So you may be asking yourself; what the heck is Poutine?! Well let me tell you, it is the most delicious thing on the planet. Its pretty much the same as cheesy chips and gravy...but better. The hole in the wall type eatery 'Mean Poutine' in Vancouver served nothing but the best for our first try of the good stuff. We even topped ours with spring onions and sriracha sauce, can it get any better? Believe it or not, it does...
Day one: As you can probably imagine, day one was pretty much a write-off, we had traveled for 9 hours on a plane to Vancouver and we were 8 hours out of whack with our timings. We ordered pizza to our AirBNB, which took 1 hour 40 to get to us (which was bang on their estimated time, crazy I know) and the pizza was god awful. Being pescatarian I was already slightly concerned about the amount of choice in foods I would have in a foreign country, and this terrible pizza and the frankly ridiculous waiting time didn't help these fears. However while I was waiting, classic Annie told me to get my camera out to keep me distracted from the hunger that was slowly killing me. Seeing the beauty of the city from our widow only made me more excited for the following day to come, and seeing a sunset made me excited for a good nights sleep (even if it was only half eight at night).
Day 2: Yes we did go to bed at half eight, and yes we woke up at 5.30 am. And when I say woke up, I mean wide awake, ready to conquer the world type of awake. So that's what we set out to do! We were desperate to see what this beautiful city had to offer and while the sun was rising, it gave to us in abundance! We headed down to the harbour for an early morning walk and then headed to a lovely bakery that served the BEST Pain au chocolat which I devoured and James my partner had a lovely Blueberry bread with a nice helping of peppermint tea. We then hopped on the bus to the suspension bridge and tree walk at the Capilano river. There's something so freeing about being hundreds of feet above the ground on a sturdy wooden walk way, even surrounded by tourists. You can do this for a healthy $42 each.
Day 3: Jet lag starting to wear off, but still early rising and rain pouring. We decided to head over to the recommended Granville Island. This place in the rain is very interesting. It reminded me of my days as an art student in Kent. There is an art school, which is obvious just by the type of students that are there. The place is filled with small shops with trinckety things in and lots of workshops where you can see people working on art (very cool). There's also a food market, where they see the biggest strawberries I've ever seen, and some other lovely food. We met an American couple who love to go to Canada for the sport and food too, and we very obviously avoided the conversation on guns...
We then hopped on a delightful little boat back over to where we were staying, which was nice to see the city from a different perspective.
Day 4: How a place can go from freezing cold rain to 'I think I've burnt my face' I have no idea. But thats what happened on our 4th day in Vancouver. We came to Canada to mostly to have a break from the 9 to 5 but to also see somewhere new and to get outdoors and use our brilliant muscles that we sadly neglect when we slave away at a computer. So a hike it was! We had been told that there was a walk in Whistler around Lost Lake that was beautiful. Turns out Lost Lake is a great name for it, especially when I'm involved, as some of you know I very easily get lost. This was so worth it. The prize of a gorgeous lake with picturesque mountains in the background is just stunning. In fact as much as I love photography, as I've mentioned before, the worst bit about it is there are some things that you just can't capture on a camera as well as your eye does. See for yourself:
Day 5: Another rainy day! I told you it was different weather every day, its a good job I packed every sort of clothing possible! I'm not going to lie, we probably stayed in Vancouver too long. This day was pretty much a write-off, considering it was blasting down with rain and we were in low season, which meant not much to do especially in this type of weather. We did try and do a walk round the famous Stanley Park, but if I'm honest, we couldn't see anything through fog and rain, and it was miserable walking in the rain. SO what did we do?!! WE WENT AND ATE POUTINE! Of course we did. We didn't stop at poutine either, we went to a 'pub' and ate fish tacos and chicken wings for James and drunk large pints of cold beer, which by the way they are really good at too.
Day 5: ROAD TRIP! We literally spent the whole day driving, and I am not going to lie, it was one of my favourite days. Not only did we have a Jeep Wrangler (dream car material) but we found hidden beaches off the motorway and we drove through the most incredible mountains. Reaching Revelstoke was a blessing (Revelstoke is beautiful) and a curse (I never wanted to stop driving).
Day 6: The day of the Hike. This was the day we went on a real adventure. Up Revelstoke national park to reach the viewing point 10km up a steep mountain. no chance, I mean we could have done it but it was impossible. When we got 7km up (with the help of Dave, a random man we met on the way and master hiker and bear handler), we were knee deep in snow. We made it a nice distance and we were sufficiently knackered. We then did another drive over to Emerald lake!
Day 7: Emerald lake was insane. It needs no words.
Day 8: Off to Banff we go! Banff is a great city, there is loads of wildlife but a great city. We did an amazing ice walk up in Jasper which is about a 2 hour drive from Banff, which I would highly recommend. We used the time in Banff to really embrace Canada and prepare for the long trip home.
If you would like any prints of these images or would like to book a photoshoot, please contact me here
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So on Saturday morning my partner asked me if I would drop him and some friends off in Southport for a 'Zombie Night' (don't worry this post isn't about that), which I said yes to, because I'm nice like that. I had also just bought a lovely new (second hand) 35mm film camera from a charity shop for £20, which is an absolute bargain, so my creative photographic juices were already flowing.
I remembered that I had done a bathing suit photoshoot a few years back in Southport and how much I loved it. Southport is one of those seaside towns that looks a bit forgotten but exudes an old-school charm that is great for couple photoshoots. So I frantically called round my group of friends and Lauren and Dale said yes!
I knew I had it in the bag, as Lauren and Dale are such a fun couple. They are easy going and chilled so I knew they would let me experiment and play around with flashes and techniques that I wanted to try out. We went to the beach first as I had asked them to get there at 'golden hour' which you can read about here. I also wanted to catch the sunset and play with the wind (which there is never a lack of in Southport).
We then went to the fair ground which is still working, but it definitely looks like it shouldn't be. We really just had fun with this photoshoot and played with angles and also just tried to show the playfulness of Lauren and Dale's relationship. I also really enjoyed working with the objects in the scene of the fair ground: the big wheel and the maze we ended up getting lost in. It was a successful evening... even if I did get lost on the way home, but that's nothing new.
If you would like a couple shoot similar to this, you can contact me through this link here
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Please enjoy the short spread I have put together for you to feast your eyes upon. Featuring photographs from my recent trip to Llangollen in North Wales and poems by various poets.
]]>So as you may or may not know, I live between two places. I was born and brought up in Salford in Manchester, and then I moved to Preston when I was 15. I then moved to Kent/London when I went to uni and carried on living there a few years after with my partner. I now live back in the North, but my place of work is still in London! My partner's family also live in the South East, so I basically live between the North and the South. I'm not complaining, I love them both equally for different reasons. Manchester city is my home and always will be, but the thing I missed the most when I move to the South was the easy access to the countryside. However, as soon as I arrive into Euston station every other week, I realise how much I miss the hustle and bustle of London. So here is a compilation of my favourite countryside photos from the North and my favourite city photos from London.
The photographs of the country side are taken at the peak district on my Canon 5D MKii and the photographs of London are taken on my 35mm film camera. I chose these cameras because of the results I get from them.
And of course I miss the sheep...
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I started working on this project while I was at uni but with the constant moving treadmill of projects we had to do during the course I had to leave it where it was at the time. However recently I have had some time to revisit some of the projects I believe were some of my best works.
I have known the Stephensons since I was born, Barbara Stephenson is a best friend of my aunty and her along with George and Heather are a part of the family. They are a creative family, with George having been a graphic designer and Barbara does things like knitting in her spare time. Their taste in music is eclectic to say the least, but you can guarantee if they enjoy a certain band, they will have the vinyl and will have been to at least 5 concerts.
Heather, to me, has always been very interesting. As a child I played dress up at my aunty Debbie's house and we used to do cartwheels around the garden, as Heather was a keen gymnast and I have always danced. She was this very petite and full of beans little girl with fiery hair like her mum.
Me and Heather throughout the years haven't had many conversations until I became interested in how quiet she became. I would hear how she wouldn't talk in school through my cousin and wondered what had happened.
When the opportunity to do a project on 'narrative' came along I knew who I wanted to discover more about...Heather.
To get to know what the family was like in the home, I took my little 35mm film camera to try and capture a feeling and what the dynamic was like in the house hold to maybe start to understand why Heather had become a typeof elect mute.
The only thing I discovered was that the Stephenson's household was bursting with passion and creativity. Their house is very comfortable with colourful soft furnishings and things made by friends and family. The thing I noticed most about the relationship between the three of them is how comfortable they all are. I've learnt that in my household, having my mum, dad and brother in the same room is something that should come with a warning. We are all very big characters that are constantly fight for attention or to get the last word in, which for me is very stimulating but to others can be intimidating. However in the Stephenson's house there is a calming air about things. They appreciate silence and calm discussion which if anything is refreshing.
The next set of photographs I did were of Heather on her own in the home. I wanted to see how she reacted in front of the camera. I find that although Heather is quiet, her body language speaks volumes. She's actually a very appealing person and almost puts you at ease with her smile. I took the photographs with a medium format camera I borrowed from university.
I wanted to use these images not just as a sole piece but as part of a video I was doing in partnership with Heather. The video was a collaboration, where I film Heather painting these portraits of herself while she speaks over the top of the video about how she feels about being an elect mute. Heather is an amazing artist with a real talent for painting especially portraits.
Below are the self portraits she did in the video based on three of the images above
Since doing the project with the Stephensons, Heather has come out of her shell two folds. She now does videos on social media about animal cruelty and is an advocate for vegan living. She is a true inspiration to those who once thought they didn't have a voice and has proved that personality comes from far more than the words you say.
With thanks to
Heather Stephenson, Barbara Stephenson and George Stephenson
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