Early Morning Sights

There was a horse attempting to eat my hair as I took this photo.

All images above are taken by me, and all (except for the landscape shot with the horse) are un-edited.

This image of the sunrise and mist was taken by my mum (who gets up very early).

I've never been an early riser, but I've recently been getting into the pattern of waking up every morning at six-thirty (with the aid of an alarm). The rewarding views of mist floating above the hills and the beads of dew catching the morning rays makes dragging myself out of bed on the cold winter mornings one hundred percent worth it.  I'll make myself a cup of tea and marvel at the beautiful view that can be seen just from our kitchen window. Then I'll set off down the stairs in boots and a wool coat while firmly clutching my much-loved red Nikon in search of beautiful things to take pictures of.

It's quite amazing how different things look so early in the morning, our raspberry bushes look like they're growing sparkling rubies and the usually avoided cobbler's pegs (twelfth image) look like something out of a fairytale. The sunlight and dew drops make spider's webs visible, flowers look good enough to eat and barbed wire fences beautiful to photograph, everything is transformed.


A combination of mist, dew, sunlight, webs, flowers, succulent berries, mushrooms and birdsong make me think of children's books that were read to me when I was younger, full of whimsy and fairy feasts, enchanted forests and dancing girls with butterfly wings. These beautiful mornings trigger similar feelings to when I was read fairytales and stories by my favourite children's authors (such as May Gibbs, Enid Blyton, Lewis Caroll, C.S. Lewis and Mem Fox). It was very easy to imagine Ragged Blossom from May Gibbs' series of The Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie making her self a skirt from the wattle flowers. Or the leaves and petals from the trees arranging themselves into humanoid forms as they do in Narnia. I could imagine a magic hat whooshing past and finding itself to be a perfect fit on a nearby toad, or Alice running after a white rabbit in a waistcoat.

Once I felt my fingers were about to freeze off, I walked back up the paddock, climbed through a fence and stomped back up the steps knowing I had a wool blanket and Tess of the d'Urbervilles waiting for me. I truly can't think of a better start to the day.

Photo shoots of Ireland.

Once again, it's been too long since I've posted. But I have some excuses up my sleeve: Internet problems, the winter light (which isn't so great for photos), lack of sleep, a good book (always a really good excuse), stressful family matters, the royal baby (only kidding), people visiting, etcetera. 

So this post was sort of hurried just to squeeze in a post for July, as well as to add some of the recent photos I've taken of my sister, Ireland. 

In the shoot above she's wearing a vintage army coat (I don't know where she got it from), my seventies boots, a pair of blue stockings I found at a charity shop (still in their original, unopened package), and a sixties corduroy mini dress "borrowed" from one of the many huge piles of vintage and charity shopped clothes my mum has collected over the years. Most of the photos are edited as the light wasn't so great that afternoon.

Ireland's wearing a vintage underskirt, a silk scarf worn as a sash, a vintage cotton camisole, vintage faux pearls, and vintage gloves all found at various charity shops. On her hip is a bit of chicken wire fencing with flowers zip-tied onto it. I'm really happy with the black and white portraits I took of her in this shoot, aren't her eyes gorgeous? And her smile just incredible? 

Some photos taken much less recently, in March. Ireland's wearing a fifties nightgown from a charity shop.

Update, Photos, Flickr & Bloglovin

All photos taken by me.

On the 1st of July, Google reader is shutting down, so if you would like to keep up to date with my posts, you can follow me on Bloglovin. 

I also now have a Flickr account, where I'll be posting some of the photos seen on my blog, extra photos from shoots, some of my nature photography, etc. You can find my account here. 

While I'm introducing my Flickr account, it felt apt to add some of the images that you will see in my photostream (I also just needed some images to post on my blog, I will hopefully do a shoot soon). I'm sorry it's been a while since I've posted, I've been a bit of a neglectful blogger (again!) I will try to post more in July.

As it's winter now I've been spending a lot of time curled up in a mohair blanket with either a book, a hot drink or both. I'm loving taking out my tights, warm socks and layers of cashmere, wool and angora for winter. While some of the days have been bloody freezing and slightly unpleasant, I still love it (but am also appreciating the days of sunshine when we get them.) One thing I don't like about winter is that the light isn't always too great, but hopefully I'll still get some good photos in the winter shoots I have planned. Anyway, I'm off to go catch up on the blogs I follow.