Get to know me!

It's been a while since I've blogged and to be honest, writing a blog is hard for me so I thought the best way to get back into it would be to introduce myself. I've had a lot more people join my social media pages in the last year.

Last year was unique for sure! I didn't work for a good portion of it what with lockdowns and ending up in the hospital myself with numerous pulmonary embolisms. Even with all that, last year was my best year yet and I was in a better headspace too. I chose at the end of 2020 to only follow photographers who had been in the field for years and that I could learn from.

So who am I....well the first thing you'll notice when you meet me is I'm British. I've been in Canada now for 12yrs. I moved out here with my husband of 15yrs and now we have 3 boys and are loving living in Canada.....even with the snow.

Being a photographer honestly wasn't on my radar as a kid growing up in England. I actually really wanted to be a vet. This obviously became a non-starter when I learned I would faint at the sight of blood. Something I actually discovered funnily enough at the vet's office when my pet budgie was sick. Thankfully this is something I've outgrown cause as a mum of 3 boys, they're a little accident-prone.

When I say a little...I mean A LOT!

I ended up studying dual honours in Biology and Biochemistry at Keele University and then followed a career as a research scientist in cancer research. A career I choose to follow after losing my mum to breast cancer when I was 15. It was a career I loved for 8 years and have many fond memories of. I'm still in touch with a lot of old colleagues.

Now I was known for always having a camera with me as a kid and at University and yes my friends hate the fact I have lots of photos of them on nights out. So I don't know why I didn't think I could do it as a career. It wasn’t until after taking many photos at play-dates, that a friend told me I should make a career of it. She saw in me something that I didn’t see. Slowly friends started asking me to take pictures of them and their families. I started up the business Facebook page originally as a joke, expecting it to go nowhere. I had just planned on sharing pictures I took of friends.

Its been a slow process building up my portfolio, learning new skills, improving my work and building my client base over the last few yrs. I'm so grateful for the friends who let me use their families and babies as practice. I'm happy to say they're still clients as well as close friends. I'm also grateful for a loving husband who allowed me to indulge in a dream that I didn't know would go anywhere. It’s so important to surround yourself with people who lift you up and who are there for you. If that friend hadn’t pushed me to pursue photography as a career, who knows where I would be now.