I drove down the Cotswolds yesterday morning to spend the day taking pictures with an old friend I'd not seen since she and I went on one of Jonathan Chritchley's photographic workshops. I was staying with Dom and Ed at The Golden Ball in Lower Swell, a delightful village just outside Stow on the Wold. It was great to catch up with JB and we did a bit of landscape photography before finding a lovely coffee shop where we had a good natter. A fabulous Sunday lunch was waiting for us when we returned to The Golden Ball, and in the afternoon we headed off to Burford Park.

The weather could have been a bit brighter to make the most of that amazing countryside and vivid Autumn colours but the smile on young Garth's face was enough to brighten up everybody's day.

It was a beautiful week end and yesterday I thought I would get out and blow a few cobwebs away. Living in The Midlands means that my closest Coast is just over an hour away in North Wales. So I headed off to God's own Country and had really lovely walk along the beach. It was great to be out taking pictures in such fresh air. The sky was perfect and the light was ever-changing.

End of An Era

www.carolineharrisphotography.co.uk will be disappearing from the internet on 5th September 2011. It is a great time of new beginnings and I look forward to sharing more photographs with you in the near future. In the meantime, please visit my blog if you are interested in reading about developments. Thank you to everyone for visiting my site, for all the lovely comments you have left on there for me in the Visitors book, your kind words of encouragement meant more than you can imagine. Thank you also for to the host company Clikpic who did a wonderful job!

Today's picture is my star model, Freddie.

One of my favourite magazines is Homes Antiques, otherwise known by one of my friends as 'Dump and Junk'! A couple of weeks ago I was very pleasantly surprised to find that one of my own photographs had been published in their April edition! It was just a small picture promoting an exhibition of Karen Shapley's work at a gallery in Wales. I get such a buzz from seeing my work in print. Sometimes I know in advance when my pictures are going to appear, but this time it was a complete surprise.

I spotted a tree at the week end whilst at a friend's house, which I thought would make a good subject to photograph. I've not done much landscape photography of late and thought keeping it simple would be a good start. This morning there was a rolling fog and quite a heavy frost so I thought I'd go up and see how conditions were. A little more sunshine would have been good but conditions as they were seem to convey the bleak, cold weather.

It's been quite a busy week at work but I think everyone is feeling the pressure of uncertainty about their jobs. This on top of everything else I am having to deal with is really making life a struggle at the moment. I seem to be holding onto so much negative energy at the moment and I really wish I could snap out if it. It's really affecting my photography too. I had two shoots to do for work and I am so disappointed in them. My confidence is so shot and my communications skills ineffective.

On a more positive note the highlight of my week was meeting a really lovely friend for lunch. We were only able to spend an hour together but she is such great company and it was so nice to see her again. This is one real positive to come out of recent events. I am now able to choose my own friends, people that I have something in common with, rather than having to listen to malicious gossip and vitriolic opinions of some of the people I used to socialise with.

So we will see what next week brings..... Soon be Christmas!

I was at the cricket club yesterday. It seems to have done nothing but rain for the last few days, but on Thursday evening the sun made an appearance in the dark skies over the village. It illuminated the church next to the cricket pitch and the girls who were practicing for their charity match provided a good photo opportunity. For once I appeared to be in the right place at the right time.

For months I was unable to take any pictures due to the trauma I feel. The quality of my work suffered badly and my confidence plunged. Now without any commercial pressures I am slowly regaining my confidence, and find that taking photographs again can actually be great therapy.