Camera Explorer - AiRR Clothing

So, it's been an exciting time at Hannah Millard Photography HQ (otherwise known as my sofa). First of all I had a huge box of printed items delivered including a great big banner advertising my wedding photography, for wedding fayres and markets and so on. It's bigger than me. Remind me to take a silly picture illustrating that soon. I also got a free Hannah Millard Photography pen which is great, I love pens and lose them constantly. Surely I'll be able to keep this one? There are also some greetings cards and so on that I am going to try and find a place for in some local shops (this would make a nice segway into today's Camera Explorer post but there'smoreexcitementfirst. Maybe I'll find another smooth link into it shortly...)


The other exciting thing is that due to a potentially brain-meltingly exciting email I received yesterday I have to be in London first thing Monday morning. I love going to London. I'll eat yummy food and demonstrate utter mastery of public transport. Maybe I'll buy a new pen. It'll be great.

Before I go, however, I have to find a smart, cool outfit and I am intending to go out and make some headway with that this afternoon. And, here comes the smooth link to today's Camera Explorer, luckily I have this shop pretty much on my doorstep:

Seamless link there, right?

AiRR Clothing opened in the last couple of weeks and it's absolutely lovely, as is the lady that runs it.
Hopefully we'll be working together on a fashion shoot soon, which is another exciting thing!

What's also exciting is that I am now about thirty seconds walk away from a shop that sells People Tree clothing as well as some other excellent brands (such as John Smedley and Crewe Clothing). Oh, pink and orange checkered dress - you shall be mine! Ditto stripy dress. Ditto pretty cardigan. Ditto... well, need I continue?

There's a great selection of menswear as well as womenswear and a selection of jewellery all laid out beautifully. It makes a perfect addition to Wirksworth's collection of independent local shops.

AiRR is located on Market Place in Wirksworth and opens 9.30-5.00 every day except Sundays and Bank Holidays when it opens 11.00-4.00

The full set of photographs can be viewed on my flickr here.

Camera Explorer - Bow @ the Printworks

This is the first post of a new feature on my blog! *insert mildly underwhelming fanfare/confetti bomb here*

I have been wanting to do this for a while. I absolutely love finding little shops, cafes and other amazing places and there is a wealth of them in my local area. From time to time I'll nip into places and take a few pictures of the things I find there and I thought that, seeing as I'm doing that anyway, I would write a little guide to the places I love.

So, without further waffling I'd like to introduce you to Bow @ the Printworks.

Tucked away on Cromford's Scarthin promenade Bow @ the Printworks is a miniature haven for shabby chic accessories, vintage crockery, soaps, gifts and more. Want a teapot birdhouse? Look no further. I came away with a lovely mug and some keepsakes for popping in the post with wedding contracts. I was heavily tempted by some travel journals and Cath Kidston letter paper and.. well, most things actually.

Google-based research tells me that you can also buy things online.

The final photos can be found here (flickr) or view all of them here (facebook).

Bow @ the Printworks
The Old Printing Works
Scarthin
Cromford
Derbyshire
DE4 3QF

Opening hours:
Wednesday-Saturday 10-6
Sunday 12-6

"I left my lady in the launderette..."

Gratuitous Belle and Sebastian lyrics there!

On Monday I was able to shoot with Teri in a lovely launderette on Friar Gate in Derby.

I am really, really pleased with how the photographs have turned out and can't wait to shoot with her again

Band Photography - LookiMakeMusic

On Sunday I made my way to Birmingham to take pictures of LookiMakeMusic.
It was good fun and ended in curly fries as most good things do.

Here are a couple of my personal favourites:

20th April 2010 - Baby Snapshots in Peli Deli

"The first of many trips to Peli Deli" I cooed at my housemate's week-old nephew.

I may just have a mini-gush about the Peli Deli for a moment. Tasty food, lovely people (who let me put some of my business cards out - hurrah!) and generally ace atmosphere. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone, if you find yourself in Wirksworth or Matlock you should definitely pop in. We spend a lot of time there as my housemate and I are coffee fiends.

Anyway, I met this adorable baby today and I'll hopefully be doing a "proper" shoot with him and his sister in a few weeks
.

Personal favourites so far

I don't intend to clog up this blog with loads of posts about old photos so I'm getting this out of the way. Here are some recent pictures that I am most proud of. My full portfolio can be viewed on my flickr account .



























So, with those out of the way I will now be posting about new photos, shoots and experiences. I can't wait!

About Me

The first camera I had was plastic and primary coloured and as big as my face with chunky buttons. That's not it in that photo, that appears to be some sort of ice cream tub boat that my five-year old self doesn't appear to be that pleased with. I was never any good at making things with my hands or drawing. I had some success with photos though. That first camera clicked through rolls of film swiftly, the rotating number dial always reaching its 24 exposure limit too quickly. When I grew out of My First Camera I went for disposables and tried and failed to make them last longer than a day each.

Then when I was a teenager my mum kindly bought me my first digital camera. Oh the excitement - 3 mega pixels! Photos on a computer! Printed out on A4 paper (complete with yellow lines from a faulty inkjet printer) just like that! I loved it. I even took it to school with me. That camera was barely ever out of reach and documented a number of my teenage years. When it eventually tragically broke I bought my next camera - my Fujifilm FinePix S5500. When I bought it I knew basically nothing about photographic techniques but over the years that I used the S5500 I slowly discovered manual focus and shutterspeed. I took pictures of fire spinners and thought I was the bees knees.

And so it was that photography was a hobby I enjoyed. I took lots of photos of friends, the official photographer of our parties and days out. I charted my son's first years thoroughly.

My next camera was my Canon Powershot G9, another step up but frustratingly limited. I understood a lot more about photography by this point and I wanted something bulky, with a big lens I could twizzle.

And so that brings me to now, taking photography seriously with a camera as big as my face with chunky buttons.