Film: "How I ended this Summer"

Because my husband is a bit of a foreign film-buff, I get dragged to all sorts of films the existence of which would pass me by were it not for Tom. One such is the (apparently) prize winning How I ended this Summer. I later found out that it has indeed won awards at lots of international film festivals - Berlin, London, Sydney and so on....

A Russian film, directed by the acclaimed Aleksei Popogrebsky, it is set on a remote meteorological station and features just two men. To say the film is intense is to understate. However, I have to admit to remaining gripped throughout, the powerful interplay between the two men, one young, a student, and the other a hardened, older family man . Their struggle in a relentlessly harsh environment is aggravated by the delivery of a piece of news on which the film pivots. This element of drama is like an unexpected treat in nutritious but rather abstemious diet.

The film is severely beautiful to look at - brilliant photography or camerawork or whatever the proper description is.

Now I gathered there may be some allegorical angle to the film but don't really know enough about Russian history and politics to shed much light on this myself - even though my good friend Ksenia is a Muscovite. There are plenty of detailed reviews if you are interested in that angle, but my general appraisal would be summed up by the phrase "intense, atmospheric and beautiful to watch"

Check out some of these stills:

Chrysalis Women's Lifestyle Fair

The Villa in Wrea Green was the delightful venue for the Lifestyle Fair. A good day with lots of networking and a chance to meet a range of exhibitors and talk to people about my photography. The photos here show Rheagan Hendry and chef Nigel Smith. Nigel, as you can see, is the resident chef at the Villa who performed an inspriring demo of a fish dish and two scrumptious desert- everyone dived in to try the goodies when he'd finished. He was assisted, (slightly reluctantly - since she professes not to cook!) by Rheagan Hendry. Rheagan has set up a charity in her Mum's name - Denise Hendry died in 2009 after suffering the after effects of botched cosmetic surgery. To find out more, visit Denise Hendry Foundation. The silvery outfit in the photo below was sported by the belly dancer who gave us a really evocative display of her skills accompanied by mesmerising music. There's also a photo of our stand, taken by my glamorous assistant, Tom.

Fence United 2nd Annual Ball

Photographed a very successful fundraising event for Fence United on Saturday. Nearly 200 guests attended a Dinner at The Fence Gate Inn at Fence to raise money for the local village and its community. It was exciting vibrant and full of glitzy glam! Here are some photos:

Creating a brilliant impression on Social Media sites- Chrysalis for Women, Wrea Green, May 22

I'm always game for something with a slight twist so when I saw ads for the Chrysalis for Women Lifestyle event in Wrea Green (near Preston) I wondered if there was half a chance that they would take on board a female photographer for the day.

Chrysalis is a great organisation aimed at helping professional women optimise their potential across a wide range of areas, so it seemed only natural that one of the key issues facing women today is how to make themselves look great on the web and in social media.

With people swapping and uploading photos at the speed of light on a global scale, the mantra that 'you only have one chance to create a brilliant first impression' has even more resonance than ever. So, having won a space at this coveted event, Tom and I set about thinking how we could do something different rather than just rock up with our usual 'local photographer does weddings and portraits' pitch and so came upon the idea of using this window to help professional women create three great photos that they can upload to sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

As you'll no doubt know, each of these three social media sites each has a completely different audience and a unique set of viewer expectations. Therefore, the image that you might place on Facebook (remember the one of you in an Amy WInehouse beehive wig slurping Guinness from a fish bowl) is not exactly the vision you want to present on LinkedIn to reflect your position as Head of Business Development for a firm of Human Rights Lawyers. Nor would quite sit happily if your tweets unexpectedly attracted a following from friends and governors at your local primary school.

So the idea on Sunday is to have a bit of fun and help women create a brilliant first impression with 3 different photos that reflect who they are to the audiences they want to be seen by. In the immortal words of Andy Warhol, 'everyone will be famous for 15 minutes' - on Sunday we want to make sure that our clients are famous for the right reasons.

Check out www.chrysalisforwomen.com to find out more about the event and if you're coming, do visit our stand to find out how we can make you look Facebook Fabulous and LinkedIn Luscious.

Photovision Manchester

Damien Lovegrove

damien's website

Had a fantastic day yesterday at the trade show held at Manchester United's ground. I'm ashamed to say it was my first visit there, and as the daughter of Manchester parents, and a family of united supporters, I did feel a certain amount of illogical pride - illogical because I don't follow football. I was surprised to see so many overseas visitors hanging around having their photos taken. It really is something of a shrine and a world "destination".

Anyway, back to the trade show. I attended a seminar by the great Damien Lovegrove. He started life as a BBC cameraman (perhaps I should say started his career!). He is a master of lighting and gave us an excellent gallop through his working life, illustrated in photos concentrating on his more recent fashion photography phase. He is really excellent, not least because he is so obviously influenced by art and media in general, always willing to move on with what is in vogue whilst never straying from his natural good taste. Reader, I invested in his book.