It’s been a year where I’ve been able to spread my creative wings and take on more editorial and commercial work – and more charity work to help causes important to me.  I’ve worked with truly incredible vendors who have trusted me to showcase their beautiful work.

It was a year where I’ve marvelled at the incredible importance of what I’m blessed enough to do, with photographs, in holding memories for families who have lost loved ones, seeing babies I photographed go off to school and I’ve felt humbled watching the strength of one of my families who are battling cancer with amazing grace.

I get to capture connections, I get to capture emotion, I get to capture precious moments in time, I get to capture realness…. I’ve shed tears, lost hair, lost sleep, not to mention lost my marbles a few times – but I’ve had so many smiles and so much laughter too – I pour my heart and soul into what I do and I can’t thank you all enough for your incredible support, and for opening up your homes and lives to me…

Enjoy some of my favourite moments….

Thank you for an incredible year – I can’t wait to see what 2012 brings….

with love, thanks and blessings and peace for 2012, Kirsty xxxx

Yet again I had to resort to doing our Christmas cards on the self timer – but we had a lot of fun doing them… here are just a few of the results and a pretty amusing video showing the making of it all….

Hope you enjoyed – have a wonderful holiday season – and see you all in 2012,

Kirsty xxxx

The day started with an early morning photo shoot and I took a few moments to capture these on the way…..

I got home to find that Ivor, our Elf had not only toilet papered the tree which was sitting waiting for us to decorate – but he’d also gagged a nutcracker – my crossness at Ivor melted when the girls told me they thought he was probably just trying to help us decorate and didn’t know what to use – love how they see good in everything

Once we cleared up Ivor’s mess we started our own decorating..

She loves nutcrackers – her Nainai gave her this one last Christmas and she took more care with this one decoration than all the others put together….

And in the afternoon Indy went to a pony party at the stables – she was so proud to ride a horse….

See, told you it was hotchpotch – but some days are just like that – and December seems to be a hotchpotch month this year – I live in hope that life will calm down once school breaks for the holidays next week – maybe I’ll exude more calm for my January Project 10…

In the meantime, pop over and see Val Spring of the Red Balloon Photography – she left hers to the last minute too but hers is a million times less crazy and chaotic than mine…. I’ll see you in 2012 for another installment, Kirsty xx

If you’ve followed this blog you’ll have seen something of the UAE and the celebrations of National Day before here and here.

This week has been filled with parties, fly pasts, concerts, singing, dancing, competitions, fireworks and the whole city has taken on an air of celebration.

If you’re on my Facebook page you’ll have seen my girls all dressed up for their school party and getting into the fun of the celebrations.

For us it’s more than a 1 day party – this is the country where one of my children was born and she’s incredibly proud of it – and just as we celebrate Chinese New Year for Saffy who was born in China, we are thrilled to be part of the celebrations for National Day here in the UAE for Indy.

She may not be Emirati, but UAE will always be part of her identity. 

The girls indulged me a little photo shoot for 5 minutes after school while they were still dressed up in their kandora’s and with some of the gifts they’d been given by their Emirati class mates.

These are just outside our flat – we live slap bang in the middle of the most congested area of town – it’s not the prettiest part but we love it here

So, to all my fabulous friends – Happy National Day – hope you’re getting into the spirit of the celebrations (yes, we even have flags on our car!) and enjoying the long weekend… until next time, Kirsty x

when I was looking back through this years clients I could hardly believe I’d not shared them..

are they just adorable or what??

I hope you’ve all settled back into life in England and have happy memories of Abu Dhabi hanging on your walls

I could have shared all the pictures from their shoot I loved them so much but I’ll be back to share some more client gorgeousness soon, Kirsty x

The day started off gently with some lounging around…

before we set off on the journey… (yes they are the worlds biggest chapatis from the bakery by our home!)

When we got there things didn’t work out as we hoped – some things we wanted to do we couldn’t, but we did manage to get to Ras Al Khor, a wetland site in the middle of Dubai, to see the flamingos (and to check out how crazy big the Burj Khalifa looks compared to the rest of Dubai!).I worked on a Ramsar site back in Hong Kong so I was really excited to see another big city Ramsar site – I have to say, I was a little disappointed – but the kids loved playing with the binoculars and seeing all the birds

And then we headed down towards the creek to explore some galleries and have a rest and a drink

These girls will take any space and turn it into a dancing stage!!!

We rounded the day off with a trip to the Dubai Mall (the worlds biggest mall no less, and believe me it felt like half the world were in there!!) and dinner at the rainforest cafe, before heading to see the fountains, which we couldn’t see through the crowds!! Ah well, something for us to do another time… and here’s proof that even photographer Mummies break out their pop up flash sometimes, and take the cheesy tourist shot!!!

Now head on over to see what Hope has been up to this November,

Kirsty x

I did my shooting for the project on Saturday – hubby works Saturdays so we always have a bit of a girlie day but usually along pretty similar lines each week – it starts with a long lie in before breakfast and getting ready for the girls various dancing classes….

After class we often head to the mall to do some errands – sometimes the girls twist my arm to have Starbucks for lunch, or maybe ice cream – this week Starbucks won… and there was a giveaway of Roald Dahl books at our favourite bookshop… Saturdays usually include some afternoon quiet time reading stories together so we headed home with their new books – yes, I persuaded them to get George’s Marvellous Medicine – it was my favourite as a kid!!

Afternoons are often spent making something healthy to go in the girls lunchboxes for the week… this week banana loaf… 

And then we tackle homework, if there’s any left to be done, and before we know it the day’s over and Daddy’s home

And all too quickly Saturday is over and we’re getting ready for school again on Sunday….. now head on over to see what Jennifer over in sunny Santa Barbara, California has been up to….

Until next month, Kirsty x

This month was a semi-typical Friday for us -Friday is the holy day in this part of the world so it’s hubby’s day off (yes, his only day off boo hoo) so when I’m not out on an early morning shoot this is how we typically are – just hanging out at home, (because this time of year it’s too hot to go out and hang out outside), and maxing out our precious family time together!

If I wake up and my girls aren’t in bed snuggling beside me I can almost guarantee they’re snuggled up together in one of their beds – I’m so happy to have captured this – Saffy’s taken to reading stories in bed to Indy in the mornings…They dress themselves in whatever they want – which does admittedly mean sometimes I come home from a shoot to find some odd clothing combinations! And Daddy gets the fun jobs on a Friday, like brushing hair!!  (Extra note: Saffy says she’s going to stop sucking her thumb when she starts Year 1 – that’s last week )

Lunch, followed by a very intensive session doing the hair on all their Fulla dolls!

Anyone with a 3 year old in their home will know this scene – most days involve dress up at some time, playing happily, being a pretty little ladybird, fluttering around and passing the time – and then bam – tantrum – it’s the end of the world!

But all’s OK cos we finish up with pizza and movie night – it was “Despicable Me” that day – a big fave, though you wouldn’t know it looking at our glum faces!!! – and yes, I snuck in there at the end (one of the requirements of the Project)!

And that’s us… for more Project 10 loveliness head on over to see what the wonderful Jobrina Hofleit was up to this month …..

Until next month, Kirsty x

I’ve mentioned before how I love the quietness and calm that spreads across the city during Ramadan – that I love that we get to spend more time together as a family and my hubby is home earlier. It’s a quiet time for my business too with it being summer and so hot outdoors and that allows me to work on some other things. Every year I challenge myself to a Ramadan photo project (although I never actually got around to posting it last year – oops). This year was simple – after the fun of capturing my family on my iphone for my Project 10 last month – I decided to capture snaps of Ramadan on my iphone too. Sometimes it’s fun to just take photography back to its bare bones – where the things that make a great photo are not your about your settings or your camera, but about choice of subject, use of lighting and composition. So, here are some of the things I found interesting this Ramadan, via my iphone…

I have a real love of patterns and food, so pictures of dates and sweets are the kind of things that make me smile. We also went to Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque for iftar as we do every year and every year the building amazes me more. We spent time at the beach where we could hear the prayer call echoing out across the city right as the sun went down. 

I hope you all have a wonderful few days with your families. I’ll be up and running and taking bookings again soon  (with some changes in my fees due to a change in family circumstances – keep on eye on my Facebook page for more on that).

Eid Mubarak to one and all, Kirsty x

I think you’ll agree Hilary made a stunning bride?And er… hello Jimmy Choo!!

Hilary and her Dad, about to walk down the aisle – this was how relaxed and happy the day was…

The confetti – so much confetti!!!! And off we went, for some Abu Dhabi portraits and a little alone time (well as alone as you can be with me stalking you with a camera!!!) for Hilary and Steve.

The bling!!

I LOVE these two – can you feel the happiness? Thank you so much to your families for making me so welcome and involving me in your big day – and I hope the Maldives were amazing!!! Kirsty x