Monthly Archives: March 2013

Dick Willows Farm Shop

This past week I had the opportunity to go to my first farm shop, since relocating back to England.
Dick Willows is forty minute walk from our house making it quite convenient.
Sadly Dick Willows is leaving its location just as I find this gem.  
The silver lining being that while they are here everything is currently 30% off.
On Friday I was taken here by my friend Libby and we browsed around, 
enjoyed a chai latte with scone, and then picked up a few food items. 
She also introduced me to how amazing the combination of 
chutney, cheese, and bread/crackers and how delicious it can be.
So the following day, despite the heavy cold rain, I dragged my family back with me.
It ended up being lovely despite the weather conditions.
The boys had a lot of fun browsing the antique section
as they hunted for treasures to purchase.
Ronan finally settled on a cool dark red dragon figure.
I found some vintage fabric for which I plan to make couch pillows.
Maddox picked up vanilla fudge and Ryan found his cider.
You can actually come to Dick Willows and do cider tasting.  
I should add that if you are in the Bath area you can still purchase the cider
from the weekend market in town. 
All in all it was a great two days out and I am still
quite gutted that its closing down.
Yes. The cider is really that bright orange.
It tastes quite yummy too.

Weekend Letter: ‘Never Want to Leave’

‘I Know I say this every time we go out (on a country walk). But I  never want to leave.” – Ryan, my husband
My letter for this weekend is getting out much later than I would have liked, 
but we were out most of the afternoon.  
If you read my blog you will know that my family loves 
to go on country walks in our home of Bath, England.  
Today was supposed to be a short walk followed by a play at the park.  
However yesterday we got poured on 
and it made trekking through the mud today hard to resist.
With hunter wellies on and coats for the chilly air,
my family of four enjoyed being outside and getting a little dirty.
The quote above was spoken by my husband to me while we started our journey.
I love seeing him so happy.
I cannot remember him every being this in love with a place before.
When you ask your love to move out of country for you,
you just cross your fingers and hope it is going to work.
Even though the two of us will have been in country two years this coming May
we find ourselves in a continual honeymoon state.
Maybe this is what happiness and contentment feels like
when you are not having to move every couple of years.
I like learning new things about life like that. 
Like how my husband now has a new fondness for crossword puzzles.
How working in England has trained him to spell things the ‘English’ way.
For example adding that extra ‘u’ or using an ‘s’ instead of a ‘z’.
My boys are assimilating too.
I have to admit its hard to get cross at your son at dinner
when instead of stating ‘i hate ______’
he says politely ‘I am not keen of ______’
To which I will return with, 
‘Thats nice, but finish your food.’
It has been a lovely weekend with my family and I look forward
to all the weekends to follow.
From my family to yours, 
have a great Sunday!
xx
B.

Self Portrait Saturday: ‘Hold to Memory’

This morning as my boys came into our room asking when breakfast would be ready,
I was clinging to the remnants of the dream from which I had been awoken.
Next came little fingers playing on their daddy’s mandolin
and from there any further sleep was but a dream.

Inspired by my morning here is this week’s Self Portrait.

Self Portrait by Bonnie Rose Photography © 2013 All Rights Reserved | www.bonnie-rose.co.uk
Do you take self portraits? Or do you participate in Self Portrait Saturday?  
Comment below I would love to take a look at your photographs. :)  
Have a great weekend my blog friends and make sure to check out
 the Huge March Giveaway! You could win big!
xx
B.

*All photographs belong to Bonnie Rose Photography. If you are interested in any of my body of work or in booking a session please contact bonnie@bonnie-rose.co.uk

Artwork by my son, a Third Culture Kid.

TCK (Third Culture Kid) Ramblings: 

You know you’re a TCK from multi cultural background 
when your brain instantly blurts out appropriately answers 
in languages you now seldom use. 
Tonight for me it was German. 
Last week it was Thai.” 
– Bonnie Rose

Third Culture Kids.  Artwork by my own little TCK, Ronan (age 7) © 2013

Italy and the Path Less Taken

Having spent a significant part of my childhood in Italy has left

an equally significant part of my heart in Napoli.  
It meant so much to share this corner of the world
with the man I love and with whom I share life. 
I cannot wait to bring my sons home to Italy
To watch their eyes light up as they taste pizza.
To which Napoli is the birthplace.
Though I may be biased I always recommend Napoli as a travel destination.
There are so many sightseeing stops for tourists.
The islands of Capri, Ischia, and Procida. The coast drive of the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento.  
Mt. Vesuvius, Pompeii and Herculaneum. Not to mention all the museums and churches.
Sometimes its about taking a more organic approach to traveling
which gives you a more rounded experience in another country and culture.
Take the path less traveled or not traveled at all.  
One of my good friends Liisa, from our time together in Hawaii,
was living in the heart of Napoli last summer when we visited.
She took us on a walk I had not experienced in my time growing up in that city.
It was on narrow pathways up to the top by way of many cobbled steps.  
There was both beauty and destruction to be found.
Art to behold in many facets on our walk.
I was constantly snapping photographs with my camera
just to remember and nto let any details get missed.
We saw some posters of a self portrait put up by a local photographer my friend knew.
Remnants of old mixed in with the fingerprints of the modern world.
To top it all off was the stunning view from the top before we made our way down.
The bay of Napoli with Mt. Vesuvius in the background.
Perfection not to be missed.

*All photographs belong to Bonnie Rose Photography © 2013 All Rights Reserved | www.bonnie-rose.co.uk
** If you are interested in using photographs or for more information about photographic services, contact bonnie@bonnie-rose.co.uk 

London Fashion Week


London Fashion Week: A Photographer’s Perspective
I have a special surprise for you today! A guest blog post by fashion photographer Gareth Gregg of SunshineLens photography.  Gareth recently had the opportunity to work at London Fashion Week.  I was so thrilled for him and asked if he take some time to share some of his wonderful photography with you all.   He has graciously obliged and has taken a unique perspective and shared his experience as a photographer at LFW.

I hope you enjoy the sweet surprise and a great lead up to Bristol Fashion Week post which I will share with you at the end of the month!

Without further adieu I leave you with Gareth.
— Bonnie Rose

London Fashion week consists of two 5 day events each year that showcase collections by some of the world’s foremost designers.  It is one of 4 fashion week events that run one after the other.  For me I was just shooting London as do most. But for some they shoot the whole season leading to some very tired and grouchy photographers! 

My brief for LFW AW13 (we work a season ahead) was to work within the Courtyard space in Somerset House. Somerset house is a beautiful building which I guess you could term as being the main building for LFW.  Within its large courtyard they erect a temporary building which houses the main Catwalk along with backstage and the Photographers media lounge. Within Somerset house itself you have various exhibitions, coffee shops, as well as other rooms for smaller catwalk shows. 
Working within the courtyard space is prime spot and where most of the main shows exist. It is also fantastic for ‘Street Style’ photography. For this part of the fashion show the photographers brief is almost as important as shooting the shows themselves. It is either candid or posed and is an element of shooting catwalk that I love. I will show you a few of these shots later on.

For kick off im going to show you some pics from the Felder Felder show. I love this show as the clothes are stylish and elegant.  The models were awesome, which of course gave way to some great shots:


I took these shots at the top of a three step ladder right at the back of the pit. As it is very high and you can shoot down upon the models, it is a cool angle to get some really awesome shots. At the end of the day though you are standing at the top of a step ladder which gets a touch tiresome.  Seeing as I am a touch on the clumsy side, I could so see myself being launched into a sea of photographers. The following days I ended up placing myself much closer to the front.  Almost on the floor it is a bit more chilled and I prefered the shots. Just personal preference. Here are a few shots from the Issa show of which I adored:


Here are some shots from the Jasper Conran Show. This was also awesome. They have laid a red plastic covering along the catwalk which gave a wicked effect:


When  people ask about what it is like to shoot at London Fashion Week I talk about the dynamics between the photographers. Everyone gets on so well and makes the effort to talk to each other. However nothing gets in the way of the need to get a good shot.  Quite often photographers will stand in the way of your camera. It happens all the time and you really have to be prepared to have an argument to hold your place! Funny thing is that all the time you hear this going on but nearly always it ends with everyone laughing a little and giving way to each other so we can all get our jobs done. 

With the following sets of shots, which are from the David Nova show, I managed to get an absolute prime spot for shooting. As said before fashion week runs from Friday to Tuesday.  On Thursday the photographers can go in and mark up their spaces. This gives you an opptortunity to lock in a space in the pit. It is essentially a square on the floor in the photographers area with your name on it.  If your name is there and you arrive to find someone else is in your spot, you can ask them to move. It is a gentleman’s agreement between photographers.  It is not like if they refuse to move you can go grab security.  But it is just simply what you do. I did not have a space marked up but its rare that everyone is there at the same time.  You can nearly always get a spot to shoot during the shows. As I was saying though, with the David Nova show, I saw the spot and grabbed it.  As you can see from the shots I am pleased that I kept it!


I love it when they really do up the catwalk set. Look at the following shots and you will see what I mean. The blue strip lights at the back really shine off the catwalk and reflect giving a wonderful effect. I loved this show by Osman:


I mentioned earlier about Street Style photography. This is basically shooting well dressed people over fashion week.  It is really important and as a photographer I love it.  It gives you the chance to indulge in street photography without someone moaning at you because you have taken their picture. All these people want to be snapped.  Best of all you can stop them in the street and get advise their posing to get the shot.


I really cannot wait till next year. Although I had the full pass some of the larger shows you still have to gain approval from the designers PR agency.  Come September I will make sure I get some emails sent off, to get a pass and shoot some of the really big designers. 

Big thank you to Bonnie for asking me to guest blog for her website! 

– Gareth Gregg

*Images with courtesy of Fashionbite
** Connect with Gareth at SunshineLens Photography.
***I do not own these images. If you have any questions please contact either of the above parties. 

My favourite Hairspray: White Sand’s Liquid Texture

Both in the salon and outside the salon I get asked frequently about what products are good on the hair, how to get the results desired, and how to achieve the same ‘in the salon’ look with ease at home. In my mind it is not about selling products to clients but fulfilling a trust set that if I recommend something  that it lives up to my words. In the last ten years that I have been in the business of Hair, I have worked with and used a lot of different brands and hair companies.  There have been many different products that are quite similar and go off of personal preference and taste.  Though there are others that stand out for me one of kind that often get referenced in conversation about hair.  One such product I have seen used on the stages of hair exhibits at trade shows to clients in the salon.  Liquid Texture by White Sands has ‘raised the bar for hair spray because it can be combed through and has incredible memory to provide long-lasting designs without regard to humidity’.  What I love about this product is you get the shine and the softness desired, but with a really great lasting hold you require.  It works off heat to set in the style, and is what activates the shine. But the product does not stop there.  It has been a long time favourite product on location with models because I can push their hair across creative bounds for the look needed, and comb out the look after we are done.  For a product to have such hold and be brushed out with out flakiness is not something I see all that often in the product world. Which makes it a great working hair spray for brides.  Rock the updo or hair up style and then have the flexibility for a change of styles for the reception and ‘let your hair down’. I will use a setting spray afterwards on shoots when we are dealing with wind and the elements, but for normal circumstances you are all set to go with just the working hair spray, Liquid Texture. Besides it smells great and thats just the icing on the cake.
Taylor Beck, Tammy Cagle
Behind the scene photographs above via: Bonnie Rose: www.bonnie-rose.co.uk
Two photos from the shoot by photographer BJ Formento: www.formento2.com
Product image from White Sands: www.whitesandsproducts.com/