the biggest roller coaster I have ever experienced.  Crowd funding is definitely not for the faint of heart.

Here's some stats from the UK Cityscapes project crowd funding campaign

144% funded
£3599 raised
15, 498 visits to the Indiegogo page
106 contributions
1500 Facebook shares
903 Tweets

If you were a part of this even in some small way then I thank you from the bottom of my heart.


If you read all of the articles (I'm quite glad I didn't read them until afterwards) the first thing they say is Do not do this on a whim!  So on that one I'd say Mandy 1 - Crowd funding advice - 0, I do know exactly what they're getting at though!

So you're probably wondering what exactly happens next?

It takes around 15 business days for most of the funds to be released, Paypal is immediate and that's helped with cities I've been to over the last 45 days, the bulk though will mean that the end of June/whole of July/August will be devoted to travelling this great land, climbing tall buildings and walking more miles in a week than i've ever walked before and that's not a bad thing!

If you follow me on social media you'll be able to keep up with each city as it happens, I post little postcards on the go through Instagram so feel free to give me a follow, I always try to follow back, I love seeing other peoples worlds, I'm instagram.com/MandyCharlton

My Etsy store Philomena's Boutique will be refreshed and all of the images from all of the cities will be available as Prints, fine art prints, Canvases and there'll also be options to pre order the UK Cityscapes books in both digital and hard copy.  I'm also working an E-Book which will be about the Crowd Funding journey and how to launch and run a successful campaign, I plan to get that written on evenings when I am in hotels on my own.

"But oh, Wait, I'm a company and I want to get involved, I really want to sponsor UK Cityscapes" I hear you say, well worry not, companies can still get involved in return for publicity, reviews and other such wonderful things, if you are a UK company, involved with travel or you're a hotel then please continue to get in touch by emailing me 

you'll also be seeing a lot more photos of my cats again and yesterday we just gave a home to Petunia, a 2 and a half year old husky with neurological problems, she has the equivalent of doggy autism and problems with her back legs, we took her out for her very first trip to the park yesterday and she loved it She's just quite the most enchanting little character. She's perpetually happy and has settled in better in one day than any other pet we've ever had, because she has no prey instinct and wants to be everyones friend she'll no doubt end up being friends with the cats, she's not even interested when they go next to her cage, much to their dismay.

I'm happy we found Petunia, she's going to keep hubby company when I'm away from home.

Oops, got totally distracted there didn't I, not like me at all!

Have a wonderful weekend, pray for sunshine because I am off to photograph a wedding and the portraits are timed for the same time as the thunder, my outfit today will probably be a floaty dress and galoshes!

All PR requests  and enquiries about the UK Cityscapes project should be sent to mandy@mandycharltonphotography.com

Business Investment and sponsorship for the UK Cityscapes project

Through the UK Cityscapes project (a quest for me to photograph all of the 69 cities in the UK) you have the opportunity to gain profile for your business for a very limited investment of only £100 (and I'll be using this investment to fund the project).  I know advertising can cost the earth, so I'm offering an alternative - online promotion for only £100 to last a whole year - no catch.

Just to give you some idea of the scale of the opportunity, within only a couple of weeks I've had:

1.    A 2 page article in the Journal/Sunday Sun

2.    Over 600 hits to my blog a day every day last week (that's where your business will be profiled)

3.    Over 12,000 visitors to the UK Cityscapes crowd funding page on Indiegogo (you'll be mentioned there as an investor too)

4.    Thousands of social media followers/fans all following the progress of the UK Cityscapes project (and I'll talk a lot about you there, too!)

beautiful Newcastle, one of the first Cityscapes of the UK Cityscapes Project

This offer is only available for another 2 weeks, so if you're interested in making an investment of £100 to raise the profile of your business online, there's no time like the present (I know you can do the maths - that's only £2 a week as the promotion will be for a full year).

For your £100 you'll get national profile alongside the UK Cityscapes project for a whole year.  If you're looking to get your name out there, I can definitely help you to do that!

Here's exactly what you'll get for your £100:

1.    - A blog post dedicated to promoting your business, including links to your website, news/images, links (my blog receives over 600 hits a day and your post will be there for the full year)

2.       - A mention in a daily promoted tweet which goes to over 70,000 businesses just like yours many times throughout the day.

3.       - Regular mentions via Twitter and facebook, and of course my blog, over the next year (these also reach many thousands of people and businesses)

4.       - Your business logo will be in the book that emerges from the project, and a live link to your website in the digital version

So, to purchase your promotional package for £100 click HERE - this link takes you to a funding page - just follow the instructions and we'll soon be in business :)

UK Cityscapes, The Movie

It's not like me to blog twice in one day but here it is, the movie premier of my movie, of course it's all in aid of the UK Cityscapes Project and if you like it I would love you to do one of the following things

1. Visit igg.me/at/ukcityscapes and share the link, or claim one of the wonderful rewards
2. Buy a digital postcard from your city for only £3 HERE
3. Pre-Order a digital copy of the book for only £5 HERE
4. Pre-Order a copy of the actual book (10x8 landscape photobook) for only £30 HERE
5. Become a business investor and secure yourself a year of sustained marketing for only £100 (that's less than £2 a day and you will be reaching thousands every single day HERE
6. Buy a Canvas from the project to decorate your home, workspace or office (16x24 inches) for £150 HERE
7. Book a 1 hour photo shoot with me for you and your family/kids when I visit your city (if I've already been to your city and it's in the NE of England don't worry, I can come back) HERE

Thank you, you're amazing!

For 24 hours only - Pre-Order a digital copy of UK Cityscapes for only £2 instead of £5

For one day only dear reader you can pre-order a digital copy of my forthcoming UK Cityscapes book for just £2, the regular price is £5, only 100 copies are available and the offer only lasts for 24 hours so pre-order your digital edition of UK Cityscapes today!



If I can sell 100 copies in the next 24 hours I'll be nearly half way to my crowd funding target and there are still 31 days to go. I really need your help to do this, if you missed why, you can catch up here

If you're wondering why I'm not off hopping and leaping and bounding through cities right now it's because I have a full week of work this week, portraits, pre-wedding shoots and consultations as well as it being my beautiful daughter Abigails 12th Birthday

She was pretty delighted to receive her very first pair of Dr Martens, purple ones too!  She also got new brogues, new Converse and a brand new electronic keyboard (yes that's 3 pairs of footwear, it seems my passion for shoes has passed to both daughters even though this one says she is not a girly girl, one day I think she'll rebel and all she'll want to wear is pink!  Abigail of course has already travelled to some of the cities with me as has Looby and that for me is a wonderful thing, I think that probably goes to making up some of the adventures we've had on our travels so far.  I love going to cities and travelling even when I'm on my own (and I actively try to deal with that anxiety I still get when someone is walking behind me) but it's always fab when you can share the experience, I can't wait to share more cities with them in half term and then the summer holidays, I'm even hoping hubby will be able to come along to some cities, I think that's how the stories are created, it'd be easy to just turn up to 69 cities, take one photo and then sneak away without anyone seeing you but I don't want to do that, I want to truly experience each city providing enough images for a blog post and chapter of the book about that city.  I think it would be really hard to get a feel for a city in an hour, who knows though, I may find cities I want to escape from as soon as I get there ;)  I don't believe that though, I think there's beauty to be found in each an every one of our cities, definitely there are some where it's not immediately visible but it's only by exploration you get to see it.  I guess that's a bit like people really, you can't just take people at face value, you have to see what's inside them to have a true knowledge of their inner selves.

So Happy Wednesday, Happy Birthday to Abigail and I am off to buy a big 12 year olds birthday cake (as opposed to a 12 year old birthday cake which wouldn't be very nice at all really)

A Sunday look at #UKCityscapes and why this project is so important to me

It's a grey and slightly damp morning in Newcastle and I'm still in my pjyamas planning my next move! This morning someone tweeted a link to this photo saying they'd found it in my Etsy store and isn't it fabulous.

and this dear reader is the photograph which inspired my UK Cityscapes project

Earlier this week I spoke about why I need your help and told my story but this was really the moment that inspired it all.  I was over 400ft in the air standing at the top of the radio tower in Liverpool and for the first time in forever (sorry Frozen ;) ) I felt that feeling of total insignificance, we're all so incredibly small when viewed against the large landscape in which we live.  We can be all consumed by our problems, worries or human conditions but in reality they're so microcosmic when compared with the universe and it's amazing structures, formations and landscapes.  Now I'm not trying to undermine how utterly trapped you can feel when you have any mental health challenge and I should know from my own personal experiences of bipolar and agoraphobia, I suppose that several years ago I could not have done this, I could not be so high, so open,so tiny for agoraphobia made me essentially hide into the smallest corner wanting to be wrapped in a warm dark blanket of my own mortal fears.  I manage my own mental health pretty successfully and I speak about it to try and help, encourage and inspire other people who may at this moment feel trapped by their own inner mortal fears.  I think there's an ongoing fighting viking inside me which some days has to fight harder than others, don't get me wrong, when I get worried I get anxious and when I get anxious I forget to breath, funnily enough though it never ever happens in my professional life, probably because when I hold that camera I am very much in charge of the world, maybe that's what we all need, to find our own empowering tool which helps us to be in charge of our own universe so that we can climb tall buildings, scale large mountains and reach the precipice of our own destiny.

That's another reason that this project is so very important to me, I want to use this to do as much good as I can, I want the world to know my story and for everyone who's currently struggling to know that it is possible to be amazing and do great things.

Please support this project by claiming a perk on my crowd funding page or sharing this post or sponsoring me with your business and thank you, you're amazing!

Galsgow, City 7 of 69 (host city of the 2014 Commonwealth Games), UK Cityscapes Project by Mandy Charlton

First of all I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has shared the campaign page, read my blog post about why I'm doing this or made a contribution and claimed a perk!  This morning I've raised 21% of the total and campaigns who manage to get the first 20% are statistically more likely to reach their target, there's still 37 days to go and 79% to go though so keep sharing, helping, whatever you can, I'm determined I can do this now!

So lets get back to city number 7 of 69, the 2014 Commonwealth Games host Glasgow...

largest city in Scotland and 4th largest city in the UK with a population of over half a million people.  It's home to some of the most splendid museums and it's a place to go if you have kids because with the exception of the science museum they're all free!  Don't leave out the Science museum though as it's quite fantastic, we go every time we're in Glasgow because Abigail and Looby love it so much.

1 thing I've never managed to do in Glasgow is go up the Glasgow Tower which is unsurprising because since it was built in 2003 it's only worked for 20% of it's whole life, I suspect if I ever get up there I'll be rewarded with the most spectacular views of Glasgow ever though!

Glasgow of course has long been associated with Rennie Mackintosh, the designer, architect and artist was one of the most influential figures of Scotlands history.

Shall we get on to the photos?

The cityscapes aren't always the most picturesque things you've ever seen but they all make up the amazing city that is Glasgow

It's been lovely having my daughters along while they've been on their school holidays, I shall really miss them next week when I start doing the cities on my own.

sorry about the dodgy photograph of me, you can't really pack hair straighteners when you're carrying everything in a backpack, my neck is in enough pain without packing unnecessary products!

Cityscapes are everywhere in Glasgow because of the multiple hills it's built on, I would have liked to get higher up but I'm happy to wait until the Glasgow Tower re-opens this summer, I reckon it'll be a view worth waiting for.

The next city I'll be visiting is York, I know exactly where I'm going to capture the cityscape and there'll be lots of photos of the beauty of York too, I had intended to go today but the weather is appauling all over the UK today so I'm having another admin and planning day.

If you're a photographer popping your head in to read this post you may like to know that all of the images were taken with the Fuji X-Pro1 and the 35mm f1.4, it's the most amazing combination and the dynamic range alone is quite a special thing.  You may also like to know that all of these images were shot in Jpeg, the X-Pro1 makes it possible to never have to shoot in RAW again, how much editing?  Well all of the images have been through Lightroom, then Photoshop and then Lightroom again, it's quite a specific look and feel I have gone for and there's more information about why I've chosen to do that on the campaign page.

If you would like to contribute to the campaign in anyway possible the page is here and to email me about any of the images or anything about the project at all my email address is as ever mandy@mandycharltonphotography.com

Edinburgh, city 6 of 69, The UK Cityscape project by Mandy Charlton

So it's 7.20am on Monday 28th April 2014 and I've woken up to a sunny morning in Edinburgh, the 6th city in my UK Cityscape Project to be the first person to  document and photograph all 69 cities of the UK.

I've had a pretty good nights sleep at the Old Waverley Hotel on Princes Street, I still can't quite believe how lucky I was to find that this hotel had a massive discount on lastminute.com  The staff here have been lovely even though we were only staying for 1 night, we've a great view of the Scott Monument and our room faces onto my favourite department store Jenners. I'd always wanted to stay at this hotel, just for the views really and I thought i'd won the jackpot when the promised internal room actually happened to be one with a view, some of the front facing rooms which look directly onto the Scott Monument and Princes Street are definitely worth paying a little more if you are in Edinburgh for the whole Scottish experience.

So, what can I tell you about Edinburgh?

Well it's of course home to 2 very famous Pandas who live at Edinburgh Zoo, no time to go and visit them on this trip sadly but I'll be back with the girls in the summer for our fun trip!  Oh and just a warning, click on that link and you'll be transported to the Edinburgh Zoo panda cam, you may spend the day doing not very much else ;)

Apart from the Pandas -

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, population is around half a million or was when it was last counted in 2012.  It's home to the Queens official Scottish residence the Palace of Holyroodhouse, I've never actually been inside, the next time I must visit!

Edinburgh is a city steeped in so much history your head might just explode if you try to absorb it all at once, it's not a city you can just spend one day in, I've been visiting for many many years and still haven't seen all of it, there's just so much to do whether you have kids or not, to name a few things there's the National Museum of Scotland, the National Gallery, Dynamic Earth, the royal yacht Britannia, the botanic gardens, and of course Edinburgh castle a place I can finally say I've visited, just 1 note about Edinburgh castle, it's amazing, however it's also got a very expensive coffee shop, if you're on a visit you might want to avoid the £3 cup of coffee and the £3 cake, just because they're expensive does not mean they're the best coffee and cake you'll ever experience ;)

And so onwards with our photographic journey, lets enjoy slightly misty murky Edinburgh, at one point I thought we would have to give up as you couldn't even see your own nose never mind a cityscape but lucky it cleared a little later on in the day.

 I have Abigail joining me on this leg of the journey as she's still got another week left of her Easter holidays even though it seems like Easter was weeks ago, if you're wondering what the heck she's doing, well I think she was either trying to hold up the ice-cream van or she's being a tour guide.

yes I think we all wish we could do this to our beloved Tweens every now and then.

and so that was Edinburgh, one of my favourite cities and I suspect when I get to the end of the project it will still remain as one of my favourite cities, everywhere you go in Edinburgh there's beauty to find, the magnificent layered landscapes our cities provide is really in evidence in Edinburgh and although the layers combine the old and the new it's really the old which stands out more than anything else, inhale and you'll breath in thousands of years of history, so much so you better hope you don't get some stuck up your nose!

and so onwards we go on this crazy journey, we leave on a train for Glasgow this morning, luckily it's only a half hour journey and luckily for me I love train journeys.

If you would like to grab yourself a pre-order of the book, find out more about the project or sponsor my campaign you can do so here

If you're a business and would like to discuss corporate sponsorship and working together to show how magnificent your business is in your city you can email me here

and if you would like to purchase any of the cityscapes from any of the cities you can drop me an email or there's a selection in my fine art Etsy store Philomenas Boutique

Durham City 3/69 in the UK Cityscapes Project

So we've covered Newcastle and we've covered Liverpool, the next city on my list was Durham

Durham is a petite beautiful old city in the North East of England, home to Durham Cathedral and Castle which sit on a hill above the city and immortalised by Roger Whittaker in his song Durham Town you'll never forget your visit to this beautiful city.

If you're travelling by train like me you'll step out of the train station to be greeted by this amazing cityscape

if you want even better views of the city all you need to do is go through the tunnel to the other side of the station and climb up the stairs to end up in Wharton Park where you'll see this

but that's not the only way to view Durham, I took a cruise on the Price Bishop Cruiser and an hours amble along the river at a leisurely pace commenced with interesting commentary by the captain full of facts and tidbits of information about all things Durham and these were a few of the views

There's also the view I found out of the window on the way up the stairs in the Prince Bishops shopping centre

Without a doubt, one of the things I've noticed about Durham is the amount of trees they have in the city, it's got to be one of the most tree lined citiesof the uk, so much so that they do obscure a few views but hey, it's better to be surrounded by trees than an urban jungle, incidentally if you look closely at this image you'll see Durham prison amazing how it's just nestled there at the back of the city!  I don't recommend you ask for bed and breakfast there though!

There is one other view which I didn't achieve, I was there with the girls and we made it to the Cathedral just after 5pm to find that it closes at 5.30pm, now you can climb the central tower of the cathedral but it's 325 steps up a spiral staircase and on the posters they warn that even the healthy may feel breathless, it didn't inspire me, mostly because I remember climbing 284 steps of the Scott Monument last year and my daughter telling me at the top that maybe I should have brought some water!

So that's Durham in all it's glory, next stop on this crazy UK Cityscape tour is Carlisle, I visited on a soggy day yesterday, photos coming soon.

If you would like to help me crowd fund my way around the 69 cities of the UK you can do so Here

if you would like to talk to me about corporate sponsorship, press releases or PR please email me here

or if you would like to buy any of the artwork you can either email or there's also a featured selection in my Etsy Store