The life of a babywearer.

Babywearing is something that's very dear to me and I've decided to start a project documenting the life of a babywearer, once completed it's going to look beautiful and hopefully will inspire many parents who know little about it to research and try it out with their bubbas. 

Unfortunately for me Louie didn't enjoy being worn in the first few months, although it didn't stop him being carried whilst we had to push his pushchair! My back was very thankful when our cheapy Palm and Pond mei tai finally worked for us! For 6 months now we've ditched the puschair and carried him everyday, shopping, to baby groups, on buses, whilst cooking/cleaning, during teething and most importantly for us, to help make nap times easier. He loves being carried by me, and it's only natural, all babies love being held by their mothers and I love the closeness we share too.

With the love of babywearing, comes a love of all things sling. There really is one for everyone and if you don't believe me I could show you some online groups that will persuade you! Mei Tai, Stretchy wrap, woven wrap, ring sling, buckles, conversions. Oh and the sizes, the colour ways, the fabric blends and if you can't find something you like there are many many people who will make you your babywearing desire! Since Louie came along 10 months ago I have aquired and unacquired a Baba Sling, a ring sling, a mei tai and 5 woven wraps! I'm definitely a wrapper but have just found a wrap conversion mei tai I just NEED! Haha, anyway, I've digressed... back to the point of this blog...
For about a week or so now I have had a bit of a poorly foot... some new shoes and lots have walking are the culprit, boooo! So this week on Tuesday I decided to brave the buggy! Not to much avail as my terribly grumpy baby did not want to be in the thing, can't blame him really...he couldn't see me, talk to me or feel my warmth on his face when he fell asleep. AND I was constantly pushing him into roads with big scary cars on them. And needless to say I hated it, it's cumbersome (and mines a small one in comparison to others out there) and there's nothing more amazing than walking along and having your little one babble away in your ear, but I just couldn't interact with him! They do have their place for people I'm sure, and for those who can't babywear for medical reasons, it's just not for us! So as my young one didn't want to be pushed around, much like when he was wee, it was up to my good friend and model for this project to comfort him so I could keep extra pressure off my foot! Naturally this made for a great photo opportunity, and this photo is a sneak peek into a project that will probably become one of my favourites, will hopefully inspire non babywearers and  will make current babywearers coo and giggle! 

This is Mayita, tying a tandem carry with her Arlo on the back and my Louie on her front! :)

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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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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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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Spring days, autumn tones.

With a couple of hours searching eBay a few months ago I found a few vintage items of clothing I wanted to put together and photograph, on a model. I tried to squeeze as many shoots as possible in before my body couldn't take it anymore and reminded me that I was very heavily pregnant and this was one of the last ones I did before I popped! The day was freezing but my lovely model manged to pull off not looking like the wind was brushing her with icicles. Good work Lauren! Oh and my little brum brum has made an appearance in this shoot, isn't she (what you can see of her) a beaut?! :)

Photography, styling and editing by me

Model: Lauren Gill

Hair and Make-up: Emma Grant

Katherine Kerrison S/S 2012

Back in March I briefly blogged some behind the scenes photos from a shoot I'd done at Wollaton Park for a very talented local designer, Katherine Louise Kerrison. You'll probably recognise her name as I've done a fair few shoots for her now and I hope there will be many more to come as she's an absolute pleasure to work with! There was a bit of a heatwave in March and the day we shot was a beautifully sunny and warm day, just perfect. These photos feature Katherine's gorgeous new prom dresses and spring/summer collection.

To purchase anything you see here or to propose custom ideas to Katherine please visit her website and/or Etsy shop. 

http://www.katherinekerrison.co.uk 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/katherinelkerrison

Models: Judith Keys

Elina Vitola 

Hair: Ayesha Caunt-Buonocore

MUA: Sarah Vaites

Rhea Clements Designs

Here are the images from my recent shoot with Rhea Clements Designs. Rhea has recently made a new collection of jewellery and I had the pleasure of photographing them on some lovely models.

Model: Paige Keeling

Model: Lorna Nyajeka

Hair Stylist: Ayesha Caunt-Buonocore

MUA: Adele Coxon

Rhea has made these brilliant in necklaces in a huge range of colours, you can purchase them from via her website; www.rheaclements.co.uk

Stargazing LIVE

To coincide with the BBC Two show "Stargazing LIVE" my local park, home to Wollaton Hall (which will be featured later this year in the film The Dark Knight Rises) held a special event for those potty about stars and just eager to look through a telescope and hope to see Jupiter! We just went to try and take some photos of the park at night time (it usually closes at dusk), it was absolutely freezing and my toes were about to fall off but I did last longer than an hour! Yippeeee! The photos you are about to see aren't good by any stretch, it's more just to prove to myself and everyone else that I actually did go and I did take something! Next time, I would love a telescope attached to the camera, to get really up close and personal, although I'd be more inclined to do so when there's not silly light pollution! Anyway, I'm waffling now aren't I... these photos were all done with exposures ranging from 30 seconds to 3 minutes - I really to have admiration for those who actually have the stamina and patience to take amazing photos of star trails and the like... I am not one of those people...