I thought I'd give you a run down of my year.  It's lovely to look back and compare how my business is changing from one year to the next.  The emphasis this year has definitely been on businesses.  I have been shooting conferences and events, headshots for various companies, large and small and it's been really nice to expand into not only the portrait side of business photography but I've really enjoyed photographing small businesses at work as it's lovely to be able to tell their stories and give their clients a feel for what they do.

I'm still very much juggling looking after my energetic 2 year old son James with running my business and it was very exciting at the beginning of last year as he finally took his first steps at nearly 16 months old!

I have regular work with Wright Marshall who are a large firm of Estate Agents and Auctioneers.  I photograph all their staff for their website and have also been asked to photograph a couple of property auctions in 2014.  These are great fun as long as I keep still!

In April I was asked to photograph the BMT workshop and conference at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Manchester Airport.  These conferences are always fun to listen to aswell as capture and the food, especially the desserts, makes the very early starts worthwhile!

A family portrait shoot for Dad's 40th birthday surprise at Queens Park in Crewe - one of my favourite locations.

Laura & Jonathan got married in May at St Lukes Church in Holmes Chapel and afterwards at Sandhole Oak Barn.  Their pre wedding shoot was at Brereton Country Park in March.

I did a shoot for Goody 2wo Shoes, a fantastic childrens shoe shop in Sandbach for images for their facebook page and 'back to school' promotion.  James enjoyed modelling for some of the shots!

While & Matthews 'Party on the Lawn' is a unique one day Festival staged in Swindon.  It is a very special event for me where I get to hear lots of my favourite music and spend time with some of my favourite people.  The weather was fantastic this year which made it even more enjoyable.

James enjoyed the summer, we seemed to have lots of days of nice weather where he could get out and about and play with his friends.  We booked a last minute weekend in Center Parcs which we all absolutely loved.  It won't be the last time we go there!

Some lovely friends of ours, Vanya & Graham moved from their beautiful home in Rushton Spencer where they had lived for 20 years, up to the Lake District.  I wanted to give them something special to remember their life at the house so I did a couple of shoots to capture the details, the view, the people they loved to spend time with and the house concerts that they regularly put on in their lounge!  I made a slideshow and also designed a Folio album for them to preserve their memories.  It was one of my favourite projects this year and they were so grateful too.

Rachel & Bill got married in August at Birmingham Register Office.  They chose two venues for the reception - an amazing indian restaurant in Sutton Coldfield for the afternoon called Panache followed by an evening do at their favourite pub, the Butlers Arms which was a fantastic place with lots of quirky details that any photographer would get excited about!  Their pre wedding shoot was only two weeks before the wedding and we visited the venues so I could get my head around the journey in and out of Birmingham and look at some possible locations for photos after the ceremony.

Eileen and Jess tied the knot at Crewe Register Office at the End of August, an intimate wedding ceremony with just their close family and friends and then a house party with live music and a buffet.  They live near a pretty canal so it was a great place to sneak off for a couple of portraits before the party got into full swing.

Bizzybods is a childrens boutique and toy shop in Nantwich, Cheshire.  It's James' favourite place as he gets to actually play with some of the toys while I'm trying desperately not to buy the whole shop!  Mandy has worked so hard to build up the business over the years fighting off competition from online retailers.  She's a really lovely lady and her and her staff are always so welcoming and helpful with prezzie ideas.  They were having a brand new website with an online shop and a rebranding so she wanted some photographs when it was all painted up and looking fab to use for her facebook page and other publicity - flyers, postcards etc.  I loved doing this shoot, there was so much to photograph, I didn't know where to start.

Earlier on in the year, I joined a business networking group specifically for self employed Mums, called BizMums.  It was founded by Michelle Childs in 2012 when she was on maternity leave with her second child.  She has created and grown a network of amazing women and it's now expanding all over the country.  Everyone is very supportive of each others businesses and we are all trying to juggle work and children!  They have an annual conference and awards and I was asked to photograph this years event in October.  It was amazing.  So many positive, motivated, like minded women all in the same place!

Oopsadaisydoodle is a childrens art class based around South Cheshire and is run by Kate and Karen who are teachers.  Their classes have a theme based on a childrens book and an artist and combine messy play, painting, a craft activity and a story.  Kate asked me to capture the feel of a typical class so that she could use the images for their website, banners, leaflets etc

Tracy and Jon got married in October at Morley Hayes in Derbyshire.  They had just 25 guests joining them for their intimate mid week wedding and then had a party for everyone else the night after!  There was a definite golf theme! Jon is a keen golfer, the pre wedding shoot was at another golf club in Leicester where Jon is a member.  It was a special day for me as well as them as Tracy had looked after me while I was in hospital after a car accident 7 years ago and I was really chuffed that they'd asked me to photograph their wedding.  A few tears where shed all round!

In December I was asked to do some headshots for Pozzoni who are a firm of Architects based in Altrincham, Cheshire.  These will be used for their new website, yet to be launched, and for publishing in trade magazines.

Every December since 2000, St Agnes Fountain (Chris While, Julie Matthews, Chris Leslie and David Hughes) have been touring the country singing their own version of Christmas carols and original songs to start off everyones festive celebrations.  Before James came along, I used to get to quite a few of these gigs up and down the country which really got me into the Christmas spirit and was a great excuse to find new places to go Christmas Shopping.  I only get to one or two of the gigs these days and I take James with me as he loves being with the band and loves the music.  I'm hoping to influence his musical taste for the future! Haha!

And lastly, (and thank you so much if you are still reading this far!)  Here is the image that I used for my Christmas card this year.  It is getting increasingly difficult to get James in front of my camera, he tends to turn away as soon as I put it to my face - can you blame him with a photographer as a Mother?!  This one was with help from my husband Matt who was instructed to distract him or make him smile!  It's much harder to photograph your own child!

It's been a mammoth post but I wanted to get everything in.  I've really enjoyed looking through these images and putting this post together.  I hope if you are new to my work, it gives you a good idea of what I've been shooting and my style of photography.  If you are an existing client, thank you so much for your support this last year and I look forward to working with you again soon

Happy New Year!

Kirstie x