from our hearts to our hands

The Indian Summer {Joanna}

2011-10-05T06:44:00.000-07:00

After a long old summer of weddings the 4 of us girlies meet up for our annual 'From Our Hearts' holiday... this time we were in gorgeous sussex and the girls came to stay with me. The house was a bustling cauldron of chatter, giggles and laughter, 3 chickens, 1 cat, 4 girls and my boy were buried deep in the countryside for 3 days. We basked in the last bit of summer feasting with picnics, bbqs, walks in the fields, horse riding, mucking around on the beach and snooping round Arundel eating cakes. The main thing that I love about my time with these girls is that it is a chance to breathe, chat shop, get inspired be creative have some fun and above all hang out. I took snaps with my digital camera and my film camera I am still waiting for my film shots to come back so for the time being here are my digital snaps....

Travels with Holga {Debs}

2011-08-16T04:42:00.000-07:00

As you can probably tell from the last few posts, the four of us have a bit of a love affair with our plastic cameras and film, and for me this love runs even deeper when I am away travelling and trying to see a bit of the world.

In February Dean and I packed our bags and headed over to the American continent to travel a little and visit new places. We started our journey in San Francisco where over 4 days we walked 30 kilometers up and down the legendary hills, visiting and exploring the hidden nooks and crannies of this amazing city. Sad to leave but looking forward to the next part of our trip we left San Francisco in Mooksie, our cute little camper and we travelled south towards LA.

We took our time. We love California. We ate a lot of food. We hugged the coast and we had the most incredible journey.

After completely running out of time, we practically skipped around LA to catch our flight to Mexico, a land of such colour, where we travelled for 5 weeks and included a week chill out stay on the island of Caye Caulker in Belize (where I watched Emma Case get married through Twitter updates)!

The colour, the sounds and the smells of these two countries will stay with me forever. Here is a little of Mexico to share with you....

I love shooting 120 film through a plastic lens, it gives such a unique, one of a kind shot. My camera has developed a new habit of kicking out 'fat rolls' at the moment so I am getting used to travelling with a changing bag so I can change over my film and tighten the rolls on the go. The light streaks you see are as a result. Love them or hate them they were a part of the adventure.

The joy of film and a Holga!

A weekend away from it all.... {Joanna}

2011-07-17T08:31:00.000-07:00

I dreamt of this weekend away for a long time, we laughed, we had adventures, it was full of the simple things in life....

Colour shots are taken with my Diana and the Black and white are shot with an old battered Minolta film camera that does not work properly; I love film photography it really is a mystery.

emma and pete in cornwall...

2011-07-03T07:52:00.000-07:00

A week in pictures... {Joanna}

2011-06-08T05:23:00.000-07:00

7 days...

community 'word' project - COMMUNICATE

2011-06-03T10:11:00.000-07:00

The sun is shining so we're hoping that Summer has arrived!! (fingers and toes crossed!)... and we have also launched our next community 'word' project on our flickr page so if you haven't already had a go then this weekend could be the perfect time to get out there and shoot your little hearts out... :)

This months word is COMMUNICATE.

community 'word' project - BIRTH

2011-05-03T04:43:00.000-07:00

Well, once again our gorgeous 'from our hearts' community have come up with the goods! Our second community 'word' project was BIRTH... a real tricky one as lots of you wanted to try and take the word away from the obvious... but then again... how beautiful the obvious is... :)
I think the submissions, again are wonderful and it's so lovely to see people chatting and thinking of ideas together on Flickr and then seeing the work appear is just fantastic... thank you to everyone that submitted... here are a few from this month... (please check out lots more in our flickr group!)...
We'll be announcing the next project in the next few days.... :)

Danielle Benbow

Caro Hutchings Photography

Dave Jenkins Photography

Summer Love Photography

Dappled sunshine {Joanna}

2011-04-13T00:58:00.000-07:00

Just in case the sunshine goes away for a few days......

a little holga love... {Emma}

2011-04-11T06:07:00.000-07:00

a little gift...

2011-03-29T17:37:00.000-07:00

Hello!
Hope everyone is well and enjoying the arrival of Spring!! Can't believe how lovely it is to feel sunshine on your face... it really does make you happy... :)
Another thing that makes me happy are gifts so today we have a little gift for you! It's a little 'From our hearts' badge that you are free to stick on your blog/website... wherever you like! Sorry it's not chocolate but it is pretty and we like to make sure everyone that follows the blog and takes part in the projects, feel a real part of this community so.... feel free to copy and paste the image below!

We've also got a little competition coming up with April's project so keep your eyes peeled!

Magic {Fourward}

2011-03-22T05:22:00.000-07:00

Our second submission for our Fourward project

Each month the four of us will take the same word/time/idea/concept and individually interpret it with just one photo, without knowing what the other have produced until they are all posted together at the end of the month.

Sorry for the delay with February's - it's been a bit of a crazy month or two for all of us with one thing and another (including a certain someone weaving a bit of magic themselves by having a surprise wedding...!)

February's word is Magic

our next community project....

2011-03-08T16:40:00.000-08:00

We are still a little gobsmacked at how amazing the response has been on Flickr with submitting images and talking! We love the talking!! Thank you so much for joining in with our first community project 'From our hearts'.... and now we have our next project for you all to sink your teeth into!

For our second project the word is Birth

You can interpret this in any way, shape or form... you can be as literal or as abstract as you like. You are more than welcome to add a little description too if you want but what we do ask is please could you take the photo for the particular project rather than finding an old image and applying it to the project.... we just want the projects to be about getting out there and shooting and feeling inspired to shoot using the word as a starting point.. :) Thanks!!

The project will run until the 31st March and again we will be showing a collection of submissions on the blog for all to see!

Have fun and I can't wait to see the results!

A completely non-related image below... just kinda like it....

A little movie... {Joanna}

2011-02-24T07:51:00.000-08:00

A film to me is as beautiful as a photograph and at times more, I used to make movies a long long time ago back at college. Now I have my camera with a movie function on it I thought that I would give it another whirl and dive right in. I recently watched ' the rear window'; I fell in love with the colours, the light and the simple notion that it was shot all within a very small space. So I woke up this morning saw the sunlight and made this; here is my home... (btw I don't want you to think that I am not lonely in my home I just liked the soundtrack it is 'Husky rescue')

My iphone is my sketchpad {Joanna}

2011-02-23T02:37:00.000-08:00

For me it does not matter where you are, what camera you have got, it is about looking at the world around me and capturing it in some shape or form. For those who know me you know how far behind at times with technology (I have one foot firmly in the past), I used to have the oldest phone in the world a nokia which did not even have a camera on it. It died and I was upset! however I have moved on and I am the proud owner of an iphone 4 and wow I love it!! It means that I can wander round listening to music and get inspired at the same time and take some photos wherever I am. I love the flexibility of this it is so immediate and it inspires me, everyday I shoot things now thanks to this and when I see something then I can capture it, this iphone is like my sketch book, just noting down things that I see when I am out and about...

from our hearts project...

2011-02-21T04:35:00.000-08:00

What started out as a simple thought that maybe, just maybe there will be a few other people out there who feel the same as us has grown into a group of amazing photographers all coming together. To meet new people, learn from each other, inspire creativity and above all shoot for the sake of it again.

Our first From Our Hearts first project was announced in January and the theme was simply, From the Heart. Shooting and sharing images that came from within or were felt to represent what the group stood for. And so far the response has been astounding! We have seen over 200 images submitted to the group pool and have had photographers sharing, encouraging and meeting new friends. We have seen photographers go back to the root of why they shoot and share that with the group, sparking conversation and encouragement. Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed to this and got stuck in, we really hope you keep doing it!

We wanted to share with you all a small, randomly selected taster of the amazing images that have been shared within the group and we really, really encourage you to head over to the Flickr page and check out every one of the amazing images posted to the set. In doing so you will hopefully also make some new Flickr friends, find inspiration and find out more from those around you who enjoy shooting from the heart.

Summer Love Photography

Kirsten Mavric

As for the next project... well we are just finalising a theme and we will let you know what it is to be very soon!

My love affair with my lady diana... {Joanna}

2011-02-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

She is cream in colour, cute and looks so dinky, I sometimes forget to change her settings, I have accidentally sat on her once or twice, she is always in my bag. I now have boxes of film for her, I have negatives which I pour over and hold up to the light to see it. I Sometimes they are out of focus, sometimes they are pin sharp, sometimes they are vibrant and colourful, sometimes they are full of muted tones and shades, sometimes they never come out at all. They always fill me with excitement whatever the outcome, they always make me smile. I take her on holiday, for a walk, to my day job (weddings) and on holiday, she has been all over the world and sleeps by my bed. I love her.... x

from our hearts project

2011-02-08T08:49:00.000-08:00

You have just one more week to submit your images to our first project! So far we have been blown away by how many people have joined the Flickr group and are taking part.. the photos are really beautiful and your descriptions are so touching. It's also nice to see everyone introducing themselves and starting discussions... that's EXACTLY what we want!!

Here's one that caught my eye that I wanted to share.... thanks Jenn! :)

Jenn Stark - I really wanted to use this 'from our hearts' group as a way to take the idea/theme and shoot something new around what those words mean to me at the time....
'from our hearts' to me brings about a feeling of sharing and freely giving out slices of ourselves and what's most important to us.... and there really is no better feeling than cutting into a large stack of pancakes :)

Looking forward to sharing more of your submissions very soon!
DEADLINE FOR PROJECT - Monday 14th February 2011

Also keep your eyes peeled for our first competition!! Woop woop!!

time to... {Emma}

2011-02-06T15:25:00.000-08:00

...breathe, play, stop, try, decide, relax, reflect... with three girls who I adore.

Four girls in Cornwall - Joanna

2011-02-04T06:04:00.000-08:00

Well you know the score if you have been following the blog so I will just let the photos tell the story of the 'From our hearts girls' headed to Cornwall. I have been listening to Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros whilst editing these the song 'Home' just sums it all up for me really....

Relay - first image

2011-02-03T07:06:00.000-08:00

The first image for the Relay project...

One of us will start the relay by taking and posting a photo of their choice (absolutely anything goes). This will then inspire the next person's image so they will run with it and post the next photo, creating an evolving series of images built through our own links and associations...

Image #1 {Anna}

On to you Joanna!

Breakfast {Fourward}

2011-01-30T13:57:00.000-08:00

Our first submission for our Fourward project...

Each month the four of us will take the same word/time/idea/concept and individually interpret it with just one photo, without knowing what the others have produced until they're all posted together at the end of the month...

Our first word is Breakfast

Anna - our Cornwall trip

2011-01-25T06:39:00.000-08:00

I’m so grateful for the days I came across Joanna, Debs and Emma. When I stumbled upon each of them, I felt really excited – their pictures and the way they wrote about them really spoke to me, and without having met them I knew that I liked and understood how they saw the world. When we then started to chat via email and twitter, I had that odd feeling of recognition you get when you know you’ve come across a kindred spirit. Then it wasn’t just their pictures I liked them for, but also their sense of humour, daftness, adventurousness, mischief, honesty, openness, warmth and zest for life. When we finally met for the first time it was really weird – again, that strange feeling of recognition and that instant bond, the feeling that you’ve already known each other for a long time. There was none of that really-polite-getting-to-know-you stuff, it was straight into laughing hysterically with (and at) each other and baring our souls, warts and all. I think we all knew straight away that we would very quickly become great friends. Since then, we've supported and encouraged each other constantly and they are the first people I turn to when I want honest and inspiring advice for my photography business. We're all so new to this and none of us can boast much experience or expertise in the big wide business world, but we all know we can count on each other to cut through all the bulls**t and steer each other towards what's right, honest and true to each of us as individuals and photographers. When they asked me to join them this winter I didn’t even have to think about it and counted the days to our trip to Cornwall ...or Nerd Camp as my husband likes to call it.

We had such a brilliant time. Due to the good old Cornish fog and rain, we lazed around for large proportions of the week without any guilt whatsoever in our pyjamas, stuffing our faces, drinking tea, relaxing and chatting. Debs was my lovely roommate and I loved lying in our big comfy bed, chatting and giggling like little kids first thing in the morning and last thing at night, hearing Joanna and Emma doing the same thing in the next room, then us all ending up talking to each other through the wall. But we did venture out, planning and buying ingredients for the meals, having afternoon tea in Camelot Castle (we're so genteel..), bargain hunting in antique fairs and cute little shops in Lostwithiel, taking the taxi boat over to Polruan, drinking ale and cider in quaint and cosy pubs, paddling in the sea (yes it was bloody cold), frolicking like idiots in a thatch reed field, running barefoot on the beach, drinking Extreme Hot Chocolate in Watergate Bay (we’re so hardcore), clambering up a slate mine, standing on blustery cliffsides and eating enough food to sink a ship.

As well as just relaxing, we spent much of our time chatting about photography, partly the business side of things, but also the fun side of things, experimenting, playing, exploring the artistic side of it that led us all to fall in love with photography in the first place. We had a couple of impromptu photoshoots while we were there, when we came across places that were just too beautiful not to photograph, like the thatch field. It was really interesting, if a little uncomfortable, to be on the other side of the lens for a change, and it was really helpful to learn what it feels like to be the subject, and also to see how the other girls approach shooting. We learned so much from doing this with each other. Debs the wily, camera-shy little minx successfully eluded my camera for most of the holiday, and we didn’t get round to doing a proper shoot with each other, so she’s top of my hit list next time!

The trip was everything I’d hoped it would be and more. Primarily time to have fun with friends, rest, eat, laugh, explore and unwind. But it was also incredibly energising and inspiring, and I was taken aback by just how powerfully we all bounce off each other, push each other forward and bolster each other up. The week was utterly effortless. With these girls I really have found soulmates – people with whom I don’t have to explain myself, people who share the same passions, people who see the world in a similar enough way for us to understand each other, but in a different enough way to inspire and intrigue each other. We all seem to know instinctively when to support and reassure each other, but also when to push each other out of our comfort zones. The week was spent in our own daft little bubble, laughing till our cheeks hurt, eating until our stomachs hurt and talking until our throats hurt. I came home feeling really at peace with myself, brimming with ideas for my photography and business, and with a little knot of excitement in the pit of my stomach at the start of our adventures together.

This trip away cemented not only our friendships, but also our photography collective From Our Hearts to our Hands which, after months of embryonic ideas, we finally and properly launched this week. Through this, I've got the fire in my belly again, can't put my camera down and can't wait to get stuck in and meet loads more like-minded people who, like us, want to make sure we don't lose touch with shooting just for the love, art and fun of it, and there's so much fun to be had.... good times...

get involved...

2011-01-23T14:50:00.000-08:00

...in our first project...

Our aim is to create an inspiring, creative, supportive, encouraging, exploring community of artists who come together to share ideas, thoughts, feelings, hopes, fears in a way that makes us all smile and feel proud of our wonderful art. We will be regularly setting projects where you will be free to join in, submit images, comment, talk, meet and learn from each other in a positive and exciting community.

We want you to be completely free with your creativity too! We found that one of the main reasons why we wanted to come together in the first place was because we weren't shooting for the hell of it anymore... we were shooting beautiful people, beautiful weddings etc and we were absolutely loving it but at the same time we felt we had even more to give...

So... for our first project we are going to call it From our hearts (I promise very soon we will stop saying it as much.. it's just because it's all new and exciting!)

We have created a 'From our hearts' Flickr group which everyone is free to join and we want you to get involved by submitting an image that represents what the words 'From our hearts' mean to you....

We want you to be as free and creative, or as literal as you like...

We will then choose up to ten images from the project and on Monday 14th February we will add them to the 'From our hearts' blog. This will be a regular thing with a different word/emotion/thought each time as we want this community to be something where everyone is involved... :)

There will also be other projects popping up regularly which we will keep you posted! It's all very exciting!!!

debs - inspiration in Kernow

2011-01-22T03:03:00.000-08:00

Knowing that you have close friends who understand exactly what you are thinking, feeling and wanting to achieve without always having the words to express is amazing. And that's exactly what Jo, Emma and Anna are to me. Meeting these lovely ladies at any point in my career would be nothing short of a incredible but meeting them and forming a close bond just as we are all starting to make our way and carve our own paths within a busy market place has been phenomenal. Jo and Emma have already expressed so much in their own posts about our first little adventure in Dorset, but it has to be said -along with many others who have given us all incredible support in the last year Jo, Emma and Anna have taught me something really valuable. Be true to yourself.
Wanting to get together again after a fun, inspiring yet very drizzly camping trip to Dorset we decided to head down to the far South West of the country to Cornwall. A place very close to my heart! With my parent living here and me coming to stay at every possible moment I was really looking forward to having the girls here with me to appreciate, relax, chat. discuss, brainstorm and recover from a crazy season.

Anyone who knows Cornwall will know the sea fog that can set in at any point of the year.... and set in it did for most of the four days that we had together giving us a great excuse to chill around the cottage plenty, chatting, eating and laughing. Thankfully a couple of the days sent us some breaks in the fog and on one of these we took ourselves off to the sweet towns of Lostwithial and Fowey. We had a fab time womdering an antiques market and the many antiques shops in Lostwithial before heading into Fowey and jumped on a water taxi over to Polruan for an ale.

'Cocktails, Cream Teas & Cake' - Joanna

2011-01-21T00:43:00.000-08:00

I wrote this post for my blog just before we went away to Cornwall which was out first trip of the year, the trip was brilliant fun we will be posting the photos and news from this very soon. One of our main aims was to get the BLOG up and running, I am chuffed to think that within 3 days it was done. I had never even used BLOGGER which is what we used to set this up. If you are starting out and don't have a blog I urge to make one it will take a couple of hours to set up and then you are away - magic....

I love the New Year it really is exciting time to be able to put in some groundwork before the season starts it is the quietest time in the Wedding photographers calendar (allegedly) I am seizing the opportunity with Debs Ivelja, Emma Case & Anna Hardy to head down to a cottage in deepest darkest Cornwall. It is kind of holiday in one respect but it also serves a purpose, together we have 4 busy photography business' that we each run and we all try hard to keep our work fresh, exciting and inspired; so our aim is to re-charge our creative batteries, talk shop and generate new and exciting ideas together.

I will be taking my camera, my sketch book, my ideas book, lots of paper and blue tack to stick ideas up on the wall... it will be a melting pot of ideas and more ideas. We call ourselves 'From our Heart' and are in the process of setting up a BLOG, we all recognise the importance of being able to interact with like-minded individuals to try things out, run things past another person, develop our ideas and also have a great time, to share and in some kind of way to nurture each other. I have always had a sketchbook and ideas book on the go and I allow myself to just experiment and dream, my house is full of books and images to inspire and excite my eyes. I can't wait for the next few days it really will be an adventure even from finding the place in the dark I know that it will not all be work, on our list of things to bring are cocktail shaker, hot chocolate, slippers, wine, cake scrabble, music and our hearts of course...

joanna - The Camping Trip

2011-01-20T09:18:00.000-08:00

A while ago I met two fab ladies and not only are they just the nicest people you can meet they are mega photographers, Emma Case & Debs Ivelja. We regularly exchange emails, share ideas, support each other and second shoot for each other. It is really exciting to make friends with people that you share the same passion, dedication and vision and also support each other in our journeys as artists and photographers. We came up with the idea to go away regularly, hang out, take photographs and experiment, try things out and have a darn good time. We packed up the car and headed down to Dorset for a weekend packed full of sunshine and good times!!! However from moment we arrived it rained continuously but it did not dampen our spirits, we headed out to a Fete, the beach, pressed flowers, drank 6 hot chocolates in 20 mins, went to the best pub in the whole world and drunk cider and I nearly found my future husband (nobby!!!! what’s not to love). The tent leaked, we met some great folk, we ate lots of pastry based food, we ended up like drowned rats and even packed the tent down in swimming costumes, here are a few snaps. We (well Emma) is setting up a new BLOG ~ From our Hearts and it will be our space to do what we love with our cameras and share good times, Emma has done a post already and made a little film which is ace take a look here….

One of the highlights was at the local dog show at Kingston Village fete. This is how the conversation went

“Wow is that a dog inside your coat… did not see him there”

“Yes it is, say hello to Snoop…”

“Snoop dog ~ HA HA that is hilarious and he even looks like him!”

“Yeah Snoop as in Snoopy the cartoon”

“Oh OK then, (we are killing outselves laughing) ~ that is genius; as in Snoop Dog!!!”

“Who?….. (awkward silence)”

“Uh? Oh yeah we are in Dorset, at a village fete watching a dog show maybe they don’t listen to ganster rap round these parts!”

emma - our first trip...

2011-01-20T09:16:00.000-08:00

A little while ago, through Flickr I met Debs Ivelja and Joanna Brown. These two girls are gorgeous, funny, talented and in love with photography just as much as I am. We've got to know each other pretty well over the past few months and we speak regularly offering support and advice to each other and both of them have now second shot for me at weddings.

When photography became my job I stopped taking photos for myself so much...I was so busy that I didn't want to add to the workload.... but I think it's important, not only for your personal development but also to keep things fresh, to try things out and to keep being inspired. With this in mind we decided to organise a regular weekend away and do something together and with that 'From our hearts' was born. It's simply a chance for us to get together, ask questions, support each other and to keep taking pictures for ourselves... which is what we adore doing.

For our first trip we decided to go camping. It was a chance for us to relax, talk and try things without the pressure of it being paid work. It sounded great but when we arrived so did the rain. Literally ALL weekend it rained... did I mention that it rained?... I think it might have stopped twice but most of the time we were just soaked through... so in the end there was far more hot chocolate drinking than picture taking but we still had a ball and it was really lovely to just get away for a few days. We're currently in the process of setting up a blog where all three of us are free to post and we are planning to do our weekend trip every year and maybe upgrade the weekend each time. We're all really looking forward to the year we go to Hawaii.

Over the weekend I decided to do some experimenting on my 5D so this is my little video of our little
weekend....(and it includes eggs which makes me very happy)...

From our hearts..... from Emma Case on Vimeo.

welcome!

2011-01-20T05:21:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our little blog! We are four photographers who have come together to shoot and talk in equal measures! We have big plans for this little group and we hope to build a fantastic network of creative, inspiring photographers who love to shoot from the heart too!

We have some exciting projects in the pipeline so keep an eye on the blog and we hope you will join us for the ride!