One of my favourite parts of the wedding day is the bridal preparations. There is excitement and nervous in the air, but also a calmness that is so beautiful, all the stresses from the build up of the day float away. Nothing more can done, and my brides relax surrounded by their closest female loved ones, with laughter and silliness sprinkled everywhere.

It’s wonderful.

{I love photographing hands and feet anyway, as they tell the story I so often see. Hands holding, feet grounded, hands touching… you get the picture.}

A bride’s hands tell so much… the nerves… the ring finger waiting for it’s main appearance in the ceremony… the fidgeting as they are pampered and fussed over while getting ready… I notice the hands and they tell that story of the moment.

top : Chenelle –  middle : Annie -  bottom : Lise

I need this today. A word to focus on.

Last week I was stuck down by a headache that wouldn’t leave. So I’m going to focus on staying calm as I approach this week.

I’ve had the most wonderful response to Creating Time Capsules… totally blown away, as this is my first step into e-courses. Thank you to those who have signed up… I’m looking forward to getting started on Monday 20th February.

If you’re interested, there is still time to join in… you can find all the details here.

This is the post I never finished before leaving for New York. This was meant to be a slide show of my favourite photos I’ve taken this year, but you know what, I made the slide show and I actually prefer the images to stand alone. I know I will be concentrating on moving images and putting photos together to tell a story more and more in this coming year, but 2011 was mostly about photos by themselves, so that’s what I will share here and I’ve updated my welcome video instead.

It’s been hard to select just a few from 2011… these photos mean so much to me as they tell the story I see and then like to tell…. the details, the memories, the connections, all with the colours and light that make me gasp as I press the shutter. Capturing these moments has be wonderful, thank you to all those that let me do what I love, I can’t wait to see what 2012 brings…

Back home from France. There was swimming and sunshine (occasionally) and plenty of time with all my boys.

{more to come over the next few days}

a sneak peek of bake-a-boo’s valentine cupcake shoot, many more images to come.

a sneak peek of two yummy baby sessions ready and delivered to the mamas. hope to blog them next week.

wishing you a happy weekend.

it’s been quite a year from my camera & i, so here is my celebration containing some of my favourite images.

including….

places i’ve been, families, converse, love & kisses, huge smiles, snow, hands, bumps & babies, london, flowers & grasses, standing on “benches”, bake-a-boo cakes, friendship, good times, hats, camping, a book launch, sunlight, connections & reflections, a wedding, jumping, feet, colour & my boys.

thank you to everyone photographed here, and for allowing me to share some of these unseen images. it’s been an honour to capture these moments and i’m so looking forward to exciting projects in 2011.

music – the xx – heart skipped a beat.

whilst making a mini movie with all the shots on 101010, i picked out my top ten images, i was surprised to notice they all contained hands or feet.