I think my calendar is broken.....
It must be.
I’m sure the last time I looked at it, which feels like only 5 minutes ago, it read 1st May.
It has to be broken, there’s no way it’s July already!
Rebrands and Product Photography
The last few months have been filled with photographing lots of lovely products. Ruff stuff have just been rebranded by the very talented Franzi from Ziska and I’ve had great fun providing the fresh new images which will be used on the revamped website.
I’ve also enjoyed working on the images for Arya Candles who are soon launching a mini range.
Dragon Boat Race
Amidst all of this, Fresh Start - New Beginnings, a charity I feel very passionate about, asked me to photograph their annual Dragon Boat Race. Every year, teams from different Suffolk Businesses take part to raise funds for the charity.
I spent most of the race in the rescue boat photographing the event from water level, which was a huge amount of fun.
And no, I didn’t fall out of the boat.
Fresh Start - New Beginnings
One of the great things about working for yourself is being able to give your time and use your skills to support worthy causes like FSNB
They provide a therapeutic service for children and young people who have reported being sexually abused. Their aim is to help them make sense of the confusion they feel, to teach them coping mechanisms for dealing with the difficulties they face and by focussing on their strengths moving them from victims to survivors.
Over the last two and a half years, I’ve photographed a number of their charity events, including an afternoon tea where, former Ipswich Town and England football player Keiron Dyer gave a raw and emotional account of the abuse he suffered as a child.
Also there as a guest speaker was Maggie Oliver, the former Greater Manchester Police Detective who exposed the Rochdale Grooming Scandal in late 2012. I was keen to meet her and was lucky enough to catch her for a few minutes chat before the tea party got underway.
The Maggie Oliver Foundation
Maggie is an amazing, inspiring lady who is not afraid to speak out about sexual abuse in young adults and children. The Maggie Oliver Foundation does similar work to FSNB and Maggie’s book ‘Survivor’ is due to be released on July 11th of this year. I was honoured when the publicity team asked if they could use some of the photographs I took at the FSNB afternoon tea for the book, the website and other social media platforms. I obviously said yes and I’m delighted that the images are being put to such good use.
If you’d like to attend the launch of The Maggie Oliver Foundation you can get tickets here or if you’d like to read Survivors, keep an eye on her website.
To donate to Fresh Start - New Beginnings and help children and young people who suffered sexual abuse, click here.
Now, to get that calendar fixed......