Julia, her husband and daughter came along to one of my recent mini-sessions. Most kids are a bit shy when they first meet the photographer, not so this little madam. Cute beyond belief she immediately set out to charm me and entertain us all. Successfully.

I obviously get to know the people a little bit during the session, but I often get to know them even more when I edit the photos. The little loving glances, the small touch of  hand when they are not aware I am taking a photo, it’s these small things, that often makes me want to hug the people, because it’s so lovely.

And now I am a bit teary, because my “job” makes me so happy. There you go.

If you want to book a slot for this weekends mini-session then go here: https://bookwhen.com/melaniemartinphotographycouk

I recently shot a roll of medium format film and when I took the film I found a roll I had forgotten to develop, so I had that processed too. Oh the excitement to find some precious photos. For those of you interested, I shot those with a Holga, which is essentially a toy camera with a plastic lens. It’s almost impossible to get any more low end. Well you can, but it’s pretty basic. There are light leaks, it’s hard to predict the results and that is exactly the fun of it. It’s playing. And playing is good.

So since it’s Friday, and I feel in a joyous mood seeing those rolls coming back from the lab, I thought I share some of the shots with you.

Happy weekend, y’all.

The funny thing was that when Karen came along that she mentioned that she is a friend of someone who I shot a wedding for 2 years ago. So that was lovely. And Karen was so lovely and her family is beautiful, the little boy has stolen my heart.

There were so many pictures from our 20 minutes together but here I am only sharing a few with you. I will be blogging some more of the sessions over the next week or so to give you an idea what kind of shots you can expect in 20 minutes.

If you are interested to book one of the slots on the 5th of May then go here.

I love a fresh baby and this one was particularly cute.

And he is such a little heart breaker. Girls watch out when he is older, he is going to steal your heart.

I love a nice family picture. It’s so rare for everyone to be in the picture unless you have them taken right?

I say it again: cute as sweet pie.

Going to the cinema by yourself is an adventure... especially when you are the only one there...

Yesterday, I went on a little adventure. It was really very little, no Northpole Expedition or Himalayan trekking. No, I simply did something I have never done before and went somewhere I never been before. That’s the thing about adventuring: there is no rules to it. It’s so easy to think that you have no time for an adventure, because you are busy or thinking that the adventure is not big enough to be called an adventure. Really? I hope you may – like me – rethink that approach because an adventure is anything you call by that name.

Yesterday’s adventure took all in all 90 minutes. Yes, of course, I could have worked in those 90 minutes. Yes, I am busy, busy, busy… I only wrote about my to do list the other day, but there is something magical about taking some time for yourself and doing something new, because you simply never know what may occur, what you may meet and what you may realise.

My adventure did not result in anything life shattering, but I had a good time with myself. No checking of twitter, no checking of emails, no taking photos. Just me. It is so hard these days to spend time just by yourself because it’s so easy to surround yourself with the noise of others, a constant stream of thoughts that aren’t your own  because that small device is so easy to carry around with you and the habit to check what others are doing is so, so hard to break.

As I was driving towards the adventure I drove past a little side road, that I must have passed a thousand times. The road is called: “Intended Street” (this is no joke) and I had to laugh because I wasn’t turning into the Intended Street, I was driving right past it… if there has ever been a sign or a metaphor… well that was it.

As to what I did on my little adventure, I will keep that to myself. It’s one of these things that may sound silly when spoken out loud but are precious when kept quiet.

Let me know if you sometimes go on adventures all by yourself, I’d love to know.

We met at the little park behind Cadbury in Bournville Birmingham and I love when I get to find a new place that I wasn’t aware off. Bournville is lovely anyway, but this little park is such a hidden treasure and it was really a wonderful location to do the pre-wedding shoot.

Like most men (and women), Darren hardly wanted to the pre-wedding shoot, as he was like so many anxious about the camera and thought he would feel silly and awkward. However, after only a few minutes both relaxed and we had a good time.

The pre-wedding sessions are for me such an important part of the wedding journey with my couples because it gives me the chance to really get to know them. I often say that my couple’s wedding days are just as important to me as they are to them.

I also find that I see much more about a couples’ relationship through the lens as merely talking to them, but enough of me talking here: over to some wonderful pictures of Michelle and Darren.

I certainly cannot wait for their wedding now.

During school holidays there is plenty of time to make things.

School holidays are fun, there is no doubt about it. It feels like a big long treat where time moves at a different pace and there is nothing to do apart from having fun. However, when you work for yourself this is really half the story. The reality is that for me, as my own boss, the other half is that there is much less time to do stuff. Which is in turn growing the to do list.

Now, in the past, this would have caused me lots of anxious moments and a troubled feeling in my tummy area. And that, guys, is not fun. So, I have decided a while ago to attempt a different approach. School holidays hardly ever happen unexpected, right, so I can plan for it. I can also plan what I realistically can achieve in those hours I have to work and be kind to myself. No. 1 priority is to spend time with the kid, No. 2 is to manage expectations of everyone I work with what can be expected of me during those two weeks of Easter. This keeps me sane and everyone else around me hopefully happy and contented.

And yes, it’s back to proper work now and this means that I work my way through the to do list including blogging etc and planning for the big one: the summer holidays, where I will have to find some sort of activity for the kid so I can work more.

Tomorrow I will also announce the new family mini-sessions and the couple mini-sessions, so that is exciting.

Still, I find it kind of bewildering that the kid going to school is the normality and holiday is not the norm.