So here I am, the middle of the countryside, in a teeny tiny cottage, 10 minutes from the beach at Embleton which if you're not from the North, it's part of the Northumbrian Coastline near Craster where the kippers come from and where I'm going to walk with Holly tomorrow, it's near Dunstanburgh Castle and it's around 7 miles from Seahouses, there are buses approximately once every 3 hours and there's a village shop which also doubles as the post office.  There are however 2 pubs and both seem to be dog-friendly.  I have no phone signal which is perfect as I hate using the phone, I do however have reasonable wifi which is a must, even Hannah Hauxwell tweets these days!

I think I'd make a fairly good hermit though I must admit I did bring a Sainsbury's shop with me, some Lavazza coffee for the cafetiere and a bottle of Sancerre so I'm far from roughing it.  I have a Velux window in my bedroom and because there's no light pollution if I'm lucky I might just be able to see the stars tonight!

I didn't bring masses of camera gear with me, just my amazing Fuji X70 and my Joby Gorillapod, I mean I have to at least be prepared in case the Northern Lights show their face this week, it would be a travesty not to photograph them.

So, what do I do now?  What changes can I make to be a better person, a better mum, a better businesswoman, I really thought that life was going in the right direction and that the kids were happy and appreciate just how hard I work and how much I want things to be good for us all the time. It's upsetting because we've gotten along so well for so very long, I simply did not see this coming at all!

The girls really seem to want me to shoot more weddings and whilst I don't want to increase the number of full-day gigs I'm quite happy to shoot more short small weddings, I love short weddings, I'm great at sweeping in, photographing a great outline of the day and then sweeping out so maybe if you know someone who's getting married who needs 2-4 hours of coverage this year or next you could send them my way.

Being discovered for my writing is just going to take time and hard work, I've only been pushing it for a couple of years now whereas it's nearly 10 for photography, I know only too well just how hard it is out there in the world of freelance writing but I do think I have something unique to offer the world so I'm just going to keep writing for myself as I've always done, for my editors at Huffington Post and Nights Out in Newcastle and of course I'll continue to do portrait photography, travel photography and travel writing for anyone who'll pay me.  It's not like I'm not trying!  If anything I am a serial entrepreneur and if I get an idea about something which can potentially make money you can be sure that I'll do it.

A life lived in fear is a life half lived!

Wedding and portrait photography in north east england - August!

It's been hugely busy here and I'm loving it, it's incredibly hard work but it's also so rewarding to have so many happy people receive their lovely wedding and portrait images.

Here's my latest collection from the last couple of weeks -

I even managed a little personal photograph when I was out doing some photography in a nature reserve, I love baby animals

Phew, I think it must be time for me to take a holiday soon!

catching up again, weddings, portraits, a whole lot of goings on...

First of all, after some time in the wilderness no thanks to Google, the lovely people who work for them got me up and running and back to my old URL, it's just a shame they caused the problem for me and many others in the first place.  Selling URL's through blogger but not letting anyone actually have any access to their domain control panels wasn't the most sensible move by one of the worlds biggest tech companies.

Ah well, it's good to be back and I have a ton of photos to share today, actually there's probably about 10 blog posts worth so lets do some today and maybe lets all meet here again tomorrow dear reader and we'll do the same again shall we?  Choccy biccies all round I think unless like me you're all doing the wonderful world of Slimming World, I'm disappearing very very very very slowly, it is working through.

How's that then dear reader, is that enough for the day, some portraits, some recent weddings and boy am I busy with those at the moment, and there's even a Looby in there!!

If you would like to speak to me about shooting your family or childrens portraits or maybe you want some more details about me being your wedding photographer?  Well if that is the case you can either email me at mandy@mandycharltonphotography.com or you can keep up to date on a day to day basis with me on my Facebook Business Page or you might want to click through to my website and fill out the contact form.  Whatever way you do it I can't wait to hear from you.

Newcastle Photographer, 2012 review and 2013 news from Mandy Charlton

I know that every Tom, Dick and Harry is doing a 2012 year in review post just now but it's always nice to look back at the great things you've done and 2012 was quite simply my favourite year in nearly 6 years of business as a newcastle photographer.

Because my areas of speciality are weddings and kids and family portraits on location there really is quite a mix and I've popped a few personal photos in there for good measure, it's a funny thing when you get this collection all in one place, to see what you accomplished in a year is a wonderful thing indeed.

What I have discovered this year is that I love being on location shooting family portraits in the North East and it's possibly a good time to reveal some news about 2013, you see I've never been entirely happy in a studio, I always felt that it was almost too easy and that there were no backgrounds, I like life as a background, I think it makes for much better photos and the kids enjoy being outdoors so much, it's perfect for my style of photography and so yesterday I handed in my notice at the studio and I'm going to be moving to a brand new NE1 business address, I've found the most gorgeous meeting room perfect for my needs, a great base to meet all of you lovely clients looking for a wedding photographer in the North East of England and for some of you it will be just around the corner from your venues because it's city centre based.  It really is an exciting development and I'm so happy with the choices I've taken.

And so come with me for a meander through the highlights of 2012 and do leave a comment with your favourite image

This one right here is my favourite wedding image from 2012, shot in August at Durham Castle there's just something special about it don't you think?

This might possibly be my favourite portrait image of the year but to be honest it sort of changes every week because I shoot so many mini sessions and portrait sessions, up to 20 a week at peak times.