Stick to the knitting

Crocheting - it can't be that hard can it? I can knit, so I think I'd like to learn to crochet. So I booked a place on a crochet workshop for beginners and with lots of enthusiasm turned up full of anticipation at a heavenly wool shop (Fibre & Clay) in Knutsford. I would spend the day chatting with like-minded ladies, drinking coffee and eating a nice lunch, whilst learning a new skill.

Hmmm! It didn't quite turn out as I expected. Firstly I have to confess to having a raging hangover having spent the previous evening (and early morning) at a charity evening, where wine flowed freely. As we don't get out very often we made the most of it and went on to a bar for cocktails (de rigeur in Knutsford anyway). Some bright spark (neither me nor Nic!) then voted to have a night cap at someone's house - logically this had to be whoever needed to send the babysitter home. 2 hours later we ejected some well oiled neighbours out of our house and a short 5 hours later my alarm clock went off! My lasting memory of the evening was sharing with the group that I didn't want to drink too much, otherwise I would be breathing alcoholic fumes over the ladies on the crochet workshop. Some smart Alec from the group quipped that "at least it would disguise the smell of wee" - see blog below for stereotypical views of people who knit (or crochet).

Sitting on Saturday morning, sipping coffee from designer mugs, surrounded by hand crafted bags and garments (still feeling dreadful), I couldn't wait to get my hands on a crochet hook and some nice wool. We all browsed through magazines and books, picking out items we would be rushing to make by the end of the day... We established that we were all more or less crochet virgins (some had dabbled a little long time ago) and so were all at the same stage. 4 hours later I was still at the same stage at the bottom of class, along with Nicola (it's always nice to have some company), whilst other members of the group were flying along with their chains, treble trebles, gaily changing colours and yarns and discussing how many fluted scarves they could make in time for Christmas! Nicola and I on the other hand would have been happy to finish a coaster for a shot glass by Christmas - the same one we started but came nowhere near completing in 5 hours! Nicola labelled us the "special needs crocheters" as we seemed to be so differently abled to the rest of the class! We couldn't even master wrapping the yarn around our fingers to get the right tension, never mind pull a tiny loop down through 3 or 4 equally tiny loops with a hook that seemed to be like a cricket bat!

By lunchtime I had completed 2 whole rows of my coaster - ignoring the fact that it was shaped like a banana and I had an epiphany when I realised that I could turn the crochet hook, rather than holding it rigidly at the same angle all the time. Imagine trying to use a knife or fork without flexing, turning your fingers or hands comfortably around it. Lunch seriously eased my hangover and I returned to the crochet cell with renewed vigour... until I realised that we were now embarking on a new adventure - crocheting in a circle to produce a so-called granny ring. I almost lost the plot completely until I decided to rebel slightly and continue with my coaster. By 4.00pm I was the proud owner of half a coaster (it's not actually level enough to risk placing a drink on it) and had mastered the double, half treble, double treble AND the treble treble. Rashly I bought some gorgeous pink soft yarn and a hook with the aim of crocheting a bag for Abigail. I set off home eager to put my new skill into practise.

Halfway through Strictly (about three hours later) I abandoned the crocheting, having cast on 30 chains and completed 1 and a half very bumpy rows. I picked up my knitting and quickly finished another hat and made significant headway on the next one by bed time. I came to the conclusion that trying to crochet on my own at home could be compared to leaving the hospital with your new born baby for the first time. At hospital with the midwives on hand to help all the time you think you think you've mastered it, but flying solo at home is a whole different ball game. And I don't think Sarah, our wonderful and extremely patient teacher would want to move in and nursemaid me until I could go it alone.

Don't get me wrong - crocheting and me are not finished - I'm still very enticed by the wealth of delicate items that can be crocheted (fluted scarf for one) and I will pick up the hook and go back into battle another day. I will not be beaten!!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

My guilty secret

I've got a guilty secret and only my family and closest friends know about it (and come to think of it my hairdresser and some complete strangers in Costa Coffee). It's something I used to only do behind closed doors but have recently taken up in public places too... Before you ring the police and /or a psychiatric help line, I'll enlighten you - I am a knitter! After a period of abstinence I am now completely addicted once more and am rarely seen during my "spare" time without wool, needles and flying elbows.

Like all embarrassing secrets I have to weigh up who I tell about my yarn yearnings. It's amazing how knitting polarises people into 2 distinct groups - firstly the "Oh god, you don't, do you?!" group, who burst out laughing and then mentally take you off their list of exciting people to invite round for dinner. Secondly there's the "Oh so do I - isn't it great" group who share your passion and completely understand it.

Perhaps it's my snobbism but I also think that you can break the group of knitting lovers down further as well (well my marketing background encourages me to segment the market!). There are those knitters who fit the stereotype to a "T" - cardiganed grannies knitting endless blankets, sweaters, hats, scarves and socks out of leftover balls of wool that are then presented to family members who are too tactful to ask them whether they are a) colour blind or b)stuck in a 70's time warp. For those of you that believe all knitters fall into this category, you've obviously missed the knitting revolution and I would challenge you to put your prejudices aside and look again. Knitting just got SEXY! Well, not just - It's been that way for some time now. Designs and yarns have caught up with the times and it's now cool to be handknitting. People all over the country are picking up their needles and creating fashionable garments, cushions, bags out of the most amazing colours and textures.

When I tell people my little secret now I usually make sure I've got something I've recently made about or on my person (or on one of the kids), so that when they give the usual "Oh god, you don't do you?!" reaction, I can quickly blow apart their preconceptions by showing them a natty little hat out of baby soft yarn in delicious colours. I usually find that they are astonished and quite often start to hint quite heavily that they would love said garment themselves.

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Bowling, bugs & bogeymen

It seems like ages since I did a family rather than business blog - life has been as hectic as ever. But looking back at the photos from October we've packed a lot in and had a great time. Halfway through the month we celebrated my nephew Ewan's 5th birthday ("baby Ewan" just can't be 5 already!). We went to his bowling party (made it this time after breaking down on route last year). Abi was first to get a strike - hence the jubilant pictures and Sam was relieved not to come last. After a pizza birthday tea we headed back to hotel chez Patrick but ran out of time for a dip in the hot tub.

Hallowe'en started mid October with the school Freaky Friday disco, when Wincham was besieged early evening by knee high gremlins, vampires, witches and the like. After the 7.30pm watershed the slightly scarier junior horrors hit the dance floor and the noise level hit new heights. I got through the event by sharing smuggled in wine with another mum. Hope no law abiding PTA members bother to read this. Half term followed quickly after with more spooky and revolting goings-on. We visited Bug World at the Albert Docks hence photos of giant slimy beasts and zebra bottoms (no - I don't understand that either!). As we couldn't fit in trick or treating this year I allowed myself to be pressganged into a Hallowe'en tea party on the 30th and ended up quite enjoying it (well, the wine anyway). The highlight of Hallowe'en for me was the sight of Sam as a keyboard-playing, headphone-wearing zombie, dancing away oblivious to the fact that we were watching!

Kids are now back at school but no peace for the wicked. Lots of work on (good news) and all the Xmas pantos etc looming (has anyone got a wolf costume I can borrow?!)

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Goodbye little van

We’ve just made a decision which commits us to holidaying in the UK for the next year or so, or certainly makes it unlikely that we’ll be booking any foreign package holidays. Our little campervan has served us well for 2½ years but suffice to say we’ve just about outgrown it. On the rare occasions that we’ve been lucky enough to have dry sunny weather for days on end, it’s been a wonderful experience – posh camping really. All mod cons – running water, heating, electricity, fridge, a gas hob and not forgetting the all important porta potty. In good weather we’ve really only cooked and slept in the van, preferring to be outdoors to eat, read etc.
But it’s a whole different story when the weather is less than perfect – 2 adults, 2 kids and a large, slobbery and very boisterous boxer dog are not meant to co-exist in small spaces. Even with the awning giving us twice as much living space, tempers fray quickly and the supposedly idyllic outdoor holiday turns into a nightmare. Mornings after the kids wake up are particularly hellish (whatever the weather) as they are understandably desperate to get out of their roof top cocoon. The only place for them to go until we’ve packed away our bed is on top of us and given that it’s often unreasonably early (for a holiday anyway) and that we’re usually slightly hungover having overindulged the night before (well, we are on holiday after all!), it doesn’t make for a great start to the day. I often retire shivering into the awning with a cup of tea, to avoid getting anymore sharp digs in the kidneys from little knees and elbows.
Life in the campervan has certainly had its ups and downs – for instance you can’t beat parking up at the sea front, a sparkling blue sea providing the view from the front window and lighting the stove to brew a cup of tea. I usually feel quite smug at this point as I watch other less lucky mortals queuing at the kiosk for an overpriced weak brew in a polystyrene cup. But it’s hard to feel smug crouching on the porta potty in the early hours of the morning, with the wind and rain lashing the awning and the loo roll soggy from standing in a pool of rain water which has mysteriously formed on the ground sheet.
But, on balance, we’ve all loved holidaying in the van – I’ll miss sitting on the backseat with the back door open, sipping a glass of wine and admiring the view – particularly on our first visit to Arrochar, where our pitch was by the side of a loch circled by mountains. And that magical time when the kids are tucked up in the roof, fast asleep after a day of tearing around the campsite with new found friends, and we’re snuggled up down below, curtains drawn, the outside world tightly shut out, relishing the rare opportunity to get through several chapters of a book without interruption. It’s somehow more precious than evenings at home where other distractions – chores, phone calls, computers, trashy TV – usually stop us spending such quality time together.
We’ve previously been puzzled by caravaners with their satellite dishes, table lamps, curtain tie backs and mini vacuum cleaners – surely they can’t truly experience the great outdoors when they wrap themselves in so many home comforts...? But we’ll be joining their ranks soon having made the decision to buy a “previously loved” caravan, which we’ll take ownership at the end of August. It will feel like a ballroom compared to the van – with fixed bunks for the kids (cue lots of shrieks of delight and arguments about who will sleep up top) 2 seating areas, a “proper” loo (no more squatting on the potty), a shower and an oven. No doubt we’ll be vilified by Wogan and Clarkson – but definitely welcomed by fellow caravanners. And I can’t wait – I’m still trying to persuade myself that this current and final adventure in the campervan is giving us chance to enjoy it one last time and say our goodbyes, but as the rain confines us to the awning yet again (kids are inside watching Spy Kids with the volume on high), I find myself daydreaming about our new palace on wheels and counting down the days to the end of the month.

Best dressed bears

End of the term and the school year brings a raft of special activities and events for the children - talent shows, parties, open evenings and the like. This week school held a teddy bears picnic and on Wednesday bears of all shapes, sizes and colours were being traipsed into the playground. Thanks largely to Build a Bear there was a huge variety of costumes, with the inevitable princesses and ballerinas, to the more unusual punk rockers and soldier bears. I was particularly proud of my efforts (hmm - bit of a give away!). Although Sam's spaceman bear was wearing its shop bought space suit, his oxygen tank, boots and helmet were all fashioned by yours truly out of silver foil and a clear plastic lid. Sam was made up with it, apart from the knob on the lid - it took me a while to convince him that it was a communications nodule. He later complained that everyone spent all day trying to pull it off. I thoroughly expected his bear to win and was quite put out when I heard he'd been beaten by "swimmer bear"! But my spirits were lifted when Abigail announced that her bride bear had won! All that hard work had paid off and for once my kids were proud of their mum's handiwork.

Also on Wednesday was the At Home evening - when we got the chance to visit our children's new classrooms and see what they've been up to in their old ones. We all really enjoyed it - well at least I thought we had until we were on the way home...! Sam was bemoaning the fact that Abigail and I had both got things to bring home with us (friendship bracelets), whereas all he had was sadness!! Much to his chagrin we fell about laughing and I'm storing that comment away with other little gems from Sam - such as the time he was claiming he had no one to play a game with - and Abigail helpfully suggested he should play with his invisible friend. To which Sam replied: "Even he's not speaking to me!".

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

My lovely 50mm lens

(Sorry for the annoying centre alignment - it's refusing all my efforts to left align - some bug in Picasa I think!)

I've been battling with this lens a bit since I bought it a couple of months back.

I'm not sure if every one is the same but I tend to have a breaking in period with any bit of new kit. I've used it a fair amount but unlike my other lenses, the results have been a bit hit and miss - too many over-exposed or out of focus shots. I've finally worked out that shooting at such low f-stops -it's the Canon 50mm f/1.8 prime lens - was the main cause of the problems. I love shallow depth of field, closely cropped shots, so was tending to mainly shoot at f/1.8 - 3.2 - this needs a huge degree of accuracy and is not easy with fast moving portrait shoots. When I have a problem with a new piece of equipment I force myself to use it exclusively for some non-work photography. So over this last weekend, which incorporated Father's Day, a visit to the mother-in-law's garden and a trip to the seaside, I left all my other lenses at home and had a proper play around with this one. With no deadlines or pressure to deliver I think I've mastered it and have a series of images that I'm really pleased with. With no other lenses to hand I've shot close up and distant in various light conditions. Subjects were as ever the kids and flowers. My 60mm lens is my fail safe, amazingly clear and sharp portrait lens but too narrow for close ups of three people, so to get some great quality, head and shoulder shots of the kids & Nic was good news. My favourite picture taken yesterday at Llandudno was of Abigail blowing bubbles off the pier (in black & white above). I think it really gives a strong sense of place and almost nostalgic atmosphere (but perhaps that's just the G&T talking!).

Nic's mum's garden never disappoints at this time of year - the beds and containers are filled to over flowing with scores of different flowers and shrubs. I was, for the first time over the weekend, seriously regretting not packing the macro lens but soon realised that using the 50mm lens was forcing me to compose differently, look more at the whole plant. And the f/1.8 aperture was creating some seriously beautiful background effects. Astrantia is one of my favourite flowers for plant portraits - so small and delicate but very architectural and with lots of interesting markings. I've shot them lots of times before but with the 50mm lens have managed a different take on them.

So it's turned out to be a real little beauty and worth much more to me than the £75 I paid for it.

The wonder of British weather

It only seems like a few weeks have passed by since we unloaded the campervan from the Easter holiday and here we are again at the end of a week’s stay in North Wales. We are only 45 minutes from home but it’s been a real break and respite from the daily grind. The glorious weather played no small part in making this a great week away. Today’s chilly and windy 13⁰C has been a reminder of how cruel British summer weather can be. For 5 perfect days we have lived the outdoor camping life, eating every meal al fresco, having water fights (us adults didn’t so much join in as get caught in the cross fire and then get very mardy very quickly!) and not needing any of the warm / waterproof clothing that you still have to pack for any UK holiday.
We’ve packed a lot as usual into the last week, even though we spent a few days chilling out on the campsite. I did a christening near Warrington last weekend, we’ve been to 2 beautiful but very contrasting gardens – one a more formal National Trust property called Erddig and the other a privately owned garden called The Glass House. Both were wonderful to explore, with many early summer flowers bursting out, no doubt spurred on by the warm weather. I’m a bit obsessed by irises at the moment, as I’ve got a big job on photographing them for a client, along with some other seasonal blooms such as peonies. I’ve always photographed flowers to nature’s timetable and it’s proving challenging to catch them in flower, at their photogenic best in line with the client’s needs!
The kids have had a whale of a time as ever, relishing the rare freedom that being on a campsite gives them and every meal a picnic outdoors. They’ve been swimming each day at the onsite pool and running around wearing very few clothes. But I knew we packed those jumpers and long trousers for a reason – we headed into Llangollen with all the rest of the soggy tourists today, trying to steer the kids away from more tacky toys and me desperate for my fix of Costa coffee. With tacky toy purchased for Sam (remember those little furry worms on a clear plastic thread...) and rather more sensible notepad and pen for Abby, I got my coffee and, even better, a lovely meal later at a pub overlooking the river. We relived some of my childhood memories after tea, jumping across the flat rocks along the river bank. Predictably Nic fell in (unfortunately only up to his ankles) and Daisy was in doggy heaven.
We’re snuggled away in the camper van for the evening, kids up top watching a DVD, us down below with a bottle of red, a few beers and a TV with a dodgy signal. Perfect. The wind is playing increasingly aggressively with the awning (hope Daisy is OK in the pup tent) and the forecast is for heavy rain (severe weather warning for 4a.m.) well into the morning when we will be de-camping. I suppose this is penance for the idyllic weather - what is the opposite of “every cloud has a silver lining”?

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Bluebell Cottage Gardens

Hidden away in a little dip in the relatively flat surrounding Cheshire countryside between Warrington and Northwich is a beautiful little garden and nursery called Bluebell Cottage Gardens and Lodge Lane Nursery. The garden is edged on one side by the Trent & Mersey Canal and the peace and quiet is only broken by the occasional chug of a canal boat motor or the distant whistle of a train. I first visited the garden last year after meeting the owner, Sue Beesley, at a charity event in Knutsford last summer. Sue offered to give me display space in her tearoom for my floral images and since then I’ve done a few jobs for her. A few weeks ago Sue asked me to shoot some pictures of her and the gardens for her newly appointed PR agency. Sue won BBC Gardener of the year in 2006 and a silver medal at the RHS show at Tatton Park last year and she and her gardens are increasingly in the media.
This was one of those jobs that you pray for – the weather was perfect (actually too perfect as the bright, sunny conditions made the shoot quite challenging!) and Sue was very relaxed in front of the camera. Shooting a subject who knows a little about photography also helped, as she was very aware of the light and how to position herself in it. The location was superb, with the gardens immaculately presented and spring flowers such as tulips, hellibores and pasque flowers in bloom. As the name of the garden suggests, there is also a profusion of bluebells in the nearby woods and we were keen to capitalise on this. There’s something special and unique about the light in a bluebell wood – the green canopy of leaves filtering the sunlight, the vivid blue haze of the flowers and the muddy brown of the tree trunks and branches. There was a very tranquil feeling in the woods and although the shots are all obviously staged, they come across as very relaxed and natural. Sue’s PR agency also wanted shots of children playing in the woods and my two budding models obliged later in the day. They enjoyed climbing along the falling branches and running along the narrow paths so much that it wasn’t hard to get some candid shots to meet the brief.

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

The wonder of babies

Had a wonderful few days last week visiting and photographing babies. I met my great nephew Beanie (no official name yet) for the first time and caught up with Myrtle again, who is six months old and has tripled in size since I last saw her. Baby Beanie is a very welcome addition to the family - his grandfather, Ralph, sadly passed away last year and it's great for everyone to celebrate a new life. Beanie was just 5 days old when we visited and caused much awe in us all, especially the children who I've never seen be so delicate and attentive to anyone or anything. We spent a very peaceful afternoon sitting in the kitchen in the warm spring sunshine, with Beanie content and fast asleep for much of the time. We tried in vain to remember top new baby tips for Lucy and Alan but it's funny how your memory fades. My best piece of advice was to "just go with the flow" for the first few weeks - not that I followed my own advice but I wish I had! Lucy is a graphic designer and has painted the most amazing mural on Beanie's wall - see pics above.

Myrtle is our friends' Gael and Max's baby daughter. I spent a lovely afternoon in their back garden playing with her. She's sitting up now and it's such a lovely interactive stage. She was happy sitting there taking everything in, whether it was next door's cat strolling tantalisingly close by or pulling at blades of grass (and trying to eat them!). Seeing the two babies within such a short period of time really brought it home to me how quickly they grow and change. In just 6 short months Beanie will be sitting up, exploring his surroundings and engaging with people. I can't wait to see them both again to see how they've changed and to photograph them again of course!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Nunsmere Hall Hotel

I first became acquainted with Nunsmere Hall Hotel when my husband booked a surprise overnight stay for our wedding anniversary in 2004. We enjoyed a delicious meal in an intimate dining room and loved our slightly quirky room with its own little staircase and very comfy and luxurious bed. The next morning it was very cold, clear and frosty and after breakfast we strolled around the gardens, taking photographs of the white coated lawns raked with long shadows from the line of trees in front of the lake. Little did I realise at that time that my career would take such a different direction that I would end up photographing the hotel in a professional capacity a few years later. Through my portrait work I met the manager of the hotel, Mark, and his family last year and have photographed them several times now, with the hotel making a spectacular location for the shoots. When we had the so called “snow events” in February Mark invited me to photograph the hotel and grounds and will be featuring the above shot on the cover of the 2009 winter brochure. Other shots have made it into Cheshire Life, one as an advertisement and another (see left) accompanying a feature on top Cheshire restaurants. Mark and his team at Nunsmere Hall are highly professional, but also very friendly and informal and I always enjoy my visits there, whether for business or for pleasure!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

The meaning of Easter

What Easter means to me... usually the first opportunity since Christmas to really stop, relax and spend some quality time with Nic and the kids - without the hectic schedule and stress that inevitably accompanies the build up to Christmas. And this Easter break has been particularly welcome following a period of relentless business travel for Nic and the usual non-stop family and work routine for me. We opted for a caravan site in the Lakes and it's proved to be a real haven - a large site but sprawled over acres of woodland, with lots of tucked away little dells and copses, so it actually feels quite intimate. We are pitched next to a babbling brook, surrounded by wild garlic. Our little campervan and awning look a little like the poor relation to the luxurious caravans and motorhome around us, but we're not short of any home luxuries (if you ignore the fact that we don't have running water because the pump has decided to stop working). The kids are aghast that we only have 4 TV channels, but then they do have a CD player, laptop with mobile broadband and their Nintendo DSs should they need a fix of technology. Whatever happened to playing cards and ludo!? They've been happy to go off on their own, exploring, making dens and playing pooh sticks, although Abigail gets lost without Sam to lead her back again.

With warm, sunny weather this is truely camping at its absolute best - lazing around the campsite, reading and taking the dog for the occasional exploration through the woodland. At the bottom of the site there's a river that's perfect for a spot of paddling - for feet and paws. It's proven to be such an idyllic spot that we haven't ventured off out anywhere else, preferring to stay in our little slice of heaven.

Talking about Heaven, with a capital "H", I eavesdropped on a hilarious conversation between Sam and Abigail at bathtime a few days ago. They have been learning about the real meaning of Easter, but haven't accepted it unquestionningly. Abigail was firmly extolling the truth of the Big Bang theory and the dinosaurs but got confused about where Adam and Eve and Heaven fit in to this, whereas Sam was arguing that he believed that a greater being created the earth and all life on it. He even managed to weave the dinosaurs into a religious framework, having watched an episode of Primeval in which a dinosaur like reptile was worshipped as a god! Nic and I have tried not to influence their beliefs as we would like them to make up their own minds. I suppose it is inevitable that they will be sceptical about the existence of God and Jesus, being brought up in a mainly non-religious environment, other than what they are taught in school. We fall into the agnostic, sitting on the fence classification. Abigail came up with her own terminology for this position, declaring to Sam that she was "comme ci, comme ca" about whether she believed or not! But Jessie the cat, Ursula the next door neighbour and Uncle Ralph are all definitely in Heaven!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Dressing up

Kids just love dressing up, whether it's in a uniform or fancy dress & we love admiring them. I wonder what age they'll grow out of this - I guess just before they go to high school when the majority become more image conscious and more aware of the need to fit in with their peers - although both have already kicked in with Abigail sometime ago. She's got quite an individual streak but occasionally feels under pressure to be like everyone else. Case in point is her hair, which is short, suits her so well and makes her look gorgeous (in our biased opinion), but occasionally she suddenly feels singled out because of it and wants to be like all her friends. (Please note that decision to go for drastic short hair style was all her own!)

This week saw Sam enrolled at Beavers and proudly wearing his full uniform. I wish I could freeze moments like this, when he is so chuffed to bits with himself. Later, at home, we went from beavers to bunny ears and also conjured up an Easter bonnet for the practise Easter assembly the next day. I had to persuade both of them not to wear them in bed and then had a giggle watching them walk to school wearing them the next morning. It had seemed like a lot of hassle making emergency Easter head gear at 8pm in time for the next day (either I had not read the school note as usual, or the kids hadn't relayed the message to me on time - both very typical of our hectic school week), but looking at the pictures and their faces it was very worthwhile. Whether tissue paper ears and flowers will survive until the actual event is a different matter altogether.

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Life, loved ones & lenses

There just aren’t enough hours in the day at the moment! How on earth did I used to hold down a fulltime job and run a family?! The truth is that I didn’t really – I stumbled from one day into the next, prioritising whoever shouted loudest, at home and at work. I used to dream of having the sort of freedom and pressure-free existence that I supposedly now lead. Surely running your own business from home should give a better quality of life and ease the juggling of home and work demands? In many ways it has - writing presentations to pointless deadlines, attending endless meetings and commuting (read "crawling") along the network of Manchester motorways is a thing of the past – thank goodness. I now spend my “workdays” either at the computer editing photographs, printing out jobs, updating the website, emailing (presumably a valid verb these days although it’s arguable whether it’s a valid use of time...), or nipping to see customers, running errands and fitting in walking the dog somewhere in between. This should all be squeezed in to the school hours between 9.15 and 3.00 but somehow time always runs away from me. Lunchtime seems to sneak up on me when I’m convinced it’s still only about 11.00, and then it’s a mere blink of an eye until 3.00 is here and I rush out of the door to collect the little peeps. Then the other part of my day starts, with after-school activities, tea and homework filling the slot from 3.30-7.00 every day. If I’m not falling asleep by 9pm then I’ll do a bit of work or blogging in front of the TV before collapsing into bed. Somewhere between 9.00 & 11.00pm Nic & I are supposed to find some quality "us-time".

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not bemoaning this new way of life – I just need to get a better handle of it. I’ve been used to a very structured working week for more than twenty years and I need to be a better mistress of this still relatively new freedom. (Here I am now in Costa at 11.15 writing my blog off-line as I can’t get a signal on my supposedly mobile broadband to go online and write some emails!)

As a change of subject, I’ve added to my collection of lenses this week. I’ve read lots of write-ups on the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens, all of which conclude that it’s a must-have in any portrait / wedding photographer’s kit bag. And at around £90 RSP it’s without doubt my cheapest lens – and I got it for £75 on ebay including p&p. I’ve not had much time to play with it yet – just a few shots of the dog and the kids, but I’m already excited about the difference it’s going to make to my portrait shots, especially in low light / indoors. I’ve also fallen back in love with my telephoto lens, although I’m looking forward to the day when I can upgrade it to a lens with a lower f-stop and better quality all round, especially now that I’ve seen the potential of my recent purchase. But I still got some lovely shots of Sam, who was at his absolute posing best on Mother’s Day, when we visited Dunge Valley Hidden Gardens nr Macclesfield. Despite the fierce arctic winds he explored the gardens with me, claiming he didn’t want me to have to do it on my own on Mother’s Day and that he would be my model. So, whilst Nic and Abby huddled in the campervan, cooking chilli and rice for lunch (the tea room was closed due to flooding), Sam and I had a blast of fresh air and a blast in general, with me laughing at him for most of the walk as he tried to hold his trousers up to prevent me taking shots of his builder’s bum (Sam suffers from this no matter what he wears, having no waist and a tiny behind!). Dunge Valley will be well worth a visit after Easter, when the Bluebell walk and the Rhododendron Trail will both hopefully be in flower (and the tea room open and flood-free). The hellibores were magnificent, by the way, hence the opening shot (another great use for my telephoto lens).

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Blurring the edges

After all the effort to unearth my Lensbaby I had a play around with it today at a local park, as I was wondering whether I could use it during some photoshoots to get some shots which are a bit edgier. A Lensbaby is a cute, but odd looking lens that mimics the effect of a tilt & shift lens. It looks like a short piece of black vaccuum cleaner hose with the same bendiness and it gets some peculiar looks. By stretching or contracting the hose bit and bending it at the same time you can determine where the point of focus is (the so called sweet spot) and also distort the areas around it. I've got version 2.0 which you manually hold in place as you press the shutter. More recent versions have systems to fix it in place. Getting to grips with it again was a steep learning curve but I quickly remembered how to handle it and with a very willing model I got some quite nice images for its first trip out in perhaps two years. You can't set the aperture in camera - you choose a disc with a hole which

defines the aperture. I think the one it had in it was f/5.6. Using the camera on AUTO was a complete disaster - totally over exposed, so I constantly checked and changed the shutter speed. It was a bright sunny day with the occasional passing cloud, and we moved from open grass areas into shady woodland. So we ranged from around 1/600th to 1/2000th of a second.

Anyway I've fallen in love with it again and will include it in my camera bag so that it's available for all my shoots. I'll carefully pick and choose which client I first use it with - it'll have to be a shoot where everything has gone swimmingly, it's all in the bag and I've got a willing model to practise with it on. Before the end of the week I'll have a go at some daffodils as they've all suddenly bloomed this weekend and Spring really feels like it has sprung. It's amazing what a lift a bit of warm sun on your face gives you. The grass was cut this afternoon, we had our first barbecue of the year (and I'm sure we weren't the only ones!) and the children dragged out every blanket, cushion, teddy, hammock etc insight.

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Now, where did I put that lens / filter / bag....??

For the last few days I have been hunting high and low for my Lensbaby and its accessories. In the process of scouring drawers, cupboards and various camera bags (bags are a subject to which I could dedicate an entire blog...) I have uncovered all sorts of odds and ends that I had forgotten about. When you consider that all these “odds and ends” are bits of photographic related equipment, it is nothing short of scandalous that I don’t have them all organised and accessible in one safe location.

I can’t believe I have amassed all this kit – just eight years ago I was happy with my Olympus Trip and rather ungrateful when husband returned from a trip to the States with a Pentax compact digital camera as a present for me. “Didn’t they have the Clinique stuff I wanted? I’ve already got a camera!” was likely my response. However, I think I can now trace back my conversion to the religion of photography to this moment – or to a few weeks later when it dawned on me what a brave new world my first digital camera had opened up. Gone were the days of ending up with 35 awful pictures and 1 good one. The learning curve was still quite steep but so much shorter and cheaper. I don’t know what I would have done either, without Picasa, the free image editing software from Google. My digital image library was building, along with my family – two years on and I had a toddler and a new baby to experiment on (photographically that is!)

Husband then convinced me that I was ready to move onto a camera that allowed me to take more control and we bought the Panasonic Lumix FZ20. It was a great “inbetweeny” camera for me – I wasn’t ready at that time to upgrade to a full SLR, but this looked a bit more serious, had a larger LCD screen and produced really punchy sharp images. The 10X zoom was great, especially combined with the image stabiliser function. I’ve had this camera for 4 or 5 years now and I still use it a few times a week, as I take it on my dog walks and on general outings with the kids. I tend to think of it as expendable but I would be devastated if anything happened to it (well, at least for the few minutes that it would take for me to realise that I would have the perfect excuse to buy a newer model, with face, smile & blink recognition...).

I have to admit that I continued for quite some time to use it on the AUTO setting and didn’t make use of the manual focus option either. Husband kept egging me on to try a different shutter speed or change the depth of field and was rewarded with expletives. Just as you shouldn’t learn to drive with your dad, neither should you allow your spouse to teach you photography! It was only at the end of the first class of an A’Level course that I finally understood f-stops and shutter speeds and was finally able to move the dial off AUTO and on to “A” and “S” (or TV as it would become on my SLRs).

I upgraded to my first SLR – a Canon 350d – partway through the first term of the first year of the A’Level and so began my metamorphosis into photo gadget geek. Every Christmas / birthday / Mother’s Day there was something I was dropping hints about. And really there’s no item that I regret buying or haven’t made good use of. I would be bereft without my external flash gun & plastic diffuser. Although other factors also come into play to make a good portrait, soft bounced light can really make a shot look more professional. No more red eye or unflattering direct light. The first lens I bought was a 60mm prime lens, as I had started to do a lot of close up, abstract stuff, partly for the A’Level, but also to explore my passion for abstracts of flowers and plants. I sometimes wish I’d bought the 100mm lens instead for slightly less accessible subjects when I need to be at a greater distance, but I’ve still made great use of it. These days it is my main portrait lens – head & shoulders close ups or even tighter crops – the quality is fantastic and I can get such a shallow depth of field so that the focus really is on the subject. For more candid shots I’ve got a telephoto lens – 70-300mm f.4.5 – with image stabiliser – and it’s been a real work horse for me, particularly at nurseries when I’ve been able to capture lovely natural shots of children at play. My next big outlay could be for an upgrade to one with a lower f-stop but this will be serious money. The Lensbaby was a birthday present and I used it a lot for my A’Level projects. It’s been neglected of late, hence why it was lost, but I’ve got a hankering to have a play around with it again and get some more creative portraits.

Once I got to the point where I had got a reasonable amount of work on the books I started to panic about something happening to my 350d mid-shoot, so I had created an excuse to go shopping again. At the time, the most affordable upgrade option for me was the 40d, which is now my main work horse. At weddings or particularly fast paced jobs where I don’t have a lot of time to switch lenses, I have both cameras slung around my body, but don’t seem to control them as effortlessly as some photographers do. Also for weddings and large groups I bought my wide angle lens 17-40mm. This is a good quality lens and does the job, but I have yet to fall in love with it like I have done with the telephoto or macro lenses – I find it hard to be creative with it – more practise needed as I’m sure it’s possible to get some really good results with it.

I’ve also amassed lots of other “bits & bobs” – filters, polarisers, tripods, bags (don’t mention bags – I always think I need a new one!) but as this blog is already a novella, I’ll save commenting on those for another day!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Northwich Woodlands

This is definitely becoming my favourite place to walk the dog. I know I've gone on about it before but it really does offer such variety of scenery & wildlife & it's so accessible - free parking unless you start out at Marbury Park or the Anderton Boat Lift. I usually set off from Witton car park behind the tip - sounds lovely I know - or at the layby with the bacon van. The advantage of the latter is having a hot bacon & egg butty at either end of the walk (but not both!). Daisy is well known there now & has her usual order of crispy bacon fat. I've been to the Woodlands 3 or 4 times in the last week & can really see signs that Spring is just around the corner. Even today with an arctic wind blasting us, the sun was warm on our faces & many of the trees are sprouting fat buds. The water in the Flashes was a milky turquoise colour today, caused probably by the lime beds, but it's quite rare to see it such a vivid shade.

Another favourite section of the Woodland for me is the Anderton Nature Park. I usually approach it from Witton Mill, along the river Weaver. The sandy (slightly muddy at the moment) path snakes through the woodland & then alongside the river. The kids love this path with its steps down to landing stages for the anglers & the little bridges, which are fun on foot & hilarious on bikes. I can't wait to go again on a warm Summer's day when there'll be butterflies & dragonflies darting around. This last week I've made do with the occasional glimpse of a heron & the clarity of view that crisp, clear blue skies, low light and cold air combine to make. The Anderton Boat Lift and the Northwich Saltmine industrial buildings stand out in stark but beautiful contrast in this landscape. I don't think my photos do it full justice - they are quick snaps with dog in tow, but I have resolved to use the area as a location for some photo shoots as it is so rich in interesting backdrops & there's plenty to keep the kids interested.

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All done planning

February has seemed like a month of birthdays & birthday parties - in fact with wedding anniversary & husband's birthday falling in January, it's felt like I've been thinking of gifts, wrapping them, planning parties, buying cakes, creating invites & thank you notes since Christmas. I like to think I'm quite imaginative & creative on all these fronts, but with production on such a mass scale & deadline following on from deadline, I've been bordering on a "it'll do" attitude towards it all. And I feel guilty admitting that I'm relieved it's all over for another year. Shame really, when I know how fondly we'll look back on our offsprings' different milestones.

One aspect I do, of course, really enjoy, is recording these precious events by taking lots of pictures and already I know how much pleasure we'll get looking back at them in years to come. Sam has probably done his last indoor play centre party with scores of classmates. It's quite sad really that slides, balls and running about like lunatics probably won't be enough next year. Two years older, at 8, Abby chose a more select group & a more refined activity - making bracelets at a craft centre. In the party room afterwards, I realised that however grown up they think they are, there's not much difference between 6 & 8 year olds when let loose in a room with music & balloons! The majority of 6 year olds were much better behaved than one or two of the 8 year olds too - I'm already devising strategies for avoiding tea & sleepover dates with some - certainly until I'm back to full energy reserves & have got my mojo back!

The next crucial date on our calendar is Mother's Day - I don't expect much... ("yeah, right!" says husband on reading this), just to know that I'm not on planning, creating & organising duty.

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

From athlete's foot to apertures

(Bear with me on the title, all will become clear!) I'm hoping that the process of writing this post will help me to see the wood for the trees, put some order of priority on all my projects. I feel like my brain is on overload - in a positive way, when compared to the brain fries I regularly experienced when working full time for someone else. I expected and planned for Jan / Feb to be quiet, particularly with portrait work, and decided to use the time for business planning, web site updates, even taking it a bit easy and getting to the gym occasionally. I'm feeling dragged down at the moment by a feeling that I've not made much, if any, headway on any of these, but logic and ever supportive husband keep telling me otherwise.

Portrait work was non-existent but Spring must be in the air because bookings for March keep coming in - bank balances must be starting to recover from Christmas and the gradual warming temperature and lengthening days are making people emerge from hibernation. And photography jobs involving glass baubles, food and snow kept the wolf only scratching at the door over the last two months.

The new area of business I am pushing this year is photography courses. This is something I find so exciting - combining one passion, photography, with another, training or teaching. A long time before I started taking pictures for a living, I wrote "a jargon free guide to taking better pictures" and had more or less put to bed the portrait section. I've always been excited by the idea of enabling people to improve their photography with some simple, non technical tips and techniques. I spent the last two years of my life as an international marketer developing and running training courses on foot disorders - anything from athlete's foot to verrucas. Despite the unappealing subject matter I got such a buzz from this job and can't wait to get training again. Working on my dad's old adage "if you don't ask, you don't get", I approached a number of local venues and struck gold with Willowpool Garden Centre, Lymm, an absolute Aladdin's cave in terms of photographic subjects. So my first course is booked in and I can't wait to start the marketing and get the course material written.

I've updated areas of the web site and tidied it up a lot, but there's lots more housekeeping to do - I suppose you never actually get up to date with this kind of job. If you've read any of my recent blogs, you'll know that taking it easy never happened and aside from dog walking my keep fit regime doesn't deserve the title! My "quiet period" is officially over and I'm chomping at the bit to get on with March's workload. And I think writing all this down has sort of helped with priorities and self esteem!

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Busy, busy, busy

Well, it's been 12 days since my last confession... but no ordinary 12 days. It included birthdays for both offspring (we didn't plan that very well did we) and a half term holiday, predominantly with husband in absenteum. The calendar of events for the 12 days reads like the contents page of one of those guides to "1000 things to do with kids before you die". A trip to London, cinema visit, Chester Zoo, at least 3 National Trust gardens, 2 indoor play barns (aka torture chambers for parents), a party for 17 six year olds, 2 clothes shopping trips (with kids in tow)... and that's all that what remains of the functioning part of my brain can remember. For some reason this period of frenzied activity coincided with my decision to seriously reduce my wine consumption, so instead of being able to kick back each evening with a deliciously cold glass (or 3) of chardonnay, I've been irritiably sipping coke, brewing tea and finding it difficult to get to sleep without the aid of an alcoholic sleep aid. On the upside I've had more energy, been clearer headed and the Wii fit tells me I've lost 2lbs!

Looking back on the activities of the last 12 days I am no longer surprised that we are absolutely knackered, to the point of functioning like inefficient and grumpy robots by about tea time and struggling to answer simple questions, never mind the multi-tasking challenge of chatting to cashier, packing shopping and keeping an eye on daughter in the supermarket. Thank goodness something like normal service resumed with the return to school today - although husband is absent again and there's still another birthday party and sleepover to brave at the weekend! However, I am much energised by the prospect of visiting the Focus on Imaging exhibition at the NEC this week - a nirvana for any one keen on photography. I'll be bursting with ideas and enthusiasm and somewhat lighter of pocket when I get back.

I've just finished loading, reviewing, deleting and editing the hundreds of photos snapped since my last blog - the collage at the top shows the best of the crop. These pictures serve to remind me that however exhausted we find ourselves, we are truly blessed with 2 incredibly funny and wonderful kids and I would not swop this mad life for anything.

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Shy snowdrops & elusive dog

Well, we still haven't had a snow event in Wincham but we had another powdering on Wednesday night and in case that was it for us this winter I decided to go in search of snowdrops in snow. Rode Hall near Congleton was resplendent with snowdrops and daffodils at this time last year and it's slightly higher than Wincham, so could have more of a snow event than here. And although we weren't exactly knee deep in snow drifts at Rode Hall, there was quite a lot of the white stuff, almost too much, as many of the snow drops were a) struggling to push their heads through the surface and b) foiled by their natural camouflage (i.e. white on white). These factors combined with the cold weather kept all but the most foolhardy visitors away - we were the first to leave our mark on the pristine white footpaths, a good hour after opening time. But it was far from being a wasted journey. It was magical to explore the gardens in such wintry conditions, snow creaking under foot (isn't that a great and unique sound?!) and I did come away with some lovely images. Little groups of snowdrops in sheltered nooks and crannies (I really must ask a gardener why crab and mussel shells were used as mulch around their base - other than offering some great contrasting colour), and early blossom flowers and daffodils wearing white bonnets of snow.

And I've enjoyed some wintry walks with Daisy. I've made it my mission this last week to try to get some shots which really show her character out on our walks - this is much harder than it sounds. She moves at the speed of light, has no particular destination in mind (in fact a previous dog trainer concluded "that dog lacks focus") and is either camera shy or is getting her own back on me for all the times I've tied her to a fence. The net result is a lot of shots of dog just going off camera (cursed shutter delay on compact cameras), blurred dog or dog's hind quarters. Never mind actually going for a well composed shot with background interest! I lined up one perfect shot of her looking back at me, standing on a narrow, snowy pathway lined with tall, golden grasses and low, raking sunlight and shadows, only to find a huge splodge of mud smeared across the lens from her last mad dash past me. Anyway, here's the best of the bunch but must try harder.

Oh - and the young swans were back, posing at the lake-side whilst keeping a wary eye on Daisy - very wise.

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Snow?! What snow!!

Well... we have had a dusting of snow and I've rushed out with my camera just in case that's all we get this winter, but I am so disappointed that we've missed out on the "snow event" suffered by the rest of the country (you can tell that I am no longer a daily commuter for whom snow is a complete nightmare). I want the kids to experience the kind of snow that we did and I also want to get some winter wonderland shots - I'm still holding out for snowdrops nestling in snow this year. On each weather forecast Cheshire seems to sit tantalisingly along the edges of any areas of snow and I find myself blaming the presenter for not giving us any decent snowfall for a change! However, even a dusting dramatically changes familiar landscapes and I got a few bleak and quite striking images of Pickmere Lake.

I shouldn't complain really - our meager amount of snow brought in some extra business - I've been photographing a beautiful old hotel and its grounds and it gave me an idea to do a mail shot to other hotels and halls in the region - although the snow has now thawed and I'm back to haranguing the BBC weather forecaster. More snow is forecast overnight and tomorrow and the snowflakes on the weather map did appear to be right over Wincham, but I won't be springing out of bed tomorrow morning as I can't face yet another disappointment (for me and kids - who have long ago stopped believing the weatherman anyway.)

Perhaps I should adopt Daisy's outlook on life - even the most insignificant amount of snow makes her daily outings a fantastic adventure. As long as there's enough to rub her nose in, roll in and make the cow pats stand out more, then she's in doggy heaven!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!