Inspiration : Holly Webber

Ok so, up until now, my "inspiration" blogs have been about photographers that inspire me. Well I was lucky to meet and shoot a truly inspirational person a couple of weeks ago. Holly Webber is one of those people you meet who has a true zest for life. She's happy and makes you smile.

So what makes her so inspirational? Well sure, she has the same trials and tribulations as any other 25 year old. In fact, as I write this, she's complaining of a cold, complete with "dripping nose". She has dreams of a house in the country, marriage and children. The kind of dreams anyone else might have. Unfortunately, in January 2010, Holly was diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer, and it's now terminal.

If you met Holly, you seriously wouldn't have a clue what she's going through. Her energy and spirit are awesome. Everyone moans and complains about so many things in life. Well Holly has shown me just how precious life can be... make the most of it!

Smiling and the Pursuit of Happiness

I've been doing a lot of looking inward at myself lately, working out my various flaws and how I can achieve all the things I want to achieve. Last year I spent far too much time telling myself that life isn't fair, and complaining that I don't get the same breaks as other people. Well life isn't fair, deal with it. You can't always change the things around you, at least not instantly, but you can change yourself. One thing I noticed is that I'm often not "happy". That's not to say I'm always miserable, but more often than not, I'm just "ok"... which is fine. But I don't want to be just fine... I want to be happy! We all do, don't we?

Well surely if good things happen, they make you happy, so the key is to make good things happen. Well things aren't always gonna happen how you want them to, so that route is probably going to be a bit hit and miss. Plus, you keep hearing about all these lottery winners and the like who are miserable. Well that's not the outcome I'm looking for!

The Next Generation

We always want to work with the best people we can. The people at the top. The ones you read about in books and magazines. Well unfortunately, a lot of the time they only come with big budgets, unless you happen to have a long standing relationship with them. However, everybody starts somewhere, and there's always a new generation of awesomeness on every horizon!

Danielle Ciullo needed a photographer to help out with her final project for her Fashion Promotion BA (Hons) at the University for the Creative Arts, which was where I studied back when it was the Surrey Institute of Art & Design, in Farnham.

People I Work With : Gabriella Ciullo

Gabby's great to work with. Not only is she an awesome make-up artist, but she's also one of the happiest people I know and always has a smile on her face!

We're worked together on a range of shoots, and each time we create something different and new. It's this that makes things so exciting.

Studying at the London College of Fashion, Gabby has a degree in "Specialist Make-Up for Fashion and Editorial". This, combined with experience working with some of the country's top photographers makes her extremely versatile, both in skill and creativity.

Gabby and I first met at an industry networking night in mid 2010, but for one reason or another, didn't get to work together until early this year. Suffice it to say, we've made up for it since then, and will undoubtedly work on many more awesome projects in the very near future!