Its been a little while since my last blog post and today I’ve found myself itching to get back into writing mode after the Christmas break. After a very personal-life-heavy 2014 schedule, what with moving house, travelling and various other bits and pieces, it feels great to be settled back into some sort of routine again – or at least as routine as being a self-employed freelancer can ever be! Making January Count has been my personal mantra for the last few weeks and has given me the motivational boost to work my ass off and make plans for the year ahead, with the goal of giving Tigz Rice Studios its most successful year to date.

My very first client of 2015 was lingerie designer Karolina Laskowska, who delivered her new collection to the studio for a series of product shots on New Years Day. I’ve been following Karolina’s work for a couple of years now so it was an absolute pleasure to finally get my hands on some of her pieces. Images haven’t been released yet, but I will pop a few up when they are available.

I’ve had a couple of Elinchrom ELC Pro heads from The Flash Centre to play with over the last few weeks, which means I’ve been shooting almost every day to make the most out of having access to the equipment! Edinburgh’s Pick Of The Fringe 2014 winner, Mat Ricardo, and Burlesque Hall Of Fame’s Most Innovative Performer of 2014, Aurora Galore, both made appearances in front of the camera in the last fortnight. Alongside a couple of amazing ballet dancers and two boudoir shoots, it looks like I will be spending a good few days in Lightroom over the next few weeks catching up on my retouching work! Having spent the last three days also doing live demos with them on The Flash Centre’s stand at SWPP, I will be reviewing the lights on my blog in the next couple of weeks, so look out for a blog post.

January is down time for many creatives, so between shoots I’ve also been delivering bespoke training in Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop and Indesign. I really enjoy training and today I’ve been spurred on by colleagues to not only sit my Adobe Certified Expert exams (FINALLY) but I’m also looking into the Adobe Certified Instructor qualification afterwards. It was also a privilege and a pleasure to be invited down to ImageZ Camera Club in Aylesbury last week to present an evening seminar on my work in the world of fashion and boudoir, followed by an hour of retouching workflows.

Never too far from Photoshop these days, this month sees my first published tutorial in Photo Pro magazine (available in all good newsagents or via subscription) as well as my debut blog post for TipSquirrel! It feels really good to be writing more content. I feel writing may become a bit of a them for 2015…

In other news, our latest Boudoir On Location dates were officially opened for bookings this morning! Our January booking always books out fast and the day is half booked out already. If you’d like details, you can find them on the Tigz Rice Studios Blog. I’ve also got some amazing news about workshops to be announced next week, but if you’re a studio VIP (register on the left hand side of your screen) you might just find out sooner!

Finally, there is just ONE place left on my Photography Farm Boudoir Masterclass in February, so if you want to snap that last place up, get in touch now! I also have one or two spaces left on my Lightroom and Photoshop workshops for those looking to speed up their workflow for 2015.