A personal project......

Hello lovely peeps and peepettes. I know, I know, I keep rabbiting on about exciting times but do you know what...I AM excited ha ha! Life is good, and without wanting to tempt fate or anything, I seem to be in an extraordinarily good mood most of the time at the moment. I have even found myself walking about with a bit of a weirdo smile on my face for no reason really!

I think in life it is so important to count your blessings while you have them. I don't want to sound like I'm preaching or anything, but seriously, life is short, and it is up to us to enjoy it RIGHT NOW!!!! Every now and again you hear some sad news that bumps you back to reality of actually how pretty damn good you have it, so get off your ass and have a good time baby! This week, I have heard a couple of those kind of sad stories so I'm on the up to enjoy what I have.

In the spirit of all things good, I'm undertaking a little personal project at the moment. All the pics above are the start of it, they are all my belongings photographed in my home. It is weird to look at my own house and things in a way I would usually approach photographing other peoples, it really freshens the eyes to perspectives! I have also realised it is in need of a good clean eeeep! As with many personal projects, when you put your heart into something, it is easy for it to get a bit bruised, so I am quite nervous about the end result. Fingers crossed you will love it, and I will be able to reveal the whole set of pics in a few weeks time! Nervous!!

Have a great end of the week all and super fab weekend, loads of love to you all

Bethan xxx

be a little bit braver......

Hmmm, I had a quick look on my computer for a photo I thought would be relevant to my first 2012 post and this one pretty much sums it up.

Ok, ok, I don't plan to spend the year
a) Lying on my back*
b) Becoming part of a BMX display stunt team*
c) being steaming drunk during the day*
                                                                                   *all apply to the photo above.

But my motto this year is to be brave. Push yourself a little (or a lot) and see what happens. It isn't nice venturing out of your comfort zone, but sometimes it is needed just to see what happens next.

The guy on the bike, Yorki is a good friend (and a supremo BMX/mountain bike rider), and even though it looks like he might be about to land on my spud shaped head and squish it to pieces, he didn't. I trusted him, was a bit brave and ended up with a good facebook profile picture for the following month. Win win tee hee :)

So I have been writing a bit of a things to achieve list this year. It is a real mix, personal goals and professional goals. I'm not usually much of a list maker, but I seriously think I might be a convert. It is suuuuch a good feeling to be able to scrub things off and feel a (briefly smug) sense of achievement.

So 2012..... bring it on matey! I'm ready and waiting xxxxxx

Being a blog whore...... good and bad

This isn't your usual 9 to 5 job. Ok, ok, so I know no one actually works 9 to 5 anymore, more like 8 till 7 but you know what I mean.

I know it would be easier to have a day job where (most of the time) you could get home, kick off your shoes, grab a glass of something yum and hang out with the hubby but that isn't really how this job works!

When you are passionate about something, you inevitably have highs, excitement about what you are doing, heel clicking happy dances about things that go right. One of the biggest thrills of my job are meeting such an amazing array of people who let me into their lives for one of the most important periods of their time together. In truth, I suppose I am just a stone skimming along the surface of their experience enjoying the ride. Really it is a privilege to be there, and I hope I never forget that.


I've been a bit poorley this week, mostly tucked up in bed watching unhealthy amounts of homes under the hammer and bargain hunt. I've mostly been passing my time by being a blog whore though, clicking from blog to blog on my laptop whilst safely tucked up under my duvet, overloading my brain with amazing images from mind blowingly talented people in the wedding industry world.

Whether I meant to do it or not, I fount myself rating myself against others work, their style, their opportunities, their projects. I look at blogs everyday anyway, they are a truly inspiring tool to have around, on a personal and professional level, getting inspiration from others, hearing personal stories and experiences, but something has gone a bit wrong this week with my usual hit of my favourite wedding buzz.

I became a bit jealous. A bit jaded. I found myself starting to envy others work rather than appreciate it. I found myself not feeling like I matched up to some others.

This is bad. The destructive side of self deprecation and not fun at all!!

To try to get my brain back into its happy sunshine meadow full of kittens again, I have decided to do two things this next week.



Firstly, I will be undergoing a brief blog detox. I say brief because actually, blogs are not the problem, no way, it is just the way my brain has wired itself up the last few days. Seriously, I'm sure it has to do with the fact I've been watching too much Jeremy Kyle though a lemsip haze (don't judge me!).

Secondly, I'm going to write my list of goals for 2012 early. Why wait, I don't need the clock hands to strike midnight on the 31st December to kick myself up the ass and start to scribble off some of the things I want to achieve. I think having goals (as geeky as it sounds) is such a god thing, that when you feel like you haven't got to where you wanted, to look at and truly remember how far you have actually come.

No 1 on my list of targets??

Choose a name for my new kitten.... if anyone has any suggestions PLEASE let me know, I have had a complete blank and he is just Titch at the mo (which I just know he is going to grow out of soon ha ha!)

Iona. Rock chick in the making.

I just wanted to share a little photo of my amazing niece Iona. When I asked if I could take her picture, there was non of the usual (and often very sweet!!) cheesy grins that kids often pull. Oh me oh my, no. This was her *rock chick* pose and I think it is pretty good myself!

She is an incredibly intelligent, extremely funny little lady and I am so lucky to be Aunty Beey to her :)

Around the world in ....... well who knows!!

I'm a bit of a plan hatcher, I'll be honest. I get a tiny seed of an idea and if I'm passionate about it like to try to make it grow into full bloom. My hubby has accused me on many occasions of planting a seed of an idea in his head that grows into something big!!

The whole idea of a house renovation was *just a thought* discussed in the pub at some point or another. We saw our current house advertised by complete chance after wandering through the area and seeing it in the window of the estate agents. Two days later (and two very sleepless nights I have to say!!) we had our offer accepted and we were making plans to move halfway up the country.

Whilst moshing to a gig at university, we conjured up plans to live in Cornwall for a whole summer which became reality the following June when we packed out camper full of essentials and headed for the west country for three months.

We have a vw camper project sat on our drive after a fleeting passing of a conversation that turned into reality even after we had both sworn never to do a full resto again!

There have been many things like this happen through our lives that started out as a little..... what if..... or do you think we could....... and have amazingly become true. A few sliding doors moments but sometimes honestly you have to take a chance and hope it all works out for the best (in a fingers and toes crossed kind of way!!!).

I like the thought of making a tiny plan and then seeing it turn into something real.

Well, I'm on a bit of a wanderlust at the moment. I love travelling, and have been lucky enough to travel around the world. It is this time of year that I start to get itchy feet about making a plan to go away, often it might be a snowboarding holiday at this time of year, but I have bigger itchy feet to scratch this time!

Reading blogs from around the world I have spotted a few amazing locations that I have just been drooling over to shoot at. One being this place....

http://www.neonmuseum.org/

I first saw this place here....

Have a little click on the picture above to see the full article. 

So plan hatching.........

I was thinking of trying to organise some kind of trip away that is punctuated by shoots. A kind of

 **Round The World In 8 Shoots**

or something along those lines. It would probably be more likely a round Europe in 3 or 4 shoots in my knackered old car, but hey, it never hurts to be optimistic!!

So, I've no idea how long this might take to organise, it might be a winter adventure for next year (a good excuse to head to the Southern Hemisphere if I can sort the cost of the air fair out) and maybe a bit of blog publicity to organise some people to shoot) but let me know what you think peeps. 

This is very much a tiny seed of an idea at the moment..... fingers crossed it will grow into something good :)

Bethan xxx

My week so far.......

Last night I got back home to the Shire yey!

I hadn't planned on doing much this week actually as I have been a bit poorly (probably Glasto Lurgy) and have lost my voice. It totally went at one point and I couldn't even enjoy the benefits of sounding like a sexy Mariella Frostrup. Bum.

I've had a lovely week away though, met two fantastic couples (both of which I am a bit over excited to be shooting their weddings), caught up with some of my family, started to organise a superfantastico bridal shoot, very vintage, very beautiful and ate a few too many take aways.

Back home now though it is back to a bit more editing, so in all honesty, I'm glad for a bit of rain today. It doesn't make me pine to be in the garden weeding my very poor excuse of a veg patch, or playing with the cats.

Sparrow, my little black cat, is toasty curled up near me right now too.

So this is what a fair sized chunk of my week looks like..... radio on, sat nav guiding me, a can of red bull and there is a big bag of minstrals on the seat next to me just out of view........ nom nom nom. Hey a girl needs a bit of a sugar rush if I have a few hours on the road!!

The sun was just setting when I filmed this but my little snappy didn't really register it, you'll just have to take my work for it!

the obligatory cat photo of my cat Sparrow.

Good Evening Glastonbury!!

Good evening Glastonbury.........

Those were Elbows *three favourite words* and actually, they were pretty much mine too on Saturday night at Glastonbury Festival this year.

Wow, they put on a good show, there is something pretty magical about the sun setting by the side of the pyramid stage, amazing music, fantastic company and no less than a few brothers pear ciders to give you a warm glow inside.

I first went to Glastonbury in the late 1990's and have been going pretty much every year since, with the exception of the last couple where we have been sensible grown ups and have distracted ourselves with buying a house, getting married and moving half way up the country, sorry Glasto but you had to take a back seat but boy it is good to be back.

It is quite strange to see how the festival has changed over the time, but I still say it is still in my opinion the greatest show on Earth!

When I first started going, the bands would pretty much finish around midnight, and the entertainment for the rest of the night was a rave around Joe Bananas Blanket stall or up in the Greenfields. Now there is Shangri-la, Arcadia and a whole host of other goodies and man it nearly popped my tiny brain!

In a nutshell, if you mix Total Recall with three fields of acid house ravers, a tower block with a tube train shooting out of the middle, blue painted naked ladies, back streets, ally ways, men in faraday suits shooting lightning between them and far too much more to mention you are still only just scratching the surface. Eye popping doesn't really even go there!!!

Shangri- La.

Needless to say we got back to our campervan at around 4am. I say campervan..... well it was more like the pope mobile but I was grateful for the loan from my hubbys parents as our vw van is in need of some work at the mo. Don't laugh too hard, no honestly. You can stop now :)

It was a terrifying journey on the motorway with every lorry that passed making the whole thing feel like it would rattle to pieces and blow away but I am grateful to the little mobile for getting us there and back in one piece and providing a mud free warm snug at the end of each day.

Glasto was a great weekend but it is now back to some overdue photo editing and quite a few cups of coffee to get my brain sparked back into action!! I have got some VERY exciting projects coming up in the next couple of months and can't wait to share them all with you very soon.

Enjoy the sunshine peeps xxx

Exciting times!

I'm tucked up in bed right now, typing to the glow of my laptop, having had a little bit of eyeball ache after being glued to my computer editing a couple of truly fabaroo weddings over the last few days.

I must be more dedicated to actually GETTING DRESSED before I fire up the computer otherwise I can get so distracted it can be the afternoon before I peel myself out of my pj's and get clean! The Postie called at 1.30pm on Monday and I very embarrassingly was still in my dressing gown. I blushingly tried to explain I was working from home today but that still didn't give me a very good reason to be such a slob!!

Working for yourself means that the sands are constantly shifting. I'm constantly looking for new inspiration and get excited by every new project that comes my way.

Every meeting with each new couple can feel a bit like a new job interview though. Don't get me wrong, I luuuurve meeting new peeps but I always get a few butterflies in my belly before hand. I am truly excited and passionate about what I do and the nerves get to me a little sometimes hoping that I can get what I am about across without looking like an overexcited loon on.