Hinton Ampner

I have loads of photos to share with you from over my wonderful Easter holidays.  I can't tell you how fab it has been to have two weeks off work, it feels like a lot longer and I feel like I have used the time really well and done loads of things. I feel very refreshed and relaxed, I just hope this feeling lasts as I go back to work, I know there is going to be some stress in the coming weeks. Anyway, before I start to lament the fact that I have to return to work let me share with you some photos from a National Trust house and garden that we visited a week or so ago; Hinton Ampner:

The gardens here were absolutely glorious and the scent of the flowers was positively heavenly, I actually lay on the grass in the sun and just breathed it all in.  

The light was truly beautiful, I felt like I was in bliss at times I wished I could have walked around the garden for longer it was so peaceful and wonderful.

I will share some more photos tomorrow about out visit to Winchester. Hope you have enjoyed your bank holiday weekend (if you had one) and are having a positive and wonderful start to the week.  

Baby bump photos

A couple of weeks ago I photographed the lovely Emma, her husband Daniel and Emma's bump.  It was a fantastic photoshoot, photographing adults is sooo much easier than children and babies, especially with such gorgeous people as Emma adn Daniel (Emma actually had some modelling experience!)  I was thrilled with the photos and have found it very hard to choose my favorites, here are just a few of them:

10 day old beautiful baby

Photographed beautiful baby Reuben this week, so sweet at just 10 days old, officially the youngest baby I have ever photographed. Parents were great, really patient and I got a lovely bree and cranberry sandwich for lunch!!
Here are some of my faves:

Gorgeous or what.
Did my first baby bump photos this week too, will load them up next week sometime.

Hope you have all had a lovely weekend.  Paul and I went for a walk in some woods near us because it was lovely and sunny.  I love walking in the woods it always lifts my spirit. 
It is getting very cold here is the South of England now and is supposed to be -7 degrees tonight, eeek! 
Hope you have a good week ahead, not long now till Christmas, I am counting down the days till the end of term.

Next Community Centre shoot

Part two of my community centre photo shoot; this time was far less stressful, I think doing it in the morning meant that the kids were awake and happy, also there was more time so I felt less rushed, I even had a comfort break! I was also happier with the results of the photos this time too, it helped that I had two lights rather than one this time.  Here are some of my favorites:

All in all it has been a good experience, I have learnt a lot from it and although it is not the thing I want to do most of the time, I think community shoots like this are really helpful and make a nice change.

Community centre photographs

Did a photo shoot on Wednesday at a community centre.  Never done anything like this before, it was exciting and nerve wracking.  Unusually I used lights, normally I rely on natural light, but because I did the shoot in the evening I had to use studio lighting.  It went well and was a good experience but was very stressful, here are my favorite, they are pretty traditional, but I think they turned out well:

I have got several bookings coming up for the photography.  I am really glad I am doing it, and am really enjoying it, but had a real panic yesterday that I was still filling my time with something that wasn't what I truly wanted to do.  My deepest desire is to create artwork, that is where my spirit is calling me.  I will say more on this later, I think it needs it's own post.

New items in Etsy shop

Listed some new items in my Etsy shop recently. The vintage music sheet bunting has been really popular so this time I made some with a create tape rather than black, just for a change.  I also really love the mini vintage music sheet bunting, it is so cute and would be great wrapped round a lamp shade.

Amy and Ryan's Christmas photos

Christmas is fast approaching and photos make the perfect gift! Amy and Ryan looks fab in their Christmas outfits and amazingly cute in their Christmas sack!! 

You can view other photos shoots that I have done on my photography blog: helenjackson or on my website helenjackson

A delightful weekend in Wales

Went to Wales this weekend to visit a friend of mine from University who I lived with for three years, hadn't seen her for 4 years so I was really looking forward to it and to seeing a lot of other friends from Uni too. 
Happily her fiance is a farmer so they live in a beautiful farm house that comes with his job, in beautiful Welsh countryside with amazing views, fresh air and the sweetest dog I have ever seen!  It was so lovely to see her and catch up, we chatted about weddings, jobs, gardening and life in general and I think the highlight of the weekend was a guided tour round her fiance's farm including the calves (eeeee!) and the dairy where the cows are milked. 
We went for a wonderful walk around the fields of their farm and I felt like my soul was really enriched. It was such a glorious day and it all made me feel very motivated to try harder to get the life I want. 

I have more photos from the weekend to show you over the next few days, we went out for a meal in a lovely pub which was adorned with vintage wedding photos, I snapped a few which I would love to share with you.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far.  I have some plans brewing which I will share with you as soon as I feel like it is safe to do so!

TTFN

Another lovely baby photoshoot in Berkshire

A fun, relaxed and beautiful Autumnal photo shoot with gorgeous Aoife and her mum and dad. Aoife was so photogenic and relaxed parents made this session a pleasure. I am so pleased with the results, the morning Autumn sun was very beautiful which is what I love so much about natural light.

You can see more of my photos on my photography blog, or on my webite helenjackson.org

A lovely weekend

What a great start to half term, travelled to Wales on Saturday to celebrate my Nephew's 1st Birthday:

How cute is he?  And doesn't he love the Cath Kidston mug we bought him as part of a breakfast set!?

Oh yes, that was until he started hitting it against things.  "It's breakable!"

Then on Saturday we travelled to my parents who also live in Wales.  On Sunday hubby and I went for a stroll on the beach with my dad, it was a truly beautiful day and we walked on the beach where my hubby proposed.

What is amazing about this beach is that a petrified forest that grew there in the ice age has been from revealed under the sand, you can see where all the trees were growing thousands of years ago,

Can you believe they survived so long?  You can see the grain of the wood and everything, it is quite astonishing to think this beach was once a forest filled with trees, it makes me feel part of something so much bigger.

I really do love this beach, not just for the memories but because it is such a lovely place to sit and think, I feel so peaceful there listening to the waves.  There is nowhere to go where I live where there is so much space and tranquility.

Came across a house:

We went into Swansea in the afternoon.  A lot of money has been put into the SA1 district of Swansea Bay around the old fishing docks.  It looks pretty smart now, a nice place to eat out and a few art galleries to visit.  This bench looks like a piece of art work don't you think?

And this really is an art piece, part of an art programme that is running all across the city.

You have no idea how long it took me to upload the above photos.  There is something wrong with my connection I think.  Anyhow, check out how fab Swansea looks!!

Hopefully have some scrap booking pages to share tomorrow, along with some additions to my Etsy shop.