Today I will be shooting a really special boudoir session. My client has had a boudoir session on her bucket list for a while – and tragically she now knows that she has limited time to make sure all the things on her list happen. How many of us have such a list – and how intent are we on actually ticking off the experiences? And this brought something else to mind – that as we reach the end of our life, recent research in the UK shows that the number one regret we have, is that we don’t live a life which is true to ourselves, and more than half of our dreams are unaccomplished. When I decided to pursue a career as a photographer, I’d just come out of teaching. For years I had worked to other people’s stipulations – that a subject be taught in a particular way, that admin and data was more important than the individual student’s learning needs… and I had no idea how unhappy I had become in that environment until I left it. I am often asked if I want to return – and the short answer is ‘no’. I have maybe a third of my working life left to me – and I am determined to spend that time doing something I am passionate about. I love working with people, I love communicating, I love being creative, I really enjoy travelling to different places. Being a photographer fulfills all those needs and more. And today, I get to fulfill someone else’s dream – maybe not their biggest dream or wish or hope – but one of them – and that is the point of life to me – that in some small way, we can each make life a little happier for others.

At the weekend I visited cousins of Simon. They’re bringing their four beautiful daughters up in a Napoleonic tower on the coast – and I was struck by the simplicity of their lifestyle and the almost story book idyll of their growing up environment. They wanted to paddle through green algae, chase the dog up the long empty stretch of beach, catch the chicken which escaped through the garden gate and squish freshly picked blackberries and raspberries into their mouths. After lunch we walked through the dunes, then returned for tea in the kitchen which sits right on top of the tower – where you feel like you’re part of the clouds and the sky. And I thought – these are experiences, simple ones. Enjoying company, being with children, eating fresh produce, admiring the sky, using legs to walk. And it’s experiences like that which I’ll not regret when my turn comes to review my life.  What’s on your bucket list? What have you accomplished on there and what is there still to do? What regrets may you have, which you still have time to swipe away? Do let me know!

Enjoy the pics of that simple day at the beach and the tower and at the end of the pictures, remember to link to sweet Colleen!

 Remember to go and visit the next blog in the Sisterhood Stories circle!