The Stare

Babies are complicated things, and trying to get one to smile on demand is harder than you'd think. No matter how many songs and games and tickles from mum and dad, or stupid voices and peek-a-boos and "where's your smiles?!" from me, sometimes they just stare. Emily stared. Today's her 1st birthday though, so maybe she's pondering the passage of time.



Apologies for being a terrible blipper recently, I'm having one of those weeks where any kind of mojo is hard to come by. Not a bad week, but sitting behind the computer editing wet weddings for days on end seems to kill all creativity and get-up-and-go, and I've got a bad case of cabin fever. I'm literally counting down the days until my Amsterdam trip (17), though there are a few things to look forward to before then! :)

I've also been thinking a lot about my future this week, where I want to be (geographically, professionally and personally) in 5 years time, and my ambitions for 2014. If I write it here now then I can look back next November and see if I've actually done anything about it! This year was a very strange one, my life sort of fell apart at the start of the year and since then I've felt a bit like I've been clinging on to the back of a train as it hurtles along, keeping the business ticking over but not really making the changes I planned. In many ways it's been an incredible year, with so many great trips, wonderful people and amazing experiences. And although my business is going strong, my work ambitions took a back seat, first to getting my life back in order and then to enjoying my new freedom. So next year I need to do all the things I hoped to do this year, and hopefully will really make some steps towards cutting back on the work that I don't enjoy so much (including babies, sorry Emily), leaving more time to develop the work I really love (my wedding photography) and making time to rest and shoot more fun and creative personal projects. A definite list of goals will appear here at some stage around the New Year I'm sure!