We've Moved!>

After purely having a lot on my personal plate since Christmas, I asked myself a bit of a reflective question before bed. I literally had so much resistance in the form of family stuff and actual bad luck I started to think this might have actually been a sign to from the universe or something because literally nothing was going right for me at the start of the year. I basically wanted to know if I was still on the right path and asked for an answer by the end of next week. That night I had a dream that was incredibly vivid and was of a particular event I'd heard of on the net.

After my dream, I asked some of my facebook girls - I'd not kept any info as the event tickets were £1000 for a standard ticket... Not the kind of money I typically have lying around and certainly not for a two day event - I hadn't even spent that much in Thailand in 3 weeks! It turns out the event was actually that coming week and I had even met someone in the events team who told me I could come and help on the event if I wanted to. Why not, I thought. I'd get paid, follow my dream and go on a bit of an adventure at the same time. I organised somewhere to kip for the night, thought I'd pack my camera too then hopped on a train. Off I went.

I mainly helped out on event registration and sold some books written by the super lucky and rich Denise Duffield-Thomas on the event breaks but I did get to listen to some of her talk which did make me giggle. What struck me here was that in this room, which was full of about 200 or so women - and not just any women, but successful and ambitious entrepreneurs, is that they seemed pretty normal too. Being at this event, made me realise that if these ladies can be super successful and rich enough to fork out £1000 for an event ticket, then maybe it wasn't so far out of my reach either. I'd always imagined a different kind of successful type of woman to be honest - and not one that skipped around in cherry DMs and a cheeky grin.

After I left the event, I found there was bus on the next road which went directly to where I would be sleeping that night. Woohoo! I was staying with Carmina who I'd met working at summer camp about 14 years ago - my first job after finishing uni. Carmina, who is now living in the big smoke is originally from Canada and decided to make the move to London a few years ago to pursue a career in acting. I turned up at about 11.30 pm with wine and flowers and we stayed up chatting for a bit. She casually dropped into the conversation that she needed some new photos and was looking for something a little different than the usual casting head shots as she wanted something for her social media, coming YouTube channel and burgeoning business - "You don't happen to have your camera, do you?"

We didn't really have a plan that next lunchtime, we just scooted about London in the hour or so before I my return train (I had to get back to meet a potential couple about a wedding that evening). It started raining. We didn't care. I quickly found the London equivalent of a pound shop (i.e. A £5 shop), full of all sorts of tat and hunted for an umbrella. This rain was not going to get in our way! By a stroke of luck, after a bit of hunting, I found a purple brolly which matched her outfit perfectly, so off we went, walking through north London high streets, hopping onto buses and walking along the canal making out way slowly towards Kings Cross station. I'm well pleased with the shots as is she. Cheeky, cute and full of personality is what she wanted, and is exactly what we got. Hurrah!

Shortly after returning, someone posted a photo / meme in a facebook group I'm in, which I thought was great, so I left a comment. The lady who posted it said she'd love to have a shoot like that once she had her tattoos finished and I replied that I'd really love to do that for her. She asked me where I was based, I replied that I lived in the north of England but I had just literally come back from a shoot in London. Now she lives in Bulgaria but said she comes to London a lot and said she'd be in touch about a shoot when she's finished her tattoo sleeve. Boom! Then later on in that post, a lady from NYC left me this comment: "Marie-Claire - I just checked out your site and 1. I love it, 2. I love you and 3. wish you were in New York! If you ever make a trip, let me know!" Double Boom!

Then finally, one business lady who I think is pretty awesome and inspirational asked me, in the exact same thread, if I photographed events as well as portraits, to which I replied - "THAT'S WHAT I SPECIALISE IN!!!" She then told me I'd be perfect for an event she was putting on in the summer, sent me details of what she was planning and she actually sounds like my ideal client - triple boom!

It seems by casually saying I'd just come back from a trip in London, I've met business women who are part of my crazy-assed tribe - even if none of these particular incidents actually lead to photography jobs, I know that my kind of people are actually out there spread all over the world and they do want to work with me. Not bad considering I love travelling!

Soooooo, I think that dream pretty much means: keep at it darling, even when the shit hits the fan. Go with the flow and keep being bat shit crazy! And maybe I'm also even a bit psychic or magic or something haha! Ok, feel free to lock me up now!

Anyway, enjoy the pics of the very beautiful Carmina. She was a joy to work with in the pouring rain on a completely unplanned shoot with absolutely no preparation and no research. It goes to show that you never really know what will happen - so go forth with positivity and a big fat smile! I love my life, you know :) xxx

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I had a dream...