Once upon a time in Spring...

Okay so, I've been a bit slack with the blogging of late, and being as September is set to be majorly busy I better try and catch up quick... and I might as well start with a blog that's long overdue, and prompted by an email from a photographer earlier today mentioning it (I did say I was going to blog about it) - my trip around Holland, earlier in... April! So, cast your minds back - imagine baby lambs, the warmth of spring, bees starting to buzz... mmm, lovely :-)

I'm still hoping to get few more edits from shoots I had over there to show, but I have some results I received, as well as my own iPhone hipstacaptures of my adventures! I gotta say, this trip turned out to be pretty awesome. Considering I had a last minute cancellation, therefore total change of travel route, and initial struggle to fill up bookings, I managed to arrange extra work in time, and was glad to keep 1 day free for a wander around Amsterdam, as I'd only been once before. I met some absolutely wonderful people, as well as cats, dogs and talking parrots, and saw a lot of beauty and colour. Starting with...

...Louis Vutton shop window, dripping gold and exploding butterflies, on the walk into town

Shots from the Museum of Contemporary Art & Design, with this gorgeous installation in the main hall. Reminded me how much I actually ♥ Minimalism. I love feeling a connection and/or an experience with the space. I really adore that kind of art... Flavin-esque, heavenly.

Abstract shot of a group of twisted bronze statues that were like deformed mermaid-devil-angels.

A beautiful... radiator!

Mmm beautiful flowers!!! On my last day I was in Amsterdam town centre quite early in the morning, and the warm spring air was so fresh and happy, a little crisp and cool, warming up slowly but surely. It was very peaceful, and I took my time to sit and eat my pastry on a park bench overlooking the canal, as bikes and trams jingled around nearby, then went for a mooch in the famous floating flower market. The quality of the flowers there is unreal, the array of unique colours and types; delicate and phenomenal. I spent a long time picking out tulip bulbs for my family, and then decided on a bunch of 50 yellowy-pink scrumtious lovelies to take back home for me :-)

Very hard to resist!!

Clogs outside the wooden guesthouse I stayed in, when working with amazing film photographer Rutger ten Broeke in the dutch countryside. At night I could hear all the wild animals out in the darkness!

A magnificant tree covered in amazing fungi.
I posed next to this for pictures... it was shot on film, I hope they came out well!

Driving to the next destination past rainbow fields!

Inside an old historic hotel I was lucky enough to shoot in (see Allan's pictures below!)

The bedcover throw in the hotel room we were based for the shoot, LOVED the colour and feel, so silky and beautiful

The sunset by the ocean and wind turbines - gorgeous golden, melting magenta; a beautiful sight.

And so... the shoots!!

The first one here was the day I arrived, in Amsterdam, after managing to confusedly but succcessfully get the right trains and trams from the airport to the city centre, I shot with the super talented Lee H in his friend's spare apartment. He got some very cool stuff...

And these below are from my time with the lovely Allan Schaap, around Lelystad, a part of Holland reclaimed from the sea. We worked outdoors at an incredible location in the morning - a white sandy desert in the middle of nowhere. I felt like I was in Planet of the Apes, walking across a long lost planet of dream-like wilderness. After a shoot in the woodland we then headed to the historic, luxury hotel and were allowed to shoot in quite a few rooms with some great features and props. There's more pictures to come, but here are some from the hotel room. It was a beautiful warm day, we had the paned glass windows open, letting in a pleasant breeze coming through the gently rustling trees outside, and some gorgeous sunlight. I was in a very lazy, hazy relaxed and sensual mood. Allan was so easy going and creative to work with, so I could just open up, we just carried on moving and shooting. I do like some direction on shoots, sometimes more so, as discussion and feedback are so important, but it's also nice to just be allowed to let go, and ebb & flow where the mood takes you. Hope you enjoy these and I look forward to sharing more in the future...

I Make Shapes

By the awesome Britalicus, from my last trip to Scotland.

Wood Nymph

More beautiful work by Pierus from my visit to Cambridge..

Lost

Love this piece by Catherine Barrows, from her recent exhibition in Marylebone. Catherine is a very talented textile artist I worked with earlier this year; she takes photographs and then works on delicate fabrics like silk and japanese paper to create these beautiful images with evocative, ethereal feelings of memory, working with themes of identity, isolation and vulnerability.

See more her work here... www.catherinebarrows.co.uk

Sunshine

Loving the lush weather!! Gotta say, England, you are giving us a good summer this year!! Well, at least in my area, so far we have had so many warm sunny days, compared to usual when we often have a heatwave around Easter and then nothing until a few days in September! But it was gorgeous this weekend especially. My boyfriend and I went to visit a couple of my wonderful friends in Kent, spending an afternoon having a picnic on the beach, mooching in all the pretty shops selling jewellery and ocean themed gifts, and eating icecream at the harbour. In the warm evening air we had a delicious bbq in their beautiful garden with slow roasted lamb, greek salad, wine, cold beer, and lots of laughs, and a lovely walk by the coast on Sunday as the white boat sails drifted along in the blue tranquil water. Awesome ♥

We booked a holiday too, at the end of September, to Turkey for a week! We are staying near a gorgeous beach and lagoon with amazing views, which you can go paragliding over, with ghost towns and ruins nearby, and both busier & quieter, traditional towns just a bus ride away. SO good to get a holiday in the diary, as we didn't have one last year. I bought the bikini I liked in the sale as well; £60 down to £20 - don't you love it when that happens - it was meant to be! :-P

I've been enjoying being able to get into a better fitness routine for the last month or so, I was so busy before with my massage course, exams and loads of travelling, I didn't get much time for anything. I've been especially loving going for my swims, it is so refreshing and relaxing getting into that pool! Have also been running again, once a week (not my favourite thing, but if only once a week, when I feel like it, I can actually enjoy it and run a lot better) and the fields around my house are full of tall plants, fluffy dandelions and long grasses that look gorgeous illuminted in the warm evening sunlight. And tonight I'm starting a new yoga class which I'm looking forward to. I keep buying giant bags full of fruit from the local market too, which always feels really summery. My blender broke though so I can't make smoothies. Think I might buy a juicer. Anyway.... :-)

These portraits are from a shoot I had when I went to Cambridge for a few days, and worked with the lovely Pierus again, this time out on location in the beautiful weather. I have more to post from this shoot soon, so many good ones!

Enjoy the sunshine :-)