It's Back

Well after many headaches and cursing, the Catkin Studio website is back up and running so if you know anyone who might be looking for a Wedding Photographer, please send them my way! http://www.catkinstudio.com

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Update

>Finally figured out what needs to be done, very esoterical... Catkinstudio.com will be up and running by monday!

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Notice!!

Just to let you know, the Catkin Studio Website is down at the moment, my host is being a... well you fill in the blank.

If you need to email about your wedding, please use: michelle (at) michellejones.co.uk ((just replace (at) with the @ symbol))

So sorry about this, I'm working on getting it up as fast as I can.

Thank you for your patience.

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The Things I do for Fun

As you may already know (the title gives it away somewhat) my main job is being a photographer... So for fun, as my hobby, I do Bushcrafting.

If you don't know what Bushcrafting is, well, it's basically a back to basics camping style with emphasis on self suffiency and knowledge of the plants and trees and what their properties are.

For example: did you know that a silver birch is a very useful tree... The bark is very flammable, the sap can be drunk straight from the tree or make into wine, the leaves contain a compound called saponin and can be used like soap!

 Every year, we go on something called a 'Bushmoot' which is a gathering on 200 or so people from all over the country and from abroad as well. We meet up for about a week, share skills such as flint knapping, bow drill fires, knots and much much more.



This is Scot's corner, where most of the Scots gather at night to drink a few bevvies and generally have a laugh and sometimes a sing song.

A map of the site. It's a very large site, a map is useful!



We cook over an open fire, as you can see here, the hanging thing on the right is a frying pan. That's my mum in the background, sawing wood for the fire.


The green thing in the middle of the picture is a hammock, we sleep in those and they are soooo comfy. The tripod and sack on the left is a chair.


Yup, that's my sister up in the tree, they are very into the woods.


Smoke through the trees, it's so peaceful and relaxing.


The lady in the foreground is making a spoon and the man in the background is making a net.


I ran a photography course last year and again this year, it's a pretty popular course.




I'm in the green top here, we are discussing the different effects you can get by just changing your white balance.
Overall it's a mental week, you are up most nights till about 2am just chatting with people and friends you haven't seen for a very long time. I love bushcraft!

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Ludlow Treasure Hunt

Every year the Local Methodist Church hosts a treasure hunt for the parishioners, I went last year and had a great time so I went again this year and it didn't dissatisfy!



Going under the bridge... looking for red dots!

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Borth Trip

This year I went to Borth, nr Aberystwyth in Wales with my Glow Productions Friends. We had a fantastic time, even though the weather was against us from the beginning... To begin with, we arrived and it was overcast, not raining yet, but as soon as we got the tent out ready to put up, it started to rain and didn't really stop after that...




The first night, I'm looking rough!

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A walk through the Woods

Went for a walk in the woods and took a video... enjoy!

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If you go down to the Woods today...

Went for a lovley walk last night with my mum in the local woods, it was still light when we set out but on the way back the sun started to set. I took my little point and shoot with me, which I bought for occasions like this and I was glad to have it!




Some bare and creepy roots

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The right way to do it...

_MG_8905_6_7_8_9_tonemapped copy, originally uploaded by Rory B.

This is a tone mapped / HDR image from Rory B on flickr.

I have seen some awful HDR images, mostly of landscapes and they are waaaay too ver saturated/processed/murdered but this is one of my favourite examples of how to do it properly...

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Clare and Richard :: Wedding

Clare and Richard (Gibbo) Gibbs got married at Bromsgrove Holiday Inn on the 12th of June 2010.

Richard is a drummer and the cake topping was just... wow! how cool is that?!


I thought this was epic... it's photographs of the two sets of parents on their wedding day, just lovely!


Clare wanted a pic of her and her bridesmaids before the wedding and the room was so nice I decided to take it in the room.
Clare and her girls look absolutely gorgeous, the green dresses really work well and give the whole wedding a lovely summery feeling, great choice!

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