Post-natal post….

Well, well, well…..I can't believe I haven't posted anything on my blog since December, especially as it will soon be December again. How time flies as you get older and hopefully wiser. Since December I have had a baby boy and was working full time in preparation of his arrival.

However, I managed to squeeze in a photoshoot with my favourite mother and baby. I have had the great pleasure of photographing beautiful baby Caitlin since she was a wee tot and it amazes me seeing how much she has changed each time.

There's nothing like documenting a human life in photographs.

Baby Thomas...

Last week I had the pleasure of photographing the most energetic, hilarious, gorgeous little boy named Thomas, he kept me laughing for the entire 2 hours!

NRN xmas party...

It's that time of year, everyone is having Christmas parties and I was asked by my very good friend Casey Downie-Campbell, owner of NRN to take a few snaps of her festive get together at The Regent in Balham. It was a pleasure to meet some of her team and really capture the Christmassy energy of the evening!

40th Birthday Soiree...

A couple of weeks ago I had the fantastic opportunity to photograph a 40th birthday party, my services were recommended to the birthday girl by her colleague who I met at a church fundraiser previously! I am over the moon that my services are being referred through word of mouth, it's so humbling when your work speaks for itself! I had a fantastic time amongst all of her friends and family, there's nothing better than being a part of someones memories...

YouthPhoria Press Release...

YouthPhoriaUK© is now live! Event review View this email in your browser Share Tweet Forward to Friend +1 Share

It was a YouthPhoric Day! On Wednesday 27th November 2013, a brand new magazine for young people called ‘YouthPhoriaUK© was launched at the Canada Water Cultural Space, London SE16. The launch event, hosted by the dynamic Chris Preddie OBE of ‘Make Dreams A Reality’ saw a diverse audience of different ages, nationalities, cultures; beliefs and socio-economic backgrounds enjoy 3 hours of comedy; spoken word; beat-boxing; dance and guest speakers. The theme of the day and the premier edition of YouthPhoriaUK© was ‘Role Models’ – who are they? What are they? Do we need them? Chris opened the show with a spoken word piece about what do people see when they look in the mirror? Do they see themselves or do they see someone else? So – are they seeing the real them or are they trying to copy somebody’s character and actions? To model yourself on another person is ok IF they are setting a good example. The morning was fast moving and high impact.

Following Chris was Joelle Taylor, Creative Director of SLAMbassadors – the UK’s national spoken word and poetry competition. Joelle performed her famous ‘Last Poet Standing’ piece to rapturous applause which created the energy for beatboxer BaddaboomTee and spoken word artistJamal ‘Mr Lazy Eye’ Eklipse – (both national winners of the annual SLAMbassadors competition) to feed off of, as they doubled up and wowed the audience with a combo of beat-boxing and lyrical delivery that had people dancing in their seats. Then came another SLAMbassador winner, the very cool Ollie Oneil who since being told by her teachers and careers advisors that she wouldn’t do anything but stack shelves in a shop, has gone on to become one of the country’s best loved poets and icons within the spoken word world. Following almost 30 minutes of powerful words and artistic content, the guest speaker for the day Derek Tuitt of Hewlett Packard had a hard act to follow! He did this though by painting a picture of a world with no microwaves, no mobile phones and no remote controls. The young people in the audience (who were shocked at the fact that these things once never existed!) were invited to think about the past, the present and the future of technology and how they can really maximise their opportunities within the industry by understanding what technology means and how it affects everything we do. They were definitely given food for thought and a few light bulb moments. To finish off the entertainment, the ‘Love2Dance’ crew took to the stage. The dancers aged 7 – 10 put on a really energetic show combining gymnastics, street dance and an astonishing amount of flexibility into their set. They showed the audience their moves that had led them to winning national competitions and even got Chris Preddie joining in, but then messing up the routine as he lost control of his feet and rhythm. To close, Kay Oldroyd the editor of YouthPhoriaUK© (and founder & director ofYouth in Excellence CIC who own the YouthPhoriaUK© brand), revealed the magazine for the very first time. Having got to bed at 3am that morning after putting the finishing touches to the publication, she spoke about the importance and relevance of having a medium such as YouthPhoriaUK©. Directing her words mainly to the young people she said “Don’t allow society to put labels upon you. Understand who you are. Discover and know your talents by surrounding yourself with the right kind of people; positive people who are going to support you and help you to make the right choices.” Kay went on to explain the vision of YouthPhoriaUK© and the training opportunities that will be available next year on the YouPhorMedia© training programme, asking people to sign up if they would like to learn about graphic design, photography, videography, marketing and journalism. Barbara Campbell, founder and editor of Black Heritage Today was then invited up as one of YouthPhoriaUK’s© partners to give an overview of her journey in the journalism world. Despite being Dyslexic and discouraged by teachers, she went on to create a very successful media house that is 10 years old this year. The final word went to Tony Harrison, Director of Youth in Excellence CIC and also X-Factor favourites Rough Copy’s manager. Rough Copy feature in YouthPhoriaUK© and have supported Youth in Excellence CIC from the beginning. Tony encouraged everyone in the room to stay inspired and take advantage of the possibilities that being involved with YouthPhoriaUK© could bring. Using Rough Copy as an example, he talked about their work ethic; when we see them for a few minutes on television each week, behind the scenes they have been working tirelessly for the past 5 years to get to where they are now. Tony reminded the audience that to make a dream come true you have to have a plan and when things don’t work out the first time, just keep on pushing forward as success does not happen overnight. He was later mobbed for signed copies of Rough Copy pictures! Ending the main event on a high, guests then spent an hour socialising during the ‘meshsesh’ (the new way of networking) – making contacts and potential collaborations. As the Canada Water event manager patiently waited to tidy up the space, the last remaining guests - who looked like they didn’t want to leave – took one last photo for the day, shouting ‘YouthPhoria’ for the rest of the venue to hear. Click for your free copy of YouthPhoriaUK© magazine Click HERE for more photos! All photos are the property of Youth in Excellence CIC and are not to be copied or reproduced without prior permission. For YouthPhoriaUK© images, interviews and queries:- ask@youthphoriauk.com Thanks to photographers www.kzaphotography.co.uk and http://rosietmedia.wordpress.com

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