RELAUNCHING!!!

You may have noticed that everything is looking a little different around here. The website has changed, the colours are different, and biggest thing of all...my business' name has changed! For the past few weeks I've been undergoing some massive rebranding and it's been exciting and nightmarishly draining. I'm soo happy that it's all sorted now :) I can return to living life in a healthy fashion (i.e. not glued to my computer fretting over colour palettes hehe).

I know many of you may be sad to see Loveducks Photography disappearing because you like my little ducks that are so cute or it's a whole lot easier to pronounce than my name lol I completely sympathise and believe me when I say that the decision was a big one involving hours of debate, stress and toing & froing. In the end, for various reason, we made the decisions we did because we believed that in the long run the changes would be most beneficial for my business.

That's the short version of the story. If you'd like the behind the scenes details, buckle up and I'll take you for a little journey into the depths of my branding dreams & nightmares...

THE DREADED NAME CHANGE
Everyone seems sad to see the Loveducks fly away. I suppose they couldn't stand the chilliness of Scotland any longer. (jk obviously lol). We decided to change the name to my name because essentially, I  am the business. When a client hires me to shoot their wedding they are hiring my personality, my skills, my creativity, my ability to tell their story etc.. I also aim to make my business as personal as possible. I want to get to know my clients and become friends with them. So you see, the more personal the name can be, the better.

COLOURS
I literally spent weeks, every free second I had, agonizing over which colour(s) to use for my new brand identity. It was so difficult because I love them all & it was so important to me to get it all right. In the end I went for white, black & turquoise. I plan to write a whole post in a couple days analysing all the colour strategy to pieces for you hehe

WEBSITE FORMAT
I pretty much stuck with the same website format. Vertical menu bar with left scrolling panel. I tried different layouts but in the end this is still the winner. It just feels good to me and seems to be relatively unique. Yay!

COMPLETE BRAND IDENTITY
So to make everything even more complicated (and fun at the same time), not only did I have to design the 'perfect' website, but also that website had to flow nicely into business cards & packaging material. It all had to go together & let me tell you...just because it looks good on the website, that does not mean it will look good printed on a business card. Phew!

PERSONAL STYLE & A PERSONAL BUSINESS
Part of all my stressin' and sleepless nights was the desire to have my brand identity really represent who I am as a person and as a wedding photographer. I've really struggled to identify a clear style in myself because I feel like a Ven Diagram of personality types. I've got a little bit of everything. My clothes tend to be soft & girly and I am usually quite gentle around other people but then if I get excited I pretty much explode in all directions with energy & I love bold colours but I also love soft vintagey looks and all this just left me lost in a pile of torn out magazine pages desperately searching for my personal style. Again, turquoise seemed to be the solution! hehe

I will definitely be blogging more about all these things in detail (I'm excited to talk about the colours!) over the next week or so. So if you're interested in what goes on behind the scenes of rebranding a wee personal photography business, stay tuned!

Lots of love to you all,
xoxo

Welcome to Seattle!

It took me 24 hours to get here but I'm here now and loving it! Being back home in Seattle is so awesome and slightly strange. Its like nothing's changed and yet everything feels so fresh. I'm see it all through new eyes and appreciating it all so much more! Perhaps that indicates that Seattle always been fresh & it's me that has be re-freshed. 

Here's my journey so far (thank you Instragram! lol)....

The contents of my bag....who cares about clothes & books? It's ALL about the camera equipment baby! :D

Here we are in the wee hours of the morning boarding the plane from Edinburgh to London...

And desperately trying to get some sleep while crammed in like sardines at Heathrow...

 6 1/2 hours later - finally on the plane from Heathrow to Vancouver. I had two seats to myself (win!)...

 Finally after 5 movies, 2 slightly yummy vegetarian meals and two attempts at falling asleep that didn't succeed I spotted my mountains!!!!!!!!!! These are the Cascades & I grew up with them ALWAYS on the horizon. No matter where you are, in which town or part of the city, there's probably  a 99% chance you can see at least one mountain poking its little Cascadian (or Olympic — we have two mountain ranges here, one on each side of Seattle) head out at you. This mountain backdrop is one of the things I miss the most about the Pacific Northwest. In the UK, you often look out and the land just keeps going and going and going until the horizon. It always feels like something is missing.

 No photos from the Vancouver airport — I was too exhausted to even lift the camera! hehe Vancouver airport is however, the most beautiful airport I've every visited — no joke. I walked off the plane & into the airport to discover that the arrivals walk on a skybridge over a beautiful indoor shopping plaza that has a stream running through the middle of it. Tons of trees (inside!) and wooden sculptures that are iconic of the Native American cultures in this part of the world. The airport was decorate with painting and sculptures, massive wooden carvings hanging on the wall above streams of water that little trickled down beside you as you rode up and down the escalators! How AMAZING is that! I'm so 

totally taking photos on the way back!

So mom, dad & grandma greeted me at the airport (big smiles and hugs). Stayed up late the first night talking with my mom & then passed out instantly in bed. Woke up on Monday morning for a day of appointments. I got to drive my car!!!! yay — driving my little bug (whose name is KUBU which means hippo in an African language!) makes me so happy!

I went out to start the day with my dad. We drove around a bit so I could remember how to drive (like riding a bike) & then he took me out to get coffee & a morning pastry. I had a yummy banana bread! We spent the whole coffee talking about camera white balance — love it!

First appointment of the day was at the dentist. All's well with the teeth :D

Then on to Jene Guarez (special treat from mom!).... I was in the spa for eyebrow waxing....

& then the chair for a hair cut with styling. I LOVE my hair dresser! She did such a lovely job — my hair feels like silk now. How long will it last? No idea lol I've never been very good at keeping up with pampering myself. Maybe this time...

Jenn's handiwork... yay!  

After hair I had an appointment with my mom. We ate bagels & carrots by the Redmond Town Centre fountain while strangers came up to pet our massive dogs. 

Then we went to Value Village (the biggest charity shop you've ever seen — it's like my heaven!). I found a fun dress for the wedding on Friday & lots of new yoga leggings! I love new yoga leggings because the seems rip so easily and I can't very well teach classes with holes in the crotch now can I? lol I also found a sexy pair of awesome shoes!! I don't know where I'll wear them — my mom said because I have these shoes I am now obliged to throw a party for them hehe

I had my doctors appointment at 5pm (again - another amazing lady!) I went through my list of everything going wrong with my body (rash on my foot, little lumps under the skin on my hip, my right ear has itched for 4 years etc...) & she nailed it all down to one problem. All the little things are symptoms of my systemic yeast infection. What does that mean? I have too much yeast in my body and  it shows itself in all these little ways. So I've finally got medication for it and in 6 months I should be just fine. I'll have to go on a stricter diet too apparently (we'll see how that goes lol).

On the drive home I stopped by grandma's to say hi to her (she LOVED it! yay — so did I!) Then I came back for vegetable soup dinner with my parents & then my dad and I played with my new camera equipment! AWESOME! 

I tended to emails in the living room with my mom while she read her book by candlelight & then went to sleep with my kitty cat (she purrs really loudly).

More soon my friends :) I hope you all have a fantastic day! 

xoxo

Packing for Seattle!

I've just finished packing my bags for Seattle. I'm still in St. Andrews and in about 40 minutes I'll start my walk to the bus station. Unfortunately no bus service straight to Seattle (jokes :P) so instead my itinerary looks like this:

St. Andrews --> Edinburgh --> London --> Vancouver --> Seattle --> Bed

In the midst of my packing excitement I managed to take a photo & make a video! I'm really starting to get into my videos hehe. Two in one day! Prepare yourself for more (oh dear) because I'm finding it insanely fun to see myself talking lol



More soon my friends :D I hope you are all having a lovely weekend!
xoxo

My First Proposal Shoot

So a couple weeks ago I had the joy of photographing a proposal! It was amazing :)

I tried to get in and get out as quickly as possible because of course I didn't want to completely crash their special moment with my big chunky camera. We shot the whole thing in about 15 minutes and then I ran away, leaving them with mega smiles on their cute faces. I only made it about 100meters up the road before I just had to stop and make a little video for prosperity.... lol

If you want to check out Daniel & Christine's proposal photos you can find them here: 

Daniel & Christine Proposal!

Super happy day :D

xoxo

{Proposal} Daniel & Christine!

So about a month ago I was browsing on the University of St. Andrews Photography Societies website and I stumbled across a little gem. A lovely gentleman named Daniel just so happened to be looking for a photographer to capture his proposal to his girlfriend Christine. Super excited by the possibility, I checked my calendar and offered my services and..voila! Here we are....

Daniel and Christine met while they were both studying at St. Andrews on their year abroad. That was two years ago. She's still studying in St. Andrews but he's been living back on the East Coast of in America which is why it was such an amazing surprise when he showed up in St. Andrews last Sunday! She hadn't been expecting to see him so she was already feeling super happy and then a couple days into his visit he made her ever more happy than she could have possibility anticipated! :D

Daniel had it all planned out. It was their 2 year anniversary. He took Christine out to lunch at the restaurant where they ate on their first date. Then down to the golf course for a little stroll. It was a Sunday of course so the golf course was open to the public — people walking everywhere! I was hiding behind a massive JCB hoping I didn't look too suspicious and pretending to be fiddling with something on my iPhone (camera just chillin' by my side). :P I knew he was going to ask her on the Swilken Bridge where they had their first kiss.

Finally, I spotted them (1pm- right on time) and I was pretty sure it was them because he kept hovering nearby the bridge and giving her sweet kisses :) lol Eventually all the tourists had cleared away from the bridge and it was open — he spotted his chance and started walking toward the little stone monument and my stomach was getting tighter and tighter. I felt like the butterflies had exploded in all directions. (I was actually feeling a little sick lol). My brain was going crazy — what if I miss the moment?! What if my camera stalls? What if he faces the wrong way I can't see their faces?!

One by one, couples were walking over the Swilken Bridge (it's a super famous bridge in the golfing world lol and it's only just tiny and cute!) I'd never met Daniel or Christine so I had no idea who I was looking for. I knew she was blonde but when that's all you've got to go off of, you suddenly realise how many blonde girls around walking around this world! lol

I saw him go down on one knee — my finger was snapping away furiously, hopping to catch something special and usable hehe. It was so exciting! A couple walked by me and saw what was happening and they wolf-whistled - big smiles all around :D Once she's said 'yes' and Daniel had the chance to stand up :P I slowly crept my way closer giving them a private moment. 

Christine was so surprised when she found out there was a photographer capturing the whole thing :) I felt so happy I could be there for them and at the same time I didn't want to intrude on their special moment so I tried to work as quickly as possible. I told them to walk around a bit and hug and smooch :) and just stand there looking at each other. All the classics lol but it was soooo easy to photograph a couple like these two. They were so happy (obviously) that I didn't have to say a word to them to make them smile or relax. They just wanted to look at each other and smile — made my life soo easy and fun! hehe

I left them to enjoy the rest of their day and have fun Skyping Daniel's parents who were so excited to hear how it went (they were the only people that knew the proposal was coming). The whole walk home I felt that amazing rush of adrenaline mixed with pure joy (I know I sound cheesy but that's totally what it feels like!) Just buzzing around, floating home a cloud, slightly shaky but massive smiles from ear to ear!

I feel sooo  honoured that I was able to be a part of such an insanely special moment in Daniel & Christine's lives. I'll never forget it. I can't wait to see how their weddding plans develop and I'm so excited to get to know them better!

Congratulations Daniel & Christine! 

I'm so excited for you guys!

xoxo

Chamonix

Be Bold...

xoxo

Flash Mob in St. Andrews

Hello everybody! So there was a flash mob in St. Andrews this weekend. So exciting! Unfortunately I (didn't know about it until I saw this video because I was away in Edinburgh at a 1920's going-away party  (equally exciting, right!?). Anyway, I love flash mobs and there have been a few in St. Andrews. It's so much fun seeing it happening in a place that you know so well. When I was in my first year of university I actually got to participate in one lol. It wasn't a fun dancing one it was one of the 'freeze mob' ones. 

We were supposed to be walking down Market St. and then at exactly 2pm we were supposed to freeze on the spot. My friends and I were frozen just as we were stepping out to cross the road. Some people were in the middle of the road and made cars stop which I'm sure was probably really frustrating for the drivers lol Some people were frozen in really funny position; mid-wave, tying their shoelaces, hugging and laughing. Everyone else who wasn't involved was really confused — it was amazing!

Fun times :D

xoxo

{Bridal Shoot} Molly

Another beautiful (and eco-friendly) wedding dress from Julie Dutton modeled by the lovely Molly :) The dress had this beautiful jacket with an amazing collar that pops up like something from Elizabethan times. Molly brought along an entire bag full of shoes (!!!) we could choose from for her to wear and I couldn't resist these beautiful turquoise-y ones. (I'm a sucker for colourful heels — so pretty!) Molly started off wearing a classy pearl necklace and then we decided to spice things up a little with a beautiful designer necklace from  BeauCoco, who specialises in contemporary ethical jewellery = super cool! Molly's hair & make-up was made beauty-full by the wonderful Diana MacKenzie! We got ready  indoors and the minute we stepped outside to start shooting we all felt like icicles! It was so freezing but Molly was fantastic. We worked as quickly as possible so we could snap as many pretty pictures as possible before our desire for hot water bottles and tea drove us back inside. hehe Thanks to everybody involved for being so wonderful :D It was a really fun day!

I hope you have a pretty day :)

xoxo