41/365

This is my friend Kath, she works for Rockey Scenery. They make some amazing stage sets for theatre shows all across the country, you've probably watched a West End show that this veru hammer has helped to build! :)

Please bare with me on the 365 day challenge as I am computer less and am only able to upload images when I can access my other half's computer!

Samantha
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Kismet Rose

I am finally able to show you all the images I shot of Hayley from Kismet Rose Accessories, she hates having her photo taken but lord knows why as she looks stunning in these images! She even styled herself! Make-up by Flawless Make-up by Adele. I had the pleasure of being able to do this shoot at CocoStudios in Beeston, Nottingham.  It's a great little place with lots of different backdrops and very reasonably priced. Check out their facebook page here;  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Coco-studios/283631854989021 

 

 

I hope this makes Hayley feel much more confident infront of the camera as I'm sure you'll agree she looks great! :)

Samantha

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40/365

I recently did a shoot for Kismet Rose Accessories (if the name is familiar to you, this is our 3rd shoot) at Coco Studios in Beeston. The studio is brilliant value for money by the way, £15ph and it has loads of sets/backdrops, if you're a photographer in Nottingham you should check it out! This shoot was of Hayley (K.R founder) trying her hand at some modelling (and very well she did too). I haven't edited the other images just yet but this is a quicky I took of her shoes as she was coming down the stairs. Bit Guy Bourdin I think... that was the aim anyway! :)

 

This is the latest image I've edited thanks to my pesky computer deciding to quit on me, at least now I'm up to date (ish).

Samantha

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39/365

I've recetly discovered Baby Cakes and one of my local pubs. Mum's and mum's to be are invited every Tueday to meet up and enjoy free cake with the purchase of any drink, it's pretty great although not for my diet! There was quite a few of us at the last meet and I didn't want to shove my camera in the faces of those I don't know so this is Arlo, he's been in my 365 three times now, lucky boy! :)

 

 

Samantha

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38/365

Last week we went on a lovely day out to Darley Park in Derby. We were with fellow photography loving friends, which is a bonus when you want to take photos, they expect it and don't mind being the subject!

 

 

Samantha

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37/365

This is my friend Gemma and her son, Daniel. You might remember them from day number 28 :)

 

 

Samantha

 

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36/365

So, if you follow my blog you probably think I've given up already, I haven't. In actual fact I've been having some major computer drama, I'm not going to go into the terribly long and boring story but what I will say is my computer is now dead and awaiting new hard drive. I'm currently usong Phil's computer to post a few of my 365 photos. 

This is my friend Steve, he's the new head chef at The Wollaton Pub & Kitchen. I went in for food one day and asked him if I could take a few photos of him, he kindly said yes.

Samantha 

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35/365

Today I was supposed to see Kate but things got in the way and that didn't happen, booooo! :( I took Louie to be weighed today and he weighs 13lb 15oz, judging by other babies I thought he'd be a lot bigger now but he's nice and healthy and that's all that matters! The rest of the day I did chores and tried to shoot this photo. Shooting self portraits is hard enough but doing it will a baby is ridiculous! I chopped my head off numerous times and even this one I had to head swap as my good head was on a bad body and vice versa. I was originally going to have this as a standard white background image but then Phil said he thought it'd be good to show my homemade studio that's currently taking over my living room...

Going to a weening class tomorrow, oh what fun! :)

Nighty night!

Samantha

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34/365

It wasn't as nice when I set off for the park this afternoon but it was roasting when I walked home, melting and sweaty are not the words, haha, I'm attractive aren't I?! But I walked 11,000 steps which is good. I've been a bit lax with the dieting and I really need to get back on it! 

Anyway, Mayita, Arlo, Louie and I all had a nice little picnic and assessed the progress our little ones had made, look! Arlo is sitting! Isn't he a clever cutie! 

Got to get the little one weighed tomorrow and seeing Kate!

Samantha

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33/365

Didn't do much today, just went to get little Louie's third lot of vaccinations, wasn't pleasant but that's it now until he's a year old! Yay! I still haven't put my lights away so thought I'd use Louie as a model again, I can't help it, he's so photogenic! Originally I wasn going to use a little wicker basket as a prop to put him in when he fell asleep but I underestimated how big he was and he looked silly so I just shot a cute photo of him on a nice blanket. :)

 Going to meet my friend Mayita and her son tomorrow! :)

Samantha

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32/365

As I am super lazy I still have my little studio set up up in my living room so I decided a little naked baby shoot was on the cards. Babies skin is amazing and flawless so I felt it right to photography my little Louie in his birthday suit! And look how happy he is! :) Also today he went to his first BBQ at Kate's house, was nice and the rain held off until the birthday cake came out, yay! 

3rd set of jabs tomorrow, eeek!

Samantha

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31/365

Today I photographed at the house of a couple who were with their family and celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary! 60 years! Such a special occasion and I feel privilaged to have been a part of it. Here's one of the photos I took...

Hope you all have a lovely Sunday! :)

Samantha

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Rhea Clements Sneak Peek.

Here's a sneak peek of my shoot yesterday with Knitwear Designer Rhea Clements. This is our 6th shoot togther now so I'm hoping that means she likes my work! Haha! :) In the year and half I've known Rhea she's been wanting to make and use props in the photos but as she's so busy she's struggled to find the time to make any! This time, however she managed to make some pretty colourful yarn lanterns! The past Rhea's collections have been made from duller an pastelly colours but now she's ventured into the bright side of the world so this shoot was really fun and colourful!

Jewellery & styling; Rhea Clements.

Model; Paige Keeling.

Hair and Make-up; Rachael Gunn

To browse and purchase any of Rhea's products please visit her website at;

http://www.rheaclements.co.uk

Samantha

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29-30/365

I keep getting into the habit of leaving my photo of the day until very late at night which is a bit rubbish as it limits my shot possibilties so number 29 is a little still life with Phil's bottle of wine. Number 30 is a shot that I took after a shoot I had today with Rhea Clements Designs. The photo is of one of the models, Paige, I loved her make-up so obviously took a few shots of her. For this one I held a small glass tube infront of my lens, it's created a bit of a dreamy effect but isn't quite what I was hoping for, could possibly use a bigger tube next time! :)

I have a little shoot planned tomorrow for a diamond wedding anniversary!

Night night!

Samantha

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28/365

Today I went to the University Park with my friend Gemma and her son Daniel. The weather had turned out a lot better than we expected which was nice and we had a nice walk round. It was a bit of a panic filled day in the end! We were very low on baby wipes and there was ice-cream and poo all over the show! Gemma had left her back behind somewhere in the park and had to run back in the hope of finding it! After that she kindly offered me a lift home and I lazyily took one and it's a good job I took Gem up on her offer otherwise I'd have walked for atleast an hour and half before getting home to find that I'd lost my keys!! Doh! Then as we were working out the plan of action outside my flat, I was emptying my back and then putting it all back, after we'd set off I panicked that I'd left my camera on the floor!! Anyway, it all worked out in the end, we manged with the baby wipes we had, Gem retrieved her bag okay, I eventually got into my flat and I didn't leave my camera anywhere! Phew!! 

I shot this photo on the way around the park!

Had a little play with this one, as they're playing a game in the woods I wanted to make it look all magical. What do you think?

Samantha

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25-26-27/265

If you're a regular reader of my blog you may have noticed that I haven't posted for a few days. I shot the photos but just had a bit of time away from the computer. I didn't really do much this weekend, we do have a nice tidy flat now!! Well, we did the "shove everything in the bedroom" cleaning technique so that's not tiday AT ALL!! Haha! So this blog is going to contain 3 photos, No.25 (Louie) No.26 (Jen) and No.27 (Krystal Gaga stylee) Enjoy!!

No idea what I'm doing tomorrow but I NEED to get back onto the diet, I've been a bad girl this weekend!!

Samantha

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24/365

Today we had every intention of making it down to the Riverside Festival but after I got up and went into the city to meet my friend Jon and Phil came to meet us, we couldn't be bothered so we're going to go tomorrow instead, hopefully, haha! So my sore throat is turning into a full blown cold and I'm sat watching our amazing Olympic team win all kinds of medals and break all kinds of records with a whole bog roll! Niceee... I just set this little still life up with one of my favourite books The Killing Jar by Nottingham author Nicola Monaghan.

Now, back to the Olympics....

Samantha

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23/365

Yay!! I finally met a friend today, Kate. We went for a lovely lunch at The Wollaton Pub & Kitchen, I did have to hold Louie the entire time though which was a bit frustrating but a situation I'm sure a lot of mums have sympathy with! After our lunch we popped to Wollaton Park for a leafy area to take this photo. Kate is a clothing designer and I originally wanted to show that in the photo but she forgot to bring the props that I wanted her too so it's just a simple portrait. I was looking forward to having a prop but it does mean I have take another photo on a different day! :)

She's a bit soft in the eyes but that's because I was crouching down to the same level as Kate with camera in one had and child in the other... clingy indeed!

Disappointingly this was a lot more vibrant before I uploaded it here...

Oh well, Riverside Festival tomorrow and I'm going to see my friend Jon! 

Have a nice weekend! :)

Samantha

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22/365

I can officially confirm that the universe doesn't want me to see my friends this week, after being cancelled on because of car troubles for two days previous I was cancelled on today for a severely bad back! Booooo, hiss, as much as it's sucks for me and my plans for the day I do hope they all get sorted out, especially Rose! I am sending lots of love her way! xxx

So yet another day of watching the Olympics today and what a great day it was, medals galore, I was on the edge of my seat when I was allowed to watch it... we're in growth spurt central here and that means very fussy, very hungry and very sleepy baby! He's keeping me on my toes that's for sure, I never know what  he wants! 

In our living room we have a welsh dresser which currently has lots of clutter on it and is major eye candy for Louie, he stares at it constantly so I decided to take a picture of one of it's knobs... and flip it...

Going to try again to see Kate tomorrow and if that fails I'll ask Phil to take me out instead! :)

Samantha

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21/365

I'm poorly, I've had a sore throat for the past few days and now I have a headache and am very tired to boot! Boooo, I hate feeling rubbish! :( In other news the diet is still going well, I nearly had a slip up earlier but it was avoided and I can now say that in the past week I have lost 4lbs! Yay!! Just another 2st 4lbs to go! Gosh, it's really hard though, I'm not sure I'm entirely capable of doing it all in one go, I'm way toooo much of a foodie and I really really want chocolate and fish & chips and blah blah blah.... 

This is Phil playing on his guitar....

Tomorrow I am hopefully supposed to be meeting on of my good friends from school, if yesterday and today (Kate also had car trouble and couldn't make it today :( ) are anything to go by it might not happen! Seems the universe doesn't want me to have friends this week, boo universe! Anyway I'm off to rest my weary head, goodnight all!

Samantha

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20/365

Today seemed to go by way too fast, I didn't feel like I achieved much, not a big fan of those days! This is my friend Krystal, she's a dancer, we'll be doing lots of dance shoots soon. We were going to do a big shoot today but then she has some rather annoying car troubles so we only managed to take this photo right near my house.

I'm completely enthralled by the Olympics at the minute! Just watched Michael Phelps become the greatest Olympian of all time, wow!! :)

Samantha

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19/365

Another day of not doing very much I'm afraid, gosh I bet I'm a pretty boring read at the moment aren't I? Haha! It did get a nice big delivery of healthy food, it's soooo hard being healthy but I think I'm doing well still! These are Louie's legs, I was trying to get a close up of his feet but he's such a wriggler, I'm gutted I cut his hand out but I still really like this photo!! 

Tomorrow I'm taking photos of my best friend from school, can't wait! She's leaving for London in 5 weeks!

Samantha

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18/365

I had another walk to Wollaton Park today, the weather started out okay but as soon as I entered the park it started raining, I don't mind walking in the rain, it's pretty funny watching all of the cars leave as soon as it starts though! I've been on my own all day (apart from Louie of course) as Phil is working on a film this weekend and won't be back until late tonight! Booooooo! Another nature photograph...

Hope you've all had a great weekend! :)

Samantha

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17/365

As it's the first day of the Olympics I've decided to have a pijamma day and have done absolutely nothing apart from take this photo of some pine cones I took from Sherwood Pines! :)

Go Team GB! 

Samantha

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16/365

Well, what another lovely day! We decided to take an impromptu trip to Sherwood Pines with a couple of friends, Adam, Aaron and Karolina (Aaron's girlfriend). Some slackining was done, some barbequing was done and a little bit of walking was done, only did 7,200 steps today but it's better than nothing!! :) There's a few photos I could've used today but Phil helped me choose this one... 

I decided today that I'm going to start a new project called Friend of a Friend.

Watch this space for the first photo. :)

Samantha

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15/365

Another lovely day  today, we're being spoilt now, although I hear there is a storm imminent...

I went to meet my baby buddy Kym today, we had lunch at The Trent Navigation pub then walked back to Kym's house and let the babies have a little paddle in the baby pool. They loved it. Although I didn't take as many steps as yesterday (8,560) I didn't fancy lugging my camera over to West Bridgford after my yesterday's epic walk so I took this little shot before I left.

I have no idea what flower this is but there's loads of it about at the minute, especially where I live and there just so happened to be a little bee going about his buzzness, bum bum tsh...

Off to Sherwood Pines tomorrow apparently, should be nice!

Samantha

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14/365

Today I took my new pedometer for a spin, I walked to Wollaton Park, around the lake, up to the hall, down the hill and out of the other side of the park. I then walked to my local co-op to pick up some food and then went back home! I was cream crackered after that. All of that walking plus a little pottering around the flat meant I took 12,500 steps today! Apparently it's suggested that you should walk 10,000 steps a day, I don't know how average 9-5 Joe is supposed to do that, I walked pretty far today (maybe it was just because of the heavy load I was pushing too). The weather started off pretty cloudy which suited me fine really but then he got really hot and sunny. This is one of the first photos I took as I entered the park. I like it because the whole frame is full and there's layers and nice colours...

Taking Louie to his little friends house tomorrow for a paddle in her pool! :)

Samantha

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13/365

The cinema was so busy today that they opened the main screen for the baby showing, although it meant more screaming babies it wasn't that bad, Louie slept for a pretty long time so between me and Phil we managed to watch the whole film! I really enjoyed it, I don't think it's as good as The Dark Knight but I enjoyed it more than Batman Begins! 

How hot has it been today?! We went for a walk into market square after the film (and after I purchased a pedometer) but it felt so hot that I literally just took a few snaps and we came home! This, obviously, is the swing ride in motion....

I've not been dieting/exercising for long but I've lost 4lbs already, yay!! :)

Samantha

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12/365

I was trying to get out all day to Wollaton Park for a walk, firstly as per usual I had to handle my clingy baby and then, I took a trip to the local shops and realised it was actually too hot to walk that far. So I waited until  Phil came home and we went after dinner. He went slacklining with his friend whilst I walked around the lake. I had hoped my photo today would've been to do with slacklining but they threw in the towel once I returned because there were so many midges about! This photo I took on my little walk....

Off to The Broadway Cinema tomorrow for the baby showing of The Dark Knight Rises, can't wait! :)

Samantha 

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11/365

It was a glorious day today but since I got pretty burnt yesterday I thought I'd stay at home and do some housework with the windows open! I also had to deal with a very clingy and slightly grumpy baby! I thought they were supposed to get easier as time went on but Louie seems to be uber clingy and starts to fuss immediately when I'm out of his sight, I also have to hold him about 80% of the day! It's tiring but I do love that he's a bit of a mummy's boy! :) 

So I'm on day 2 of my diet today, I'm not being totally strict but I'm using free Weight Watchers information to help me figure out how to eat healthier. I'm not very good at that at all, those of you who know me well will know I'm a massive foodie. As soon as I wake up I'm thinking about what I can cook for my dinner and it has to be something complicated and super tasty! 

This is a tasty Weight Watchers version of a Tiramisu but with raspberries and hardly any calories (minus the extra biscuits, they're just for the photo)... 

It's only two days in but I feel like I'm doing well! Hope the weather's nice tomorrow so I can have a lovely walk round the park with my boy!

Samantha

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10/365

Well what a brilliant day I've had today, beautiful weather to accompany it too! We had a lovely drive over to Belper this morning with a friend of mine and her little family. We got a little lost on the way, totally the sat navs fault, but we made it and pitched up in the grounds of the Belper Rugby club, waiting for the festivities to start. There were It's A Knockout style games, stalls selling yummy cakes and lovely books (which I forgot to go back for, dammit) and raffles galore! All to help raise money for Penny's Fund, I will probably do another blog with a few more photos but I'm pooped after such an awesome day out so this one will have to suffice for now...

  

Check out Penny's Fund on Facebook to find out how you can help raise money!! 

www.facebook.com/PennysFund

Samantha

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9/365

Day number one of the diet, I don't think I did too badly to be honest, had a slice of toast and 2 rashers of bacon for breakfast, a baked potato with mushrooms and cheese for lunch , halloumi and roasted vegetable cous cous for dinner and a banana as a snack. My slip up was a hot chocolate with cream from The Malt Cross... could've been much worse.... 

Life is all about numbers now and this is photo number 9... my friend Kirsty in The Malt Cross. In the near future I shall be shooting her "Author photograph" ahead of her book launch for her novel later this year!

Tomorrow I plan to cut out sugar in my tea! :)

Samantha

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8/365

I haven't done anything today apart from some housework and tended to a grumpy, teething baby so unfortunately I don't have much to report. 

I spent a while on my hair and make-up and had a very specific image of what I wanted from this photo but it didn't happen. Originally I looked very pink, I slapped lots of different shades of make-up on my face, had pink earrings, and pink body gems but when I showed Phil he said it looked horrid and was "beyond weird" so I edited the photo to look like this instead...

Diet starts tomorrow, wish me luck! :)

Samantha

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7/365

So far so good, that's one week down, just another 51 to go, haha!

I didn't do much today, took Louie for a weigh in and fetched some spuds from the shop for dinner. I did however take a detour on the way home to find something for my photo today, a nice big pink flower growing next to the curb. I love the idea of one lucky (or not so lucky) seed finding it's way outside the designated garden area. I saw it whilst driving down the same road last week and thought it was amazing, I know, I'm easily pleased, sometimes. Today however, the flower had gone and I instead got absolutely drenched with rain, booooo! Although getting so wet in the summer actually wasn't so bad and instead made me think that it'd been a long time since I'd taken my coat off and enjoyed being out in the rain. What happened to that? Why do we all get to a certain point in our lives where we decide that being out in the rain's not fun anymore!? I think when the opportunity rises, like on a day off, we should all  have a little dance in the rain... only in the summer though, the winter would be no fun at all!

Anyhow, I didn't get a photo of the flower I wanted but instead I opted to do a self-portrait with Louie... :)

I used to do a lot of self-portraits, maybe now I'm doing this challenge I'll start experimenting some more!

Watch this space! :)

Samantha

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6/365

I've recently decided it's time to lose my baby weight, my healthy diet will be starting next week and I've been doing bits of exercise here and there, some swimming/exercise classes. I've also decided to do more walking, mostly because it's free and relatively easy (when it's not chucking it down). I've been doing pretty well, last week I took a 4mile walk around the West Bridgford area, then on Friday I walked to Beeston and back, which, by the way, isn't a 9.1 mile round trip, (Google can be wrong after all, who knew?!) it's a 5.2 mile round trip! 

Yesterday I did some walking in the horrendous rain and today I decided to walk to Beeston again! It took me 1hr 45mins to go there and back, pushing a pushchair I might add! I was absolutely knackered and my face was bright red to boot (I wondered why I was being stared at), I blame both The Black Keys and MGMT, the upbeat tunes in my lug holes were making me charge full steam ahead! 

Anywho, whilst in Beeston I went to Bean Cafe, they do awesome coffee, paninis and cakes! I met my friend Mayita and her son, Arlo. 

Here's a photo of them both, street photography stylee...

I just love how comfy Arlo looks in the sling! :)

Samantha

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5/365

Last night my friend Jen surprised me with a visit and brought with her some beautiful flowers, so this morning I took a photo of them. This was shot using a macro adapter for my 50mm lens!

Samantha 

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4/365

Last night I went out with my baby buddy, was a great night and although I didn't get hugely drunk I didn't feel the best this morning and I'm still in my pj's now!! Lazy!!
This photo is of my son's little feet, it took ages to get this as he's such a bloomin' wriggler! Tomorrow he has his second lot of jabs, not looking forward to that as he wasn't very happy last time! Wish us luck!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Samantha

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Eavie-Rose

This is my baby buddy and her beautiful 9 week old daughter Eavie-Rose in their garden!

A pleasure to shoot!

Samantha

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