let's get acquainted... again ♥

So here I am again sitting, bored, searching through my bookmarks and I've found the blog that I'm supposed to be using to post about all those important life events happening throughout my teenage years. I'm now 21 (so no longer a teenager) but I'm determined to give this another go...blogging that is.

So to give you a catch up on what's happened in the last 2 and a half years since my last post...

1. My boyfriend and I have been together for 3 years now, the last time I mentioned him on here we were celebrating our 1st year anniversary and since then we've had two more. 
• For our second year we went to Brighton for 3 days, which was the first time he'd ever been. We stayed in a premier inn and went to the pier for fish and chips, then we went to see the Fifty shades of grey film (still waiting for the next one to come out!) and had a nice dinner in the marina. 
• For our third year anniversary we went to London to see the Lion King which was AMAZING! Word of advise if you ever go to see it, sit in an aisle seat in the stalls... you'll thank me for that advise later.
2. I no longer work in Budgens as a supervisor and have left to pursue a career in childcare which I love. I'm training for my level 3 in Early Years Educator and working full time at a local private nursery. There's not a day I've worked there that I've woken up and not wanted to go to work... I know this is so sad but sometimes when I've booked a day off I'm genuinely a little bit gutted I can't go in and see all the kids. Also the biggest benefit about work is that it is precisely 2 and 1/2 minutes drive away so I get to wake up a little bit later than before. 
3. I'm still doing photography as a hobby and since neglecting it a little bit to concentrate on my studying, I've had more bookings than ever. I've done another wedding and I've got another one booked for the end of this year. I've done a mother and daughter shoot, and have got another family shoot booked for May, and I've had interest from a fellow blogger wanting to collaborate. So all in all, I'm pretty pleased at how it's going. 

There are so many things that have happened, but those 3 are the main things in my life so I won't bore you with anymore. (I'll add some photo's of memories I've had from the last few years instead)

(The most recent picture of all my sisters, my mum and I on mother's day)

(Joe and I after 3 years of being together)

(My best friend/sister and mum on mother's day)

(The girls at work on World Book Day 2016)

(Christmas Eve traditions to go ice skating at Canary Wharf)

(Halloween dressed as a black angel)

(Before going to Holi fest (we didn't come back with T-shirts so white)

(Charity ball event)

(Joe and I in Brighton on our second anniversary)

(Joe and I on holiday in Lanzarote 2 years ago)

fall in love and you'll fall forever ♥

"Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairytale. Here's to your happy ever after" 

Quite a while ago now on Friday 15th August I had the pleasure of photographing another beautiful day (with fellow photographer Beth Wilson) where Robyn and Lee shared their love for each other in front of family and friends on their wedding day.

After a miserable and raining start to the day, we were all relieved to see the sun out shining when the big events were due to start.

Below are some of my fav pictures from the day

 (Best man tying his shoe laces)

(Bride and grooms son)

(Chief bridesmaid threading through the Brides dress)

(Bride looking out the window)

(Bride and groom)

getting some practice before the big day

Next week I'm shooting at a wedding with another photographer and as well as being excited to see the happy couples big day unfold, I'm also extremely nervous.

So to get in control of my nerves i'm being extremely organised getting everything ready: extra camera batteries, ordering a battery grip, getting new rechargeable batteries for my flashgun, putting together all my equipment and emptying all of my SDcards of the thousands of images that are already on there.

In order to get an idea of the type of photography the bride wants from her day the other photographer and I went to visit the bride and she showed us some examples of the types of images she wants us to take, and we think the type of photography she wants is 'reportage photography' which means capturing those special moments and taking photos without people knowing we are even taking them.

I love the types of images like the one below which are so beautiful with a blur of trees in the foreground and the married couple in focus behind.

(I do not own copyright to this image)

I know how to create this picture but wanted to practice focusing with my lens so took a few photos in the garden to see how my camera would perform.

Below are some of them (excuse the messy garden, I only had one tree I could photograph through)

 (Background in focus, tree out of focus)

Obviously my surroundings are nothing like the ones I will have at the wedding, but this is my attempt of the wedding photograph above, which I think works really well

(Background out of focus, tree in focus)

I also tried focusing the other way round which I also love. This is such a nice idea for a wedding photograph, I can just imagine the bride and groom standing in the background out of focus. 

SneakyPeek!

I'm uber uber excited for my brand new website to be finished. It feels like I've been designing and perfecting it for years and years, but the finishing touches are finally being made and hopefully I'll be able to publish it within a couple of weeks.

However, as some parts of it are complete and ready to go I thought I'd give anyone who is remotely interested a sneaky peek of what it looks like.

(Homepage)

So the coolest thing about the homepage is that everytime you visit that page it changes the main image. I hate the cliché of having a slideshow of images on your website homescreen because I think it just looks like you can't chose which image is your best, but I also think having one image on their is risky because it doesn't show your full ability of photography. So I feel like my little idea is, in fact, quite a good one. 

So for now fellow readers, thats all you get! You'll have to stay tuned for when the website is fully finished to see the rest. 

a trip to the zoo

top right picture: credit should be given to Joe for taking this of me

So it was mine and my boyfriends first anniversary a few weeks back, meaning... we'd made it a year without killing each other! No I'm totally joking! The past year has probably been (and I know this will sound corny) the best year of my life so far.

So to celebrate being together for a whole year we decided to act like complete children and took a trip to Woburn Safari Park. We saw tigers, lions, monkeys, elephants, giraffes and so many more animals. The lion (bottom right pic) came so close to my car I totally freaked out and had to drive off. The monkeys were little rascals too and climbed on my roof leaving muddy footprints all over my car meaning I now have to take it through the car wash.

Above are some of the pictures I took from the day, I'm so pleased with myself for getting the one of the birds. After putting it on fb everyones told me to send it to woburn to put on one of their postcards.

thanks for tuning in

I'm fairly new to all of this!

Hello other fellow bloggers! My name is Rhia and I'm fairly new to blogging. 

I'm an aspiring photographer and want to share with all of you some of the photos I take along the way. Whether they be for clients, family, myself or of recent events going on in my life.  

This is quite a weird experience, it kind of feels like I'm talking to a brick wall and no-ones talking back, but to anyone reading... keep posted.