Long time followers of my blogs will know we had our first dog, a beagle, Tess in 2008. She turns 7 next month and is our whole world. She taught us everything we needed to know about beagles. Then she taught every beagle we own, fostered and boarded every trick in the book. She is the Don of The Beagle Mafia. 

And she is very very sick. 

She was diagnosed with severe stomach / gastro issues at a very young age. She was then diagnosed with pancreatitis about 4 years ago. She has had 2 bouts, both of which she beat. 

We changed vet when we simply had too many animals to run up and down to our old vet, a 1.5 hour round trip, and he literally saved her life, twice. 

Unfortunately this bout is incredibly dangerous and aggressive. Our girl is really struggling. She’s a fighter but we have been told that her recovery is not guaranteed. 

JT and I are like zombies. We’re literally unable to focus. We both have headaches and heart aches. We want her home, with a waggly tail. We want her to fight, because she’s too young to leave us and her many fans just yet. 

We have had messages, paws in the circle, high five paws, prayers and even prayers to the doggy gods from those who don’t pray. We are so grateful for every single thing. We love you all. 

 Here’s my girl this morning. 

If you could spare a thought, she would really appreciate it 🐶

Gunner is quite possibly the single most famous beagle I know.  He is quite the character and has taught many others his unique Beagle Speak.  (Check out The Beagle Mafia on Facebook so you can check it out for yourself!)

Gunner loves getting dressed up and posing for his mummy, Zoe’s, Facebook photos.  He is also incredibly wise and witty, a delicate balance.

He has been suffering with corneal endothelial for a few years now.  His treatment until recently has helped, but there came a time when Zoe decided enough was enough.  It was apparent he was in pain and it was time to remove the bad eye.  Thankfully just the one !

Zoe contacted me and asked if I would do a shoot just before his operation.  I was thrilled to be chosen to photograph this special boy.  We arranged to meet at Shugborough (as you know my favourite location studio) and after a good catch up over cups of tea, we got going.  Gunner did not disappoint, posing beautifully for us.

We will be doing a follow up shoot when his now-removed eye scar heals.  Watch out for that soon.

In the meantime, here is a favourite of mine.  Enjoy x

What a great weekend we had. Elsie and I packed our bags and headed off in the Z to our little piece of Welsh heaven.  Whilst I never really saw myself owning a static caravan, I also never really saw myself having 3 dogs!  Once you get to this number, holidays abroad are pretty restrictive, mostly on cost. But also because I literally hate being away from my babies.  I’m not ashamed to admit, especially Elsie Baba. The older girls have always been daddy’s girls, then Elsie came along and I had a mummy’s girl.  The others LOVE me, but Elsie is my soulmate. 

So we bought a touring caravan. We thought it would be nice to travel around with the dogs and see some nice places.  What actually happened was that the dogs took a day or so to settle, rendering short trips impossible, or at least very stressful.  So we sited it on our favourite site, Erwbarfe Farm, nr Aberystwyth (my absolute favourite town, anywhere) and rather enjoyed escaping for short breaks, with the girls more familiar and settling quickly.  It helped that so many caravan owners were friendly and many had dogs, too. 

As with so many static owners who had upgraded from a tourer, it was only a matter of time before we also took that step.  And we’ve never been happier. 

But enough about that for now (believe me, I will be boring you shitless with befores and afters!), back to the weekend just gone. 

So we arrived late Friday and quickly got set up then out for a good stomp. It’s a 2.5 hour journey and Elsie isn’t a fan of car travel.  She endures it because she loves being with me. Bless.  As usual, we didn’t have a plan, we just wanted to walk and walk and chill and meet old and new human and doggie friends.  And let’s not forget the Silence of the Rams 😳

Here are a few photos for you. Hope you like x

{Just before she found some juicy sheep poop. And ate it.}

  
{The glorious view, and peace.}

{The Rams were not happy.}

{Not. Happy. At. All. }

 
{Unphased, we chilled on our patio.}

{Before retiring to our caravan to watch TV and practice our tricks. We need more practice.}

Til next time xx

OK so the title is a nod to my friend Maggie. She used to work beside me back in my corporate days and has a very dry sense of humour. She had a beautiful diamond ring on her right hand, she’d lean over, point it at me and say, wanna see my big shiny ring?  Made me die every single time. Because childish. 😂

My own rings are 12 years old (I literally have no idea where the hell that time went) and being white gold were starting to look really scruffy. I’d spotted a cute wee eternity ring (yes, of COURSE he got me it 💍) and when I tried it on my other rings looked shit. I left them there (nervously) for just over a week. Got them back today. I swear, I was like a giddy wee girly girl in the shop!!!  Most unlike me. But they’re so shiny!!!

Naturally I instagrammed them. Duh. 

I’m packing up and taking Elsie Baba to our static this evening. I’ll blog of course!  I hope you all have a fantastic bank holiday weekend too. 

  
Oh, did I mention I had all my hair cut off?  So much to tell you!!

GillyT ❤️

Nothing for 2 years, then 2 come along at once. 

I’m actually just testing out the usability of the WordPress app on the iPad mini.  It’s so rare I’m in my office these days, but my iPad rarely leaves my side. 

Hopefully this will work and will encourage me to post. 

For now, here’s a photo of my new addition, Elsie-baba 😍🐶🐾 

Where to start.

It’s been a funny old few years.  I’ve taken some much needed time out from the business, and yes I will get onto that in upcoming posts.  I’ve added another pooch to the family.  I’ve fostered many beagles for Beagle Welfare.  We bought, used and sold a touring caravan, then bought and still have a static.  And yes, this does include old-people-fluffy slippers.  JT has just finished a long term contract and has started another one.  So, in the main, we’ve just been kinda ticking along.  Ticking along and living with depression.  More will follow on that.

I have decided that I am no longer going to shoot weddings.  TBH as much as I absolutely adore them, and get a real buzz on the day, there seemed to be a shift in client expectations over recent years, and not in a good way.  I’ve had some truly shit experiences.  Did I consider hanging up the cameras altogether?  Yes, absolutely.  But here I am.  My good friend Paul retrieved my blog from an archived server in the States, installed it in the UK and I’m back.  There are going to be changes, mostly because change is good for the soul.  The biggest shift you will see is a shift to portraits, portrait pricing, etc, with no wedding information.  I’m planning on properly resurrecting the business over the next couple of months, so I will be advertising for willing victims very soon. I will be focusing on short, on-location, shoots with families and family pets, as well as babies.

The other shift you will see is that I am going to be a proper blogger.  Rather like this post, I will be writing articles on any given subject that is relevant to me.  I’m hoping to gather some regular readers and I hope you enjoy dropping in.

That all said I think it is only fair that the lovely brides I’ve worked with deserve to have their wedding featured, so I will be sharing a small number of photos from each one on occasions.

Oh, did I mention I bought a T5 campervan?  I know, it’s ace.  And it’s called Cilla.

So for now, dear reader, I’ll head off and walk some dogs, clear the cobwebs and up my steps on my fitbit.

Well, here we are in 2013 … and here we are almost at EASTER !

As always I have absolutely no idea where the time has gone.  All I do know is it has gone fast.  Very fast.  As I sit here responding to emails, arranging shoots, following up enquiries for various jobs, eating soup (pea and ham to be precise) I just thought I’d say hi.  And to let you all know the recent (horrible) flu bug didn’t kill me after all.  Just in case you’re on facebook and wondered, etc.

I’ve already kicked off my 2013 wedding season with a beautiful wedding in York … the season continues tomorrow at a local venue, including a church ceremony and some fun portraits in the evening … oh and potentially snow, again !!  I have some beautiful weddings again this year at great venues, I promise I will play catchup here and let you see some stuff.

I’ve also had some lovely portrait shoots.  There are loads more booked in over the coming weeks and I can’t wait to share those with you … from couples to babies to families, so much variety !  My studio (haha) Shugborough opens this weekend and I shall, once again, be using it’s many backdrops to my advantage over the coming months.

Following a fabulous workshop down in Bristol recently, I am now taking on Newborn Photography … as in, first 10 days kinda thing, totally cute, scrummy hats and blankets at the ready … know anyone due soon?  Get them to give me a bell for some incredible “opening” offers !

I’m thinking about rebranding too.  I know, I love love love my brand, I really do.  Unfortunately many people in the industry loved it so much they decided to do it for their businesses, which has kinda diluted mine (and theirs, oh well) … so rather than try to go round and slap people in the shins for copying me, I thought I’d do the better thing and change mine.  Sigh.  Still, onwards and upwards … this may take a while, it’s going to be like tearing off a plaster you’re actually rather attached to (in more ways than one).

So, leave me a comment, say hi, whatever.  Let me know what you want to see … weddings?  portraits?  all the above?  You know, I have about 65 shoots to share with you … maybe more !!!!

Take care xx