Very quick blog. Its too warm out to sit in here.
The kids are finally getting to enjoy a bit of summer weather and Niamh is getting to wear some of the summer dresses that have been hanging in the wardrobe since spring. Although she isn’t happy about me putting dresses on her and keeps trying to pull them off! She definitely wasn’t having any pigtails though and I gave up the fight in the end.
We’re making the most of it outside because the weather will probably only last this week.
Last weekend I met the lovely Alex and Kristine for a photoshoot on the shores of Lough Neagh. At first I thought we were going to be rained out, but it turned out to be a really gorgeous, hazy summer’s evening. They both live in Scotland and be will getting married over here next June. The wedding is in a stunning location and I can’t wait to take pictures there. A&K are both very tall so I will definitely need steps on their wedding day!
When I had suggested using Lough Neagh as the location, I didn’t realise that Alex and Kristine actually got engaged at Lough Lomond so it turned out to be a perfectly fitting, romantic spot for them.
Love it when little things like that happen unplanned :)
Here are some pages from our just published summer issue of the magazine. Of course, we haven’t really had a summer yet so this shoot went ahead on a very stormy, wet day in April.
The location was Brownlow House in Lurgan which has just recently started taking bookings for weddings. Although the beautiful Lurgan Park is close by, we had to take most of the pictures indoors because of the weather. The model was very professional though and did an amazing job in those dresses even though she was chilled to bone.
We were all very thankful for the hot soup that was served out at half-time!
Thanks also to Emma and Tracey for their organisational skills, assistance and moral support!
The last few weeks have been very busy for the team at GMINI. The mag has been given a complete overhaul. It is jammed full of juicy info for local brides (thanks to our wonderful editorial team) and we in the design department are hoping you all enjoy the new look!
Cover girl: Lucy Evangelista.
Drama & Detail photoshoot. Model: Jordan @ Style Academy, Belfast
I loved, loved, loved, Olivia Muldoon’s amazing work on the hair (especially the vintage style with pearls. It almost makes me want to get married again just to have it.)
We also have the exciting launch of Gorgeous Magazine which is featured inside GMINI.
Model: Carrie-Anne @ Alison Campbell Models.
Make up: Clare McKinney,
Hair: Catriona ward @ shane Bennett.
Oh how the time flies.
My Spanish niece is fourteen tomorrow. It doesn’t seem that long ago since this picture was taken of her when she was just one. She famously had the loudest cry in the family. We called it the ‘spanish wail’. I think Niamh may have claimed that title now though!
Maybe it is because I only see her a few times a year but I can’t believe how fast she has grown and how lovely she has become.
Miss you loads and I hope your enjoy day.
Sometimes I get to feeling that life is tough, that I’m working too hard, feeling exhausted and unappreciated.
I might be miserable because I don’t have the money for that holiday in the South of France we had planned, or new Nikes for the kids. Lets face it, the credit crunch is making us all feel a little bit more sorry for ourselves these days.
When I get those thoughts, I will often remember this very well known image of Florence Thompson who was 32 years old and had seven kids. She lived in 1936, the time of the Great Depression and life really was a struggle. I first saw this iconic image when I was just sixteen, studying American History for my exams. It made a lasting impression on me.
The photograph was taken by Dorethea Lange and this is her report on Florence.
“I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean- to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it.” (From: Popular Photography, Feb. 1960).
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USF34-9058-C]
We have so much to be thankful for.
