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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3/365

Tonight I'm going out I need to blog my 3rd photo for my 365 challenge early, first Saturday night out in about a year, yahoooo! 

This is photo is of Phil holding our son, Louie. It was shot in my living room with one speedlite. 

Louie's exactly 13weeks and 2 days old! Isn't he a cutie?! As his mum I'm not biased at all! :)

Have a lovely weekend everyone!!

Samantha

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2/365

So today was a really miserable day, which is no surprise in old blighty, but I decided to not yet it deter me from a bit of exercise. I felt so good after being out and walking yesterday that I thought I'd carry the trend on today but walk a bit further (and drag Phil and Louie along too)! It took us 2 or so hours to walk to and from Beeston, although we left the house at 12pm and didnt make it back until 7pm! We had two very long breaks, which included coffee with our friend Liz! As the weather was so horrid I decided not to take my camera out with me but took this very abstract photo before we left... 

I'm going to snuggle up and watch a film now, I'm knackered!!

Samantha

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1/365

Lately I've been inspired by a very talented lady called Georgina Stokes. A beautiful model I've worked with a few times, she has recently made a Facebook page for her photography and started a 365 challenge, this is where you take a photograph every day for a whole year (I'm sure you knew that)! Georgina is always extremely busy and even this past month, with moving house, she's still managed to keep up with taking one photo a day and they're always absolutely gorgeous to boot! Once you check out her photo album, which I highly suggest, you'll understand why I've been inspired! See it HERE! 

As I'm on maternity leave I find myself with quite a lot of free time, well, not that much, entertaining a child is a full time job in itself but my passion for photography shouldn't take a back seat. I'm sure I can spare some time in the day to produce one little photo, that's the plan anyway and in doing so I hope to improve both my photography and editing skills. I just hope I can keep it up! Beware my friends, my camera will accompany me everywhere! :)

A few months ago I took some pregnancy photos of my bump buddy, Kym! Neither of us have bumps anymore but we do have two gorgeous little babies (mine will probably feature a lot on this 365 challenge). Louie and I spent a lovely day in West Bridgford with Kym and Eavie-Rose, of course the camera came out! Here is 1/365... 

I'll be posting the rest of the photos I took in a separate post.

Thank you Gina for inspiring me with your beautiful photos!! :)

Please feel free to leave feedback on any of my posts! 

Samantha

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