Where have I been?

You may have noticed how quiet I’ve been on the blogging and emailing front the last few months…. usually there’s a blog published every month, and an email going out to the mailing list every month, but I haven’t published anything since May, or sent anything since June!

Well, it’s been with good reason, I’ve been wonderfully busy and fully absorbed in the intensity of life outside of the digital world.

Firstly, I’ve had something quite big going on outside of work, something that’s totally not horsey, so I don’t really talk about it on my social media.

Outside of work and horses, I train in the sport of powerlifting, which means I aim to lift as much weight as possible in the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift, whilst staying in the movement parameters set by the sport. I’ve been training for this sport for the last 6 years, but this year I finally had the much needed shove from a friend to actually compete.
My first competition was back in February, where I won and gained a qualification to compete in the A/BPU British Full power championships in June.

Fast forward to June and I landed second place, with personal bests across all of my lifts (Squat 105kg, bench press 72.5kg, deadlift 150kg, for those who might be curious). That placing has given me a qualification for the AWPC World Championships. I still can’t believe it.

So those championships are next week, I compete on the 8th September, and my energy has been poured into an incredibly intense training regime over the last 8 weeks, I’ve been giving it everything I have and am seriously looking forwards to the phenomenal opportunity to represent my country in a sport I love.

So enough of my personal life, what’s been going on at SkyLimit Photography since May?

Well the main bulk has been executing a huge number of shoots, and finding new ways to connect with the kind of people I want to work with.

I’ve had the pleasure of doing multiple portrait shoot days at various yards, as well as running a handful of themed days at my own yard. It’s always such a pleasure to spend a day meeting so many different horses, showing the owners the process of creating these portraits, and then hearing their gasps of amazement when they see the final product.
There’s something really magical that happens within us when we see a beautifully executed, professional image of our horse, where all of a sudden they become this work of art that is still very much them, but with an additional flair of fantasy like a moment in a movie.

The last few months have also been busier than ever with branding shoots, shoots where we’re creating a selection of images for the purpose of social media content and advertising, that gtell the story of that person, their brand, their message, who they are, and what any particular featured product does for them.
From the outside looking in, this might seem like boring work, but I find it incredibly fun! I love working with different products and people, to find ways to make that product more interesting, to highlight certain features, to show it in a real life setting without the shot being mundane, adding that sparkle that a professionally shot image should have.
It’s the challenge of creating a visual story through one or more images, every shoot is so different and it really pushes me creatively to achieve this.

I’ve done a stupendous amount of miles travelling up and down the country, working in Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire, and Surrey - when I say I’m willing to travel, I mean it! The days have been long (One of my longest days consisted of a 6 hour round trip and 5 hours of shooting), but creatively I feel so expansive, it’s been wonderful.

I’ve noticed that this year, portrait shoots have been more popular than ever too! Last year, the Horse & Rider shoot package was my most popular by a country mile, but this year it’s switched and portraits have been the go to. I can’t complain about that, because I adore shooting portraits (They’re actually my favourite thing to do!).

It’s also been the year of the voucher - last Christmas was hugely popular for vouchers, people were gifting photoshoots to their loved ones left right and centre. And in my eyes, that’s one of the most thoughtful, personal gifts you can give (Also perfect for someone who has everything!!).
I’d like to take this moment to point out that we’re now only 3 months away from Christmas (Where the hell has this year gone!?), so if you were wanting to gift a voucher for Christmas and wanting to spread the cost, you could pay for it over 3 monthly instalment payments if you get in touch now.

Despite the outside world appearing to be falling apart (I’m trying not to pay too much attention to that), I’ve been really enjoying life in my own happy bubble, focusing on delivering my skills to the people who appreciate art, who just want gorgeous images of their beloved equines, and pouring my energy into building a beautiful universe that simply brings joy to those who I am fortunate enough to come into contact with.