Big, Big, News, I have a Studio!

I can hardly believe it myself but it's true, from Friday I'll be relocating Mandy Charlton Photography to a gorgeous 1008ft studio, I say 1008ft but thats just the main part of the studio, it's absolutely flippin enormous!!  Because it's fully equipped all I need to do is move myself in so if you fancy a studio shoot with me then you can book one with immediate effect.

I'm so excited about the future, I'm sharing the studio with my good friend and fellow photographer Tommy Jackson, we'll be doing some pretty funkaliscious stuff together over the next few months as well as maintaining our own individual brands.

For me, I guess I'm most well known for my environmental portraits and you know what thats not going to change, I'll still be out and about creating art like these from Sunday up in Hepple, Northumberland.

and should that white snowy stuff fall you can bet I'll be out doing snowy shoots just like last year, I have to say though that in the most horrible of winters it will be lovely to spend time inside a warm cosy studio and it means lots of new exciting possibilities for the quirky style of my photography which I know that you all know and love, for sure I am not about to become Venture Photography, you can count on that.

One of the most exciting aspects of the studio is that we want to share it with the hardworking photographers (and film and video guys) of the north who from time to time need a little studio space so we'll be subletting the Studio for a very reasonable £20 per hour, we may even have special offers from time to time.  We have a full white seamless set up and also black, grey and many other wonderful colours for the other set up.

One of my plans for the future is to have photographers networking nights, a place for all the NE photographers to gather together, network, maybe drink a little wine and beer and maybe make some new valuable connections in the process.

We have props and furniture aplenty and you'll always be welcomed by a friendly face and a mug of coffee, well as soon as we find the kettle ;)

To book use of the studio all you'll have to do is visit http://www.the-photography-studio.co.uk/studio-hire to check availability and book your slot in.  On that page you can also do a 360 tour of the studio, don't worry about the football portraits on the wall, they will not be there for very long ;)

Tommy and I are super excited about the future, sharing a studio has given us the ability to offer something we probably couldn't if we were on our own, I've always believed in studio sharing, it's always great to have someone to bounce ideas off and lessens that tuesday morning, lonely working alone feelings.

We also plan to rent some space to a makeup artist/hair stylist so if you are a local makeup artist/hair stylist looking to move out of home and looking for an unbeatable deal then please do get in touch with either me or Tommy, you can of course get to me by clicking on the contact tab of MandyCharlton.com

So to celebrate my move into the studio I would like to give one family or kids shoot away, all you have to do is leave a comment and I'll get someone to draw the name from the hat on Friday, you'll be saving yourself a whole £40 and of course all you will pay for is any prints you want afterwards.

I  am sorry for the seemingly epic blogpost but it is business changing news for me and quite epic, don't worry I just have 1 final thing to say and that is....look out for your invite to our studio opening party and bring a bottle!!

Autumn is Awesome

I am having the time of my life this Autumn, so many gorgeous outdoor shoots, lets hope it continues for another few weeks before Mr Snow comes along.

So here's just a few shots of the things I've gotten up to over the last week or so.

On Saturday morning I had a gorgeous early autumnal shoot in Jesmond Dene

Then I zipped over to Chester-le-Street to catch up with gorgeous Maisy who I last photographed when she was only a few weeks old.

Finally I went over to Durham to shoot some couples portraits for Katie and Chris

Last weekend was pretty epic as I shot Lucy and James Wedding at the Great North Museum, there'll be a full blog post on this when it's all edited, processed and the happy couple are back from honeymoon.

and the minute I left the wedding I sprinted up to St Andrews to shoot Jenny and Dan's couples portraits, more from this shoot soon as it's going to be featured on northern bridal super blog Brides Up North

There's so much going on at the minute that it's a really exciting time for Mandy Charlton Photography and by the end of the week I hope to have the biggest news yet, major, huge, enormous changes afoot.

Have a fabulous week lovely readers

Autumn is here!

I adore Autumn, October is one of my favourite months of the year, I love the colours, the temperature, the light, it's the perfect weather for photography.

I shot my first real autumal session on Saturday, now I say it was my first really autumnal session, the fact that it was nearly 30c is beside the point, I did spend an awful lot of time lying on top of acorns and they're a bit bumpy at the best of times and not that comfortable to lie on let me tell you!!

That unseasonal end to September was lovely actually, Looby and I were down in Heaton Park on Friday night after school, she was dressed as a witch of course and there was a DJ spinning his decks, the whole place and everyone there was so chilled out, I loved every minute and I did take my camera of course...

Yes it really was a friday afternoon on the last day of September and people everywhere were chilling, having BBQ's and picnics, quite odd really but we had a lovely couple of hours.

Miss Looby dressed as a witch, she said she had to because it's nearly Halloween, who am I to argue with my daughter?

This was Loobys idea, she thought it would be a creative portrait, I think she's got a point!!

so this start to October is going well, work is seemingly flooding in and it's looking rather like I might shoot more weddings next year, I'm thinking 20 sounds like a good number but we'll see how it goes, if you are planning your 2012 wedding (or even a late 2011 one) please get in touch, prices start at £595, more details on my website

Portraits of course are also incredibly busy and it's a brilliant time to get outdoors with the kids or family and you can get my special price of only £20 instead of £40, I'm already booked up right until the end of October at weekends so click on my website and contact me!!

This weekend is going to be a big one, an amazing wedding at a location which is quite special to me and a shoot which will see me travel for hundreds of miles to a stunning location, lets all cross fingers and toes for great weather.

Finally today let me leave you with another  couple of family photos, a trip to the farm on Loobys birthday and it looks like there may be a new love interest in Meandering Pauls life

Loobys official 8th birthday portrait, she's really growing up quickly now into a beautiful young lady

As for her sister Abigail may be nine but you wouldn't want to mess with this feisty lady

Meandering Paul and his new love interest, should I be worried?  He does look quite interested in her don't you think?!

Until next time, keep smiling, even if it's only so other people will wonder what you've been getting up to!