Made U Look
July 2, 2013
I hope you enjoyed last week's Ask Me Anything post. It was a biggie but this one is just as beastly I'm afraid! I truly appreciate you all sending in all these questions and I hope my answers have been useful so far. Onwards...Read more...
Made U Look
June 25, 2013
People always say there are no original ideas. It's true, everything is a rehash of this or an offshoot of that. I actually did this once before but my babe Emma Case posted this Q&A blog post the other day and I really enjoyed reading it so I wanted to shamelessly rip off the idea and do it again! Thanks to everyone on Facebook and Twitter who asked a question. In fact I got so many of them that I'm going to split this into two parts and do another post same time next week. If you have any yourself, be sure to pop them in the comments and I'll try and include it as well!Read more...
September 4, 2012
Oh Dita you are so wise. There will always be someone, somewhere who doesn't agree with you or like what you do. But you know what? Screw 'em! The best lesson I've learnt through running my business is that I can't please everybody so I'm not going to waste my time trying.Read more...
August 21, 2012
Everyone reading this knows this don't they? You all understand that the best way to get the clients you really connect with is to showcase yourself and what you, and no one else, can do. Then why, for the love of god, are we all still shooting/designing/editing the same way?Read more...
August 15, 2012
Personally, and particularly in the wedding industry, I think there are times when 'working for free' is worthwhile. Mainly when it comes to collaborations with other suppliers for mutual gain or publicity (styled shoots etc), when it comes to building your portfolio (everyone has to start from somewhere) or when it comes to networking and building industry connections and allies. However I don't believe in discounting for customers or clients who just want to try their luck. I am a strong believer in thinking "what's in this for me?" if there is no money exchanging hands. That may make me sound hard-nosed and selfish but if I said yes to every project I'd have no money to eat (and erm... shop!) and no time for any paid work.Read more...
August 8, 2012
Over the past 7 months I've interviewed some of the most amazing and incredible people. It's been one hell of a trip! I've loved delving deeper into what makes these critters tick and sharing their wonderousness with you. I hope you've enjoyed the ride too. But from now on, I'm going to morph the Inspirations feature into sharing some of the most inspiring business/life realated titbits that I find on my travels around the interwebz. I hope you enjoy them. I'd personally like to print every single one of these things out and stick them up around my office. Who's with me?Read more...
July 25, 2012
I was introduced to the work of Austin Kleon by a reader who emailed me a link to his latest book, Steal Like an Artist, after attending my School of Rock workshop. She thought I'd like it (thanks Emily!) and she was right. I bought it straight away and devoured the whole thing in one sitting. Austin uses drawings and simple analogies to share his vision of what makes an artist... theft. Sounds controversial huh? Well it's not... it's awesome... and hugely enlightening. I'd enourage you all to go out and read it right now. I wanted to know more so I decided to interview the man himself... enjoy!Read more...
July 11, 2012
Gareth & I joke that we should change the name of The Green Room to The Lisa Devlin Room in honour of her services to guest posts! I'm always so thrilled when Lisa offers her insight into something as she's pretty much always spot on with her advice! With 20 years as a professional photographer under her photography ninja belt Lisa has got to be the perfect candidate for an Inspirations interview right? She runs the phenomenally successful Photography Farm, sells PhotoShop actions, shoots weddings all over the country... oh and she's the 2011 British Journal of Photography Wedding Photographer of the Year. NIIIICE!Read more...
July 4, 2012
Where on Earth do I begin introducing the made u look girls? These vivacious, ridiculous talented, infectious and crazily-generous women really do make my heart sing. After chatting to them online for years, I was exceptionally honoured to be able to shoot with them when I was in New York earlier this year. They flew all the way from California to do it and gosh... I owe them so much. They really did make me feel beautiful. If you're not inspired after seeing these girls' images and reading about their incredible journey... well there may be no hope for you. Christina, Alie & Marielle rock my frickin' world. I love them more than life itself and I really hope we get to hang out again one day...Read more...
June 27, 2012
Yesterday Gareth told me that I use too! many! exclamation! marks! He said it's like laughing at your own jokes (well... hell, I think I'm a hoot!) So he's probably not going to enjoy reading this intro because a gazillion exclamation marks are definitely required to convey to you just how much I love the girls I'm interviewing today (!!!!!!!) Laura & Emma run the amazing Fur Coat No Knickers, a vintage wedding dress shop in the heart of London. But this isn't any old vintage shop, oh no, the girls pride themselves in their attention to detail and attentiveness to all their brides. They're well known for how they 'pimp' each of their gowns to make it perfect for the individual girl. Whether it's shortening, nipping, tucking, letting in, letting out or it's adding petticoats, giant bows, straps or applique details... no detail is left out when making sure each and every one of their brides leaves with the wedding dress of their dreams.Read more...
June 20, 2012
"Elbie has no concept of what is real, and what is make-believe", wrote photographer Kirsty Mitchell in 2009. "She lives in la-la-land, and likes to spend her money on gardening wire and lipsticks. She spends her days ruining people’s hair because she is constantly emailing me about fairies and monsters, and leaves broken make up all over the place. She will stain your carpets with blue face paint and glue, and says 'happiness' a lot, and gets very excited about sparkly stuff." So apart from the ruining people's hair bit, this couldn't be more spot on about my friend Elbie. After stalking her work online for months, I finally plucked up the courage to email her to ask if she'd be available to work with me on a shoot. Luckily she agreed and we've been the best of friends ever since. Elbie is my go to girl for anything hair and make up related. With every shoot I do, Elbie is the first MUA I want to book. And after disastrous (and erm... expensive) hair dying results from Toni & Guy, Elbie has become my hair care saviour - regularly emailing me the next stage in my 'lets-get-Kat's-hair-healthy-again' regime.Read more...
June 13, 2012
Ruth Crilly was always a model I was aware of. With her trademark teeth and her ridiculously luscious blonde hair, I'd seen and admired her on billboards and in magazines for a long time. I'd even watched her early foray into modelling on the Channel 4 series This Model life (which, if you're in the UK you can see watch on 4OD). So you can imagine my surprise when, at a cover shoot for Wedding Magazine last year, I walked in to see Ruth getting made up! I'm not going to lie, I was slightly intimidated to meet her but I need not have been. She's a truly LOVELY person as well (gaah don't you just hate that!?)Read more...
June 6, 2012
While in New York last month, I was lucky enough to meet author and entrepreneur Chris Guillebeau through our mutual friend Megan. From our brief encounter I was enthralled by his story of traveling the world, writing books and - without wanting to sound like a big cliché- living the dream! Then, when I got home, I had an email from Chris saying how lovely it was so meet me and how great he thought my business was! Holy cow...Read more...
May 30, 2012
Following on from chatting to one of my favourite bloggers last week, I thought I'd follow suit with this edition of The Inspirations and speak to another incredibly inspiring blogger. Although calling Elsie Larson mearly a 'blogger' is doing her a huge disservice and is an understatement of epic proportions! She is a multifaceted business woman with mad skills. A master of multi-tasking she, alongside her sister and business partner Emma, runs a hugely successful blog (which current gets over 170,000 views a day!), owns a vintage clothing boutique, an online shop (where they sell their own line of dresses!)..oh she's also currently writing her first book! Way to make us feel lazy superwoman.Read more...
May 23, 2012
I discovered Naomi's blog, The Rockstar Diaries, in early 2009, when she published her wedding photographs. I immediately fell in love with her and her husband Josh's effortless style and achingly cool attitude. I loved the way they shared cute little stories about their life as newlyweds - getting married, setting up home, moving from New York to DC, getting their dog Kingsley, having their first child... It was all very unpretentious and honest and I felt connected with them instantly. So therefore I thought Naomi would be the perfect person to interview today. If you have a blog and you worry about what to share about yourself, then Naomi and her family are the perfect role models to inspire you.Read more...
May 16, 2012
I'm not calling today's interview an Inspirations interview because just the thought of me doing that make me die a little inside (!) However on returning from The States on Monday I realised I didn't have an interview lined up this week (whoops!) and on such a short lead time the only person I could turn to to get the answers back to me on time was...well...me. Thank you to everyone on twitter & facebook who helped this be a less cringe-worthy experience by submitting questions. If you have a burning question that I haven't covered then leave it in the comments and if I get enough I'll do another round of them soon!Read more...
May 9, 2012
This week I chat to Bran Cook of Motherbrown PR, all about her fabulous life and career (and she is fabulous!) She also was kind enough to share some invaluable PR tips with us too, I know you're gonna love this..Read more...
May 2, 2012
This week I'm honoured to be speaking to Miranda Eason, editor at You & Your Wedding. Despite being a wedding blogger, I'm still (and probably always will be!) a huge fan of magazines and so it was really exciting for me that Miranda was able to fit our chat into her extremely busy schedule! If you've been wanting to get into writing or working for a magazine, or thinking about getting your wedding business featured in a wedding magazine then read on...Read more...
April 25, 2012
Wedding photographer David McNeil and I have been friends for a long time, waaaay before I started my blog or he started shooting weddings. We worked together at the shopping channel and having someone, basically alongside me for the whole time I've run my business, has been pretty amazing. We've advised each other (David is notoriously brilliant at advice!) and seen each other grow into our businesses and make a success of our passions. It's been pretty magical really. We've shot together, we've traveled to Vegas together and we've learnt a serious amount of stuff about this crazy little industry of ours together. So, who better to interview this week than the man that I've seen start from diddly squat and grow into his business like a complete and utter pro?Read more...
April 18, 2012
Do you dream in chocolate? Then, surely you must be aware of the unequaled talented that is Choccywoccydoodah. Famous world-over for their creations in confection I am a huge fan, and even more-so now I've got to know the team behind the yummy personally. I'm was seriously excited to speak to Creative Director Christine Taylor as part of this series, and when you read through our chat below I just know you're going to fall in love with her too.Read more...