when the call came…

so in the craziness of returning to school, returning to night shifts and organising three out of five kid birthdays (make of that what you will AHEM!) I light-heartedly entered a competition to attend a workshop with an incredibly talented photographer in Manchester through a facebook group called ShutterRock. Being totally honest with you, i didn't give it any thought afterwards…until…the day before the event at about 5pm i got a phone call asking if i could be in manchester the following day for 0930.

Any mother of 5 (there must be some out there?!) would know that less than 24 hours notice for farming out your kids is a bit of a challenge but with the happy accident of my parents being in the area from Kent we managed to sort it and i was charging my camera batteries and chit-chatting with other excited delegates on ShutterRock. 

So….the day was hosted by the fabulous Chris and Claire Hanley at their beautiful Riverside Studio, the focus of the day being Chris' fabulous trademarked brand Cherish the dress. Watching the jaw dropping presentation of Chris' recent work in this genre I was left with one question buzzing round my head "WHERE was this 10 years ago when i got married?" 

A fascinating presentation of business acumen followed with opportunity for questions and i tried hard to shake off the 'great pretender' feeling as my fellow delegates commented on wedding pricing, presentations and client requests. Being new to the business end of photography and, because of the stage of life i'm at right now, having to start very slowly (unless i can work out how to function without sleep!). I was a little nervous that I would be out of my depth and left floundering. But i needn't have worried. Chris and Claire were warm, welcoming and happy to answer questions even the silly ones!

Claire Gould from the English Wedding blog gave some savvy and informative advise on blogging and how to get 'yourself out there.' Her top tip? commenting, commenting, commenting 🙂

We were introduced to the talented Make-up artist for the shoot Jenny Morris and then a previous bride client of the studio who had agreed to be model for the day. The lovely Jayne.

All of the shoot took place in the area surrounding the studio, which i think was an old textile mill. The gnarly, jagged, industrial edges off-setting the beauty and simplicity of a sensational wedding gown from timeless bride

It was quite out of my comfort zone as so far most of my clients have been small, under about 5 and respond really well to silly noises, singing and lens buddies..and obviously Jayne may not have appreciated that!! But I loved the fact that it was so different and driving back was hatching up plans to try and do a mini cherish shoot here in Liverpool for practice. So will be looking out for a potential model for that ladies…

For me though, it was such a great experience, not just the photography but also hanging out with other passionate photographers who further down the business road were happy to share some knowledge and tell some stories over a brownie or two 🙂

A massive thank you to the whole team at Riverside studio for a thoroughly memorable day. As my kids would say. It was BOSS.