Random Thursday Looby

Oh my is it really the 29th of February tommorrow? Don't forget if you propose the first person who gets engaged tommorrow and contacts me will get themselves a wonderful gift from me, i.e an engagement session, why not show the world your love?!

Looby hasn't been doing so well with her teeth lately, we have an appointment for the hospital because of a problem with her teeth and them decaying from the inside out, it's been causing her pain and today she couldn't face nursery, she did say though that she's still trying to be happy and hopeful, can't ask for much more than that really can you?!

So anyway we went to the local garden centre for lunch and I did manage to get a couple of shots of her.


With her daddy, quite possibly her favourite person in the whole world!


That cheesy grin!!

On the swings!

Aweeee she's edible isn't she?!


This one I took for a photo scavenger hunt on UKS can you see me?

OOh I must mention that my diary is filling fast with portrait sessions, specifically over Easter, I only have one session left on the weekend of the 12/13th of April unless I can squeeze in more sessions so if you're wanting to book your family photoshoots please click through to my website or give me a call, I'm have bookings from now through to the middle of June to be quick even if you want to book weeks or months in advance!

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Just Keep Positive

It's what I tell my children, just lately I've been saying it a lot as various things in life have not gone our way. There have been definite moments of despair like no heating or hot water for an entire week with the coldest overnight temperatures of the year. Or the fact that just got fixed and then the wind smashed all the glass in our front door! Well thats only the tip of the iceberg from last week, imagine all of January and most of February has mostly been like that but worse and you'll understand how one could feel despair at times. On the whole though I tell myself "Just keep positive" I say it to the children and then one day last week I said to Looby "do you know what being positive is?" She said to me in her very cute 4 year old voice "erm getting in and out the bath" LOL so I explained that being positive was aboout being happy and hopeful and it really sunk in, I told her to spread it around the world and you know what, she has, her daddy was cranky the other night and she told him "Daddy, just be happy and hopeful" she went to nursery yesterday and told everyone "Just be happy and hopeful" including one of the dinner ladies who replied "Ok just eat your dinner"!! She's told all her little friends and she even said to me this morning as she was holding Studley the kitten "Look mummy Studley is being happy and hopeful" and I swear since this really took off and we all beleived together things are looking 100% better, it's hard to be grumpy when you hear her little voice in your head. I've always believed that being positive is the way to take on life, I beleive if you open yourself up to the cosmos and truly beleive then good things can and will happen.

So today if you're feeling blue or you're just about to shout just remember a little 4 year olds words and just be happy and hopeful.

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Heather and Joels Pre-wedding photoshoot in Newcastle upon Tyne

I met up with Heather and Joel this afternoon in the west end of Newcastle to do their pre-wedding photoshoot. Heather and Joel are marrying at St Nicholas Cathedral at the end of April and I'm really looking forward to their wedding.

Heather and Joel are one of the nicest couples you could hope to meet, they're funny and lovely and so interesting that you could while away the hours in their company.

We started in a back alley which is about as urban as you can get :-





Joel told me that the camera has not been kind to him since his infancy, I was determined to show him that everyone is beautiful if they're captured in the right way.



Love is beautiful and people in love are about as beautiful as you can get, it's as simple as that really!


This is my nice clean portrait of them, I think they make a charming couple don't you?


Joel is originally from Israel and Heather is from London/Melbourne/Far East and the rest of the world by the sounds of it. This unique couple certainly have travelled.



You just can't mess with romance!


So many favourites today!


The golden hour was just in progress as I shot this one.


This one is also scrummy!

Heather and Joel, I can't wait to shoot your wedding in April, you really are a very special and unique couple :)

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Kerry and Warren are Married - St Cuthberts Church Blaydon and Newcastle Quayside

Today was one of those days where you know the wedding is going to be lovely, it was a small and intimate affair and a real friendly atmosphere was felt by all. Kerry and Warren are a happy couple who spend lots of their time laughing and loving each other!

I only met the happy couple when they booked me 3 weeks ago, yes guys that is what we call a last minute booking!

So on with the photos :-

Take 1 Groom



A couple of gorgeous rings



A beautiful bride



and the most adorable page boy and flower girl,



and I think that means we have ourselves a wedding!

No photos were allowed during the service today so we'll skip on with our story down on the Quayside in Newcastle, actually today we were on the Gateshead side of the Millenium Bridge, just next to the Baltic.



Doesn't she look amazing?


So happy together.


A dreamy veil shot which I adore, in fact I loved the veil shots soooo much here's another one.



This one has the Baltic centre for Contemporary art in the background.






I can tell you these two needed no prompting to get romantic with each other.
So after that it was just a skip and a hop to a small reception.


You really couldn't get a happier little family.


And look at her eyes, isn't she a poppet?


A moment with mum.


Real emotion, even I had a lump in my throat.

Well Kerry and Warren, have a wonderful time on your honeymoon in Egypt, I'll see you for your viewing when you return!

Thank you so much for sharing your special day with me, it really was an unforgettable afternoon.

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Amazing Wedding Photography Offer to all Brides in Newcastle upon Tyne and the North East of England

I just wanted to post the most amazing offer as I have a few dates this year which are still available and I can't bear to sit in the house at weekends! SO.....

Ok the offer is that you can have up to 6 hours wedding photography plus all the hi resolution files from the day (edited and processed so that you can print them straight out) on CD's for only £500 (thats half my regular rate) and if you want an album you can even have a 20 sided soft cover Asuka book for only £200 so thats pretty much full wedding coverage with an album for £700!!

If you're getting married in Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham,Northumberland there will be no extra hidden charges for travel, if you live further afield do still call because we'll work something out.

The only requirement is that you haven't already booked me!

1. Anytime up until May 25th (excluding April 26th)
2. After May 25th I'm already booked for the following dates so if you don't see your date listed then do give me a call and book, but be quick because at this rate I would think all availability will go over the next couple of weeks.

Ok so I'm currently booked for 26th May, 30th May, 7th June, 27th of June, 5th July, 12th July, 19th July, 26th July, 2nd August, 8th August, 16th August, 21st August, 23rd August.

Prices revert to normal again on the 1st of September where this offer is concerned.

Ok so don't see your date listed and still need an experienced wedding photographer, either click through to my website and click on Contact us or give me a call on 0191 2289515

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I love Facebook

Yes it's true, since I joined Facebook just before Christmas I've really come to love it, now I could write a really long descriptive blog about but rather than bore you to death I'll give you a list of the top ten reasons I love the biggest social networking site on the internet!

1. I've met lots of new and interesting people through facebook, most of them I actually have something in common with!
2. I've caught up with friends from many years ago.
3. I keep in regular contact with other photographer friends
4. Loads of my lovely clients are on Facebook and it's a great way of keeping them up to date with whats going on.
5. I love Who has the biggest Brain, one of my favourite brain games
6. Text Twist, I've just discovered, a great way to chill out with a simple word game
7. I love super-poking, I especially love throwing sheep at people!
8. I've just discovered a photography competition, great to keep me shooting on quieter days
9. It's so easy to share photos and then tag the people in them so they can share them with all their Facebook Friends
10. Instant Updates, I love that I can find out what friends are up to in real time.

So are you on Facebook, if you are why not add me as a friend! If you're not on Facebook yet, then why not?!

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Just a couple of Random Photographs...

I decided that yesterday I would restrict myself to only my 50mm f1.8 lens should I feel the need to pick up my camera.

Well I couldn't get through the whole day without one or two shots, the first was part of a Photo Scavanger Hunt set by a fellow photographer of large organisation that I belong to, I didn't manage 3 or round but I did get Blue :-

Then there was this one of Abigail, always eager to smile for the camera,

Then last night I managed to catch Iain in the livingroom (note our livingroom at night has the worst light ever)

Lastly, just standing by the lamp I managed to get an up to date photo of little Pumpkin who is now a boy again, we've got his sex wrong so many times it's hilarious!!


Happy Tuesday everyone :)

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February 29th Marraige Proposals in North East England

Ladies, are you planning on giving your guy the surprise of his life on this February 29th? I would love to follow your story if you are and feature you on my blog, maybe even photograph the whole thing for you.

If you are going to do the ultimate ladies proposal do get in touch and email mandycharltondesigns@gmail.com

Oh and tradition states that if he says no he must buy you a dress, just make sure if thats the case that it's something along the lines of Gucci, Armani or Donna Karan at the very least.

Edited to say ooh look what I found on Snopes!

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A walk in the Ouseburn Valley

This afternoon The girls and I decided to go for a walk in the nearby Ouseburn Valley so off we went.

The ouseburn valley is a mix of industrial, urban and heritage all in one so you get this :-

This

The back of the seven stories childrens centre for books


The Ouseburn Canal, beautfiful but very industrial at the same time.


This next one shows all that remains of a bottle factory.

We stopped further on for some portraits.

But Looby wasn't happy.

Thankfully Abigail was a very happy model.

Luckily when were were coming back through the valley Looby cheered up and had some photos taken.


Looby being a dafy doughnut

I love that they love each other.

Well most of the time anyway!! A great way to spend an hour on a Sunday afternoon and I really think we're so lucky to have it only 5 minutes walk away.

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Brrrrrrrr

It's freezing this morning. Our central heating went off sometime yesterday and didn't come back on until Paul did some kind of magic to get it to work this morning. It's a funny thing though because I tried 5 minutes earlier and I couldn't get the darned thing to work at all!

It's -3c at the moment outside and feels somewhere near that indoors too! I'm noticing though that there's sunshine and blue skies and I'm wondering if the children will want to go out exploring once it gets warmer, there is after all a 6c high expected today!!

I love nothing more than a big walk around some of the fantastic scenery we live near, I did try to find some photos which I took down near the Ouseburn Valley but I must have mislaid them in my flickr account.

I did find though some old photos from last year that I wanted to revisit.

This one is just about to be published and very proud I am about that!
This one is Bamburgh Castle up in Northumberland, I would like to shoot a wedding there.

Ooh I found one, this one is from the Ouseburn Valley.


It's great to revisit past memories.

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Happy Valentines Day

Aah yes, it's the day of love, well my husband isnt exactly the most romantic guy in the whole world and so only goes off to buy something after Ive kicked his butt every year. This year of course has not been any different, I made him a killer card, a batch of peanut butter fudge and bought him a new petrol lawnmower for his business, he bought me.... well nothing until around an hour ago when he went off (after aforementioned butt kicking reminders of how fabulous I am) and bought me a gorgeous red vase ( it's usual I get a vase on valentines day) and a bunch of tulips ( I prefer them to roses) he's sort of out of the dog house for now! Oh and hes just asked if I'll take his photo in some sports kit so he can apply for Gladiators which is making a return to british TV, I hope he makes it through the application stage!!

Happy Valentines, go on get off the internet right now and go and give your lovely other half the biggest cuddle they've ever had :)

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Middle of the week...

Also its the middle of the month really isn't it?! Outside the weather is positively gorgeous, I really hope that this sunshine heralds the beginning of a gorgeous year.
Another photograph of Abigail from our trip to Rothbury at the weekend.

Having a midweek weekend today with Paul, we're staying home and watching the rest of series two of Life on Mars which is genius TV we never got around to watching when it was actually on.

Bought myself a box of scrapping stash today, found a lovely new online store I hadn't encountered before called Bellaboo, lots of gorgeous goodies, I figured it would be my little Valentine treat and can't wait for it to arrive.

Just busy looking through my summer schedule and I noticed that I still have a couple of Saturdays in June free and also one lone saturday in August (30th) so if you're still making wedding plans and you need a wedding photographer for those dates then do enquire via my website Mandy Charlton Designs.

I also noticed that March heralds a very early Mothers day and Easter too, loads of opportunities if you're wanting a family portrait or soime gorgeous photographs of the children, or maybe you want an engagement session so you can share with the world your love. The best bit of course is that I dont even have to be shoting your wedding to do an E-session for you, once again you can check out more details on my website.

Right back to the last two episodes of Life on Mars...

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