Personal Claire Penn Personal Claire Penn

Rekindling...

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.  ~ Albert Schweitzer

The innocent cheeky face, the butter-wouldn't-melt smile, the big brown puppy dog eyes.... this is the face of a little-white-liar people....
 
A happy camper! ...the kind of woman who plans a weekend Glamping and tells you there's going to be electricity... assures you she has plenty of sausages.... and reassures you with her fail safe Navy Seal (or similar) tips on staying warm at night in freezing temperatures. 
 
This is also one of my best friends and I love her to bits.  
 
If it wasn't for Andrea, we (myself and the other girls from the Click Collective) would never have got our arses into gear and booked what we had all been talking about for weeks: a Click Collective 'CC' Glamping weekend away from it all to shoot, laugh, drink, plan, share, eat and just 'be' with our fellow shutter sisters.
Needless to say we forgave her, after all she did eventually find us electricity AND sausages (in fact she did the food shopping for everybody which was no mean feat). However the validity and effectiveness of her 'how to keep warm by wearing hardly any clothes when it's frosty as hell and you're sleeping under canvas' tips are still under investigation. 
 
Our little group, located in a secret bunker on the world wide web, consists of 28 female photographers from all over the UK. Wedding photographers, portrait photographers, event photographers, sport, food, nature, just for the love of it... we've pretty much got it covered.
 
We keep it small andprivate. It's a safe place to share, ask questions which we might not be so keen to ask in open forums and generally support one another. Some of us have met before, others haven't so we saw Glamp as the first of many opportunities to get together.  
 
We cooked in the wood fired bread oven, we made campfires, we sang 'gingangooley' (sp?!) and we sat out until the wee small hours. It was like we’d always lived just down the road from one another. Already firm friends before we even met. Not everyone could make it but they were there with us in spirit (we certainly thought so after a few glasses of the good stuff). 
 
Here's to the 2012 trip.  These are my photos from that amazing weekend in October, spent with a group of incredible women who have rekindled my inner spirit more times than I care to mention. xxxx
 

Day two: mini shoots, tent styling by Saddleworth Shindigs, cuddling the bloodhound pups on the farm, a dead bird hanging from a tree, a green fairy and a LOT of sparklers.

Aly, our very own green fairy, got into the true spirit of 'glamorous camping' in a dress she made herself... so she got her own mini photo shoot.
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And one photo I just have to share - not mine - taken by the green fairy herself...
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Venue: Readyfields Farm, Notts

Styling: Saddleworth Shindigs

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