Christmas Shortbread

I always try to make something at Christmas for friends and family. A couple of years ago I knitted everyone scarves, last year I baked biscuits and cakes and this year I made shortbread.

I didn't want to go with the typical 'biscuit box' idea so I decided to package them slightly differently...

Busy, busy, busy...

I haven't been posting as often as I would like recently for a number of reasons. I have been working full time which has meant that I am limited to evenings and weekends for camera time and of course, there has been Christmas.

Heading into the New Year, I have a lot of plans so my blogging should start to increase a little more soon and there will be some rather big changes to come too!

Owen's first photoshoot!

On Saturday, I finally met my nephew, Owen. At only 5 days old, he had his first photoshoot!

He is adorable and so tiny! No doubt, more photos will come soon!

If you would like to see more images from this shoot, please see my Flickr page.

I'm an Auntie!!

After months of waiting, my little sister finally gave birth to a beautiful little boy at 9.09pm last night.

His name is Owen George and he was 8lb 3.5

As they live just short of 200 miles away and I can't get any time off work, I haven't yet met him and have to wait until the weekend - this week is going so slowly!

The Bump!

I have been meaning to edit these images for a while now, but I just haven't had time!

This is the bump...My sister's bump...

She's due early November so baby photos will follow soon after no doubt!

Alex and Paul (her hubby), are keeping us all in suspense as they have decided that they don't want to know the sex of the baby so we all have to wait until November now!! I keep buying her baby clothes... one in pink and one in blue! Haha!

Also, the word 'bump' is driving me insane...

Every time I hear it, I get the lyrics to that old cartoon 'Bump The Elephant' stuck in my head!

"Bump the elephant isn't quite as elegant,

because his feet, are not so neat...."

...and I can't remember the rest, I just end up humming.

AAAAAARGH!

Update & Gwynneth's 80th Birthday Celebrations

Ok, so I haven't been updating my blog much since I finished Uni - thats not because I haven't been up to anything, but because I've been too busy!

I spent a lot of time over the summer camping - mainly at Robinhood's bay (just south of Whitby). We have found a lovely camp site with stunning scenes (see earlier posts) and we just kept going back. Needless to say, while camping, I haven't been able to use my computer and update my blog due to the lack of plug sockets and internet connection!

My photographic work was put on the back burner while I was finishing uni - I didn't want to risk taking wedding bookings and end up with too much on my plate, hence the lack of new wedding images. I am taking bookings again now so the images will start to flow again soon.

It was my grandma's 80th birthday in July so we had a very large family lunch and I met loads of relatives that I never knew I had!

Anyway, there will be more to come soon. As you can see from the photos above, the pregnant young woman on the left above is my sister, Alex. She is expecting early November so there will be bump and baby photos soon!

Employed!

Now that uni is over, I have managed to get myself a full time job. I am now a Helpdesk operator, and conveniently, the office is about 3 minutes up the road from my house!

I am not just doing Helpdesk support... I will have design work to do aswell...

Less time for playing with my camera now... Boooooo! :(

Whitby

As the weather has been so nice recently, we thought that we ought to make the most of it and as I have finally finished uni, we thought we would go away and celebrate.

We spent the weekend camping at Robinhood's bay, with stunning views from our tent! (Excuse the quality of the image below - I took it on my iphone and not my camera...)

I had a lovely time, took a few photographs, relaxed on the beach, went walking, got a lovely tan and we also managed to find rather a lot of the local geocaches!

No more Uni...

I would just like to say...

I HAVE A DEGREE!!!!!

(An Honors degree too...)

Yey!!

Kirsty & the Bluebells

This has to be my favourite shoot so far this year and Kirsty was very confident and full of ideas.

We had discussed the bluebell theme prior to the shoot and bounced ideas off each other so we knew what we were trying to achieve.

I had borrowed a mirror from a friend to use for a shoot at some point and thought I would bring it as a prop - Kirsty loved the idea and the images worked really well!

The bluebells had come out much better than I had expected and when we both arrived at the location, we were shocked as to how intense the flowers were! The weather kindly played ball for the day and we had a very productive shoot.

Kirsty and I are planning another shoot in the near future...

Ramona

Another image from my shoot with Ramona - this one is probably my favourite.

Jessica Bailey (MUA) kindly came to do the make up and hair for the shoot. The weather was very unsettled though so we decided to shoot where there would be some shelter rather than have to rearrange the shoot.

Unfortunately, it did rain and the dampness in the air made the curls fall out of Ramona's hair quite quickly. We got some nice shots though and everyone was happy with the results.

Preview: Kirsty

I said there would be a bluebell themed shoot - more to come soon!!

NEW WEBSITE!

I have finally given my website a complete over-haul and redesign. It is a bit simpler, but hopefully a little more elegant and professional in appearance!

It was niggling at me that (when viewed on a mac) one of the links buttons dropped down to the line below which made the whole bar sit out of place. Finally, I think that is solved...

I am sure that there will be a few tweeks and adjustments needed to the site. It is quite frustrating that I can only view the site on a mac at present so I am having to reply on others with access to a PC to check the layouts and display for me!

The galleries need to be updated which will happen shortly but I am 3 weeks from finishing my degree so please bear with me!

Preview: Ramona

More from this shoot coming soon...

If you go down to the woods today...

I have been visiting the woods on a very regular basis recently. I have been waiting for something...

Bluebells!!

At last they are here! Yes, rather not surprisingly, there will be a bluebell shoot coming soon!

Leanne: Fire Dancer

I had a bit of an unusual but very fun shoot the other day. I had been taking to a make up artist (Jessica Bailey) about shooting some portfolio updates for her. Jessica had, in turn, been talking to Leanne, a dancer from Huddersfield.

Leanne isn't any old dancer, it turned out that she did fire and stilt dancing!

Having recently been scouting for new locations, I suggested a derelict site on the edge of Leeds with plenty of graffiti and different structures. Having sent a few images, both Jessica & Leanne loved the look of the site so we set a shoot date. Jessica had expressed an interest for a street dance themed shoot and liaised with Leanne for wardrobe and make up ideas.

I have been wanting to experiment with off camera flash on location for some time now and this shoot gave me the perfect opportunity to do so. I had a radio trigger but also a second flash so I had the options of different set ups. I do need more practice with the strobes, but I think that they worked really well with the theme and style of the shoot.

Both Jessica and Leanne are really pleased with the images produced and I will post more feedback from them soon.

The full gallery can be seen on my website; Leanne's Gallery

Client Feedback

Following the beauty shoots with Kimberley Brook (makeup artist) earlier in April, the full galleries are now available and a couple of new testimonials.

Laura's Gallery

Helen's Gallery

"Elliye is a fantastic photographer, whom I would highly recommend to anyone looking to achieve professional photographs. As a makeup artist, Elliye understood exactly what I wanted to attain from the shoot and the results were of very high quality.

Professional and a pleasure to work with! Thank you Elliye!"

Kimberley Brook (Make Up Artist)

"Elliye was a pleasure to work with, the photographs are amazing and I hope to work with her again in the future.

Thank you!"

Laura Booty (Model)

Stacey in the woods

Here are a few images from my shoot with Stacey a couple of weeks ago. Stacey is new to modeling but she was enthusiastic and a very lovely, chatty person.

She was a pleasure to work with.

More images from the shot can be seen on my website in the gallery 'Stacey'.

New Packaging Presentation

I have finally decided that I am no longer going to use the same packaging and presentation for test shoots as I do for paid shoots. This is for a number of reasons but mainly because it is not cost effective especially when you consider all of the elements involved including; ink, dvd cases, labels, postal packaging and pricing etc etc.

I am still very conscious of the presentation of my work, so I have replaced the DVD boxes with plastic sleeves which only require a small insert rather than a full A4 printed cover. This also means that I no longer need to use a jiffy bag for postal packaging and I can send discs out as a standard first class packages. This means that discs still retain a personal touch - I don't want to loose this, as most models that I have worded with always comment on my presentation!

The original boxed presentation and packaging will remain on all paid shoots for the time being.

I would be interested to hear your comments on the changes in packaging. It will change again at some point - I am currently investigating recycled packaging that is more environmentally friendly.

Beauty Shoot Part 2: Kim & Helen

Helen was the second model of the day and we had planned 3 different looks for her.

Helen holds the current title of 'Miss Black Britain' as well as 2009's 'Miss York'.

The first look was the most complicated - a leopard print pattern across Helen's eyes.

The second look was a 'mac barbie' styled look, using bright pinks and greens.

Once again, the final look involved quite a lot of glitter so it was saved for last and the glitter ended up everywhere!

Helen was up for a bit of crazyness too...

So the shoot went well and everyone had a good laugh.

Both Kim and Helen love the images :)

Beauty Shoot Part 1: Kim & Laura

I have been chatting to Kim, a local makeup artist for some time now, discussing ideas for beauty shoots and fresh portfolio shots.

Kim is in her final year studying Make Up Artistry in Bradford. Kim specialises in Airbrushing and often provides make up for weddings as well as fashion models.

We eventually agreed a shoot date and found 2 local models who were willing to be painted up; Laura and Helen.

Laura was up first and had 2 different looks. This was the first, inspired by feathers (hence the feather lashes).

The second was a blue glitter look. This had to be done last as the glitter can get quite messy.

We then decided to add another punch of blue to Laura's lips and I used a completely different editing style for variation.

I was quite concerned that both Kim and Laura may not be too keen on this style, but to my surprise they both really liked it!

The shoot went really well, everyone got along amazingly and I hope to work with both Laura and Kim again soon :)

I will post Helen's images soon as I am still working on them :)