50mm 1.4 repair

About a month ago, my Canon 50mm 1.4 lens suddenly stopped working on me. No auto focus or manual focus, nothing. I was horrified - this is my favourite lens and I use it for nearly all of my work.

So naturally, I went to my insurance company to file a claim. I posted the lens off to them, they rang me back and due to my excess, quoted me £200 for the repair. I got it sent back to me, pretty sure that Canon do it cheaper. And they do. I sent my lens off to them, and got a quote of £105!

So whose fault is this? Do I send an angry letter to the insurance company? Or is it out of their hands as they outsource their repairs? Either way, somebody is making money by taking advantage of peoples' desperation and it's not fair.

Moral of the story: if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, I beg of you to get more than one quote!

But on a lighter note, here is a celebratory self portrait taken with my newly-repaired 50mm..

Bluebell photo day with Amber-Rose Smith

On Easter Friday I took the train to see my super-lovely friend Amber for the first time in ages. I love meeting up with her - we chat for hours about nerdy things and take photos until our arms ache and our cards fill up!

Amber took me to a beautiful location right next to her home which was just full of bluebells, I'd never seen that many or been more excited to shoot in a location in my life! The light was perfect and Amber looked lovely as always and I am absolutely thrilled to bits with the photos I came away with.

Here are a few of the shots Amber took of me - keep your eyes peeled for lots more from this day on her BLOG and FLICKR!




And finally, a few behind the scenes shots!

Mini shoot with Lizzie

My sister is entering a modelling competition and at the weekend, as I promised, I shot some photos of her for her entry. I know I am probably being super boring with all the blossom photos I have been uploading recently, but I just can't resist shooting it!

Spring in film

After being kindly informed by Katie Eleanor that you could by film in Poundland (!), I couldn't resist giving it a go. I don't usually shoot in film a lot because of the expense of processing, but I'm definitely considering incorporating a bit of film work into future shoots after seeing the results of this super-cheap test roll.

All pictures shot with the equipment pictured below, Canon AE-1 and FD 50mm 1.8 and Kodak ColourPlus 200.

Sea breeze

This is the lovely Charlotte Godfrey, who I managed to squeeze in a little shoot with whilst I stayed in Norwich with my friends last month. The weather was absolutely appalling, but Charlotte was an absolute trooper, she worked through it all and didn't complain once. I am so excited to work with this lovely lady again!