A beautifully sunny day spent with the ever creative Kerry from Wild Moon Jewellery shooting for her up and coming website. I had two lovely local girls from Newquay as models, and Charlotte Albert on makeup, a recipe for magic to happen. One of my favourite things about my job as a photographer is to be able to help small brands bring their dreams to life visually. I spent a lot of time with Kerry working on a mood board so that I could understand exactly what she wanted from our shoot and we could obtain it on a small budget. Her hand made clay earrings are simply divine, an essential to any wardrobe to make you feel absolute fabulous!
Missing my cold water swims
I’m sitting here today at my desk reminiscing on our cold water dips, missing our group chat pinging my phone everyday with a place and time to meet. I started cold water swimming at the beginning of January this year, inspired by Sophie Hellyer’s Rise Fierce movement. It stared with just two of us here in Newquay, on a bitter January day. Verity and I met down on south Fistral, stripped off and dived into the sea. It literally takes your breath away, I’ve never felt anything like it. The next day, we were five of us. Same place, same time. As the week passed, the group grew and we were fifteen. From there, we began a WhatsApp group where anyone could join, and we’d meet at location once a week for a big group dip.
The group consisted of mainly women, well, actually all women. The Ice Queens. A group centred around empowering women, meeting new friends, and a weekly rendezvous to jump into the fiercely cold British sea, whatever the weather. I want to share with you today some photos from an amazing group of women I met through these cold water dips. They are The blue Tits, a group of fellow cold water lovers. Katie is always guaranteed to be at every dip, her zest for life and the cold water swims is infectious. In her free time she hand sews these incredible swimming bonnets, picking apart flowers and designing these statement pieces. One rendezvous I took down my camera to our favourite dip spot in the Harbour and did a quick impromptu shoot before they swam, in celebration of these incredible women; their graciousness, their passion, their smiles and their all round fabulousness.
Winter in Cornwall - icicles on the beach
It's so rare for us to have temperatures that drop below freezing here in Cornwall, but Storm Emma, also known as The Beast From the East, swept across our coastline bringing inches of snow and days of sub zero conditions.
Icicles - a natural beauty
Amongst the chaos, there were some moments of beauty. We headed to Watergate Bay where we were blown away by the huge icicles coming down the rocks. I'd never seen anything like it on any of my travels across the world, let alone on my own doorstep.
It was so incredibly beautiful, and almost unreal. There were hundreds and thousands of icicles formed by the natural water coming off the top of the cliff down towards the sea.
Playing in the snow
The snow storm made it hard to travel further afield,so we stayed in Newquay. Later on in the day we played on the golf course and went tobogganing down the beach sand dunes - something super surreal.
The whole town came out to play, with kids, mums and dads all joining forces to race down the roads on their chosen transports. Bryony and I used our Dick Pearce Bellyboards to steam down the hills, whilst my other friend Verity chose a baking tray from my oven and plastic bag. Great choice Verity - there was some serious speed happening on that tray!
Beautiful Cornwall, whatever the weather
The sites around Cornwall were divine and I've loved seeing everybody's photos from around the coast. My favourite photo of all has to be this one below, taken by the Kynance Cove Cafe. This is the view of the freshly fallen snow from their beautifully located cafe.
I spend a lot of my summer days here on the south coast of Cornwall - it's truly breathtaking, both in snow and sunshine.
Beautiful view, photo taken by Kynance Cove Cafe
Fashion shoot with Nicole for Blink
I'm so happy to share this shoot with you all featuring Nicole for Blink Falmouth. When we woke up there was snow dusting the ground and frost on our windows, a new experience for us here in Newquay because we never get snow.
I set off to Falmouth to meet the lovely Nicole for our fashion/lifestyle shoot with Blink. The snow slowly turned to rain as we left the store and snuck down alleys and hid under trees as we began to shoot.
Dancing in the rain
Sharing stories and getting to know my clients
We spent the first few hours sharing stories of our latest travels, boy troubles, and laughing about mischief we'd got up to. For me this is really important when I shoot. I like to get to know the models; capturing natural moments, moments of elation, joy, and feelings. Nicole danced her way down alleys as we laughed about silly things, unphased by the rain. She opened up her heart to me over coffee, and we exchanged experiences and advice.
Light in Cornwall - a photographer’s dream
Driving around Falmouth was nice for me. I've never really spent much time here and it really is beautiful. There's tropical plants, brightly coloured walls, and the beaches are incredible - so still and calm. It's different from the North coast and there's something about the light here too.
I've always said the light in Cornwall is amazing. It's so white, bright and clean and something that’s so hard to replicate - it's almost silver, ethereal. It's honestly a photographer’s dream!
Dolphin watching at Gylly Beach
We explored the streets and the parks, before ending up at Gylly Beach. There's a great cafe down there, Gylly Beach Cafe so we ordered a pot of tea and open fish finger sandwiches to warm us up. For the second half of our shoot, we picked one of our favourite skirts and played on the shoreline in the sand. Dolphins swam across the bay, and Nicole was so excited as she hadn't seen them before. It's truly magical there!
Gylly Beach, Falmouth
Dolphins at Gylly Beach