Cute as buttons!

My lovely photographer friends have been keeping a big secret from me .....photographing children is the best fun ever! When I started the business I was sure that I was going to be working mainly with teenagers and adults and I will never stop that...but I have recently been photographing the cutest kids and its been a challenge, shorter attention spans, negotiation skills tested to the limit but most of all its a chance to try and see the world through their eyes, to be excited by the smallest of things.

These 2 cuties are cousins and the best of friends, I promised that they could play with bubbles after we had finished.....note to self.....DO NOT mention bubbles until the very end!!!

If you have children and would like to book a photoshoot just give me a shout and if you are really really good then I will let you play with the bubbles too!

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint you can on it. Danny Kaye

Tomorrow is the 2nd Walkabout of 2011.... an event which has grown and grown over the past 18 months, has evolved into an intense day with a very loyal group of photographers attending, a challenge for me to make things different every time, to stretch the delegates, to make them think about what they are doing...... to learn

Learning.... this is a topic very close to my heart - I have always loved to teach and was very very lucky to have been able to spend the last 5 years teaching before I jumped into photography. I love to see people being able to learn in a 'safe' environment...where they never feel stupid, overwhelmed or that they have to stay at the back of the group because everyone is better than they are - I know exactly what that feels like and I also know what its like when someone nurtures your skill and allows you to work toward your potential. Tomorrow evening I will sit with a glass ( I mean bottle) of wine, laptop on my knee and watch for the first images from the day appear on Facebook - that's when I know the day has been a success - when everyone feels able to share their images 

I will have a stupid smile on my face all day tomorrow, watching for the excitement that builds as the day progresses, sharing of kit, ideas and experiences, but I do have something to ask of you all....... I want you to start thinking about the way in which you learn new skills, do you read the instruction booklet first or are you like me and dive straight in and look at the book later when something does not go right? Are you an activist - wanting to get straight in and have a go or are you more of a reflector, wanting to take everything in first - weigh up all the options and only then will you make a decision? So why I am I asking you to do this? Well, if you truly understand how you learn.... then the acquisition of new skills will be faster and more rewarding, don't be put off by the people who will be like Tigger on drugs tomorrow , that's the way they work best..... and don't be put off by people who sit back and are quiet - they may just be assessing the situation.

So when you are thinking about tomorrow, try and set yourself a goal for the day, and at the end of the day sit for a while and reflect on whether you have achieved the goal....if you have - fantastic, if you haven't...well you will just need to book on the next Walkabout and do it all again!

Have fun tomorrow, because that's what its all about.... oh and cake....there is always cake

Victoria Baths photography workshop

When I was younger....much younger I loved to swim and was pretty good at it, I loved the smell of the pool and that gorgeous feeling of being the first one in the water. When our local pool in Salford was being repaired our school took us to a very different pool....with changing rooms all around the side and a balcony, with stained glass windows and a separate entrance for men and women. This was a beautiful place to swim, the light flooded through the windows in the ceiling so you could lie on your back and watch the clouds floating by.

So, I grew up.....I don't swim as much anymore but I still remember that pool......and then last year as I was looking for a location for photo workshop I was planning I came across the website for the Victoria Baths, it talked about how the pool had closed down, fallen into disrepair and had then won the TV programme 'Restoration' and was now being restored by a committed team of volunteers and the memories came flooding back  - this is where I had swum with school! I jumped at the chance to go back and booked a date to hold a workshop there.

I booked the most amazing models , Sarah, Stacey, Zana, Michelle, George, Rebecca and Florence and the best Make up artists....Sian Faulkner and Corinne and we had a fantastic day.....

The location was even better than I remembered, 3 pools, 2 of which were empty and allowed us to photograph the models in them, the old Superintendants quarters upstairs with peeling wallpaer and original features, stunning green tiles in the main lobby and a maze of underground tunnels and rooms where episodes of 'Life on Mars' and 'Bedlam' had been filmed.

20 photographers came along for the day, some were professional, some were landsacpe photographers who wanted to try something different, but all of them were enthusiatic and adored the location as much as I did....

I want to say a huge thank you to everyone involved, I love organising events like this, I love to see the confidence of the photographers build as the day progresses, and I adore the way everyone helps each other, sharing equipment, skills, and cakes....lets not forget the cakes! There are not many training days you can go to where the delgates bake cakes....thank you to Caroline Freeman!

The models worked so hard, working with the photographers so that they could get the best images possible, a very special thank you must go to Flo, on her first photoshoot, you were amazing!

The biggest thank you has to go to Neil and all the volunteers who are so passionate about this building and its history , thank you for allowing us to take over for the day....we will be back!

Head over to the Victoria Baths website for more information http://www.victoriabaths.org.uk/ 

If you are interested in coming to any of the workshops I arrange....head to my Facebook page and keep an eye on upcoming events  Jo Rutherford Photography