Hi, my name is Janine Walker and I'm a photographer from Portadown, Northern Ireland. I specialise in Contemporary Wedding and Children's photography, capturing real moments and beautiful events.
Welcome to my blog! This blog features pictures from all my shoots, and my personal life - it's kind of like my own online photo journal!
If you think I did a good job at the wedding I attended please take a few moments and vote for me by CLICKING HERE!
A couple of months ago I went to my dentist and told him I wanted him to give me a beautifully straight smile. "No problem", he says after looking at my teeth for a few minutes, "you'll just need some invisible braces on there for 12 months, no-one will even notice you are wearing them!".
He took some x-rays of my mouth and told me to come back in a few weeks for a costing and a fitting.
Fast forward to yesterday when he told me he had ran into "some difficulties". Turns out one of my teeth is still a baby tooth and, worse yet, it has no root. So basically this means if I wear the braces the tooth is going to fall out. He told me, with a great big smile on his face, that he had some options:
• Remove baby tooth now, AND another tooth on the other side. A tooth with a ROOT. A tooth that he would have to pull out with pliers. According to him the braces will force the teeth together to fill the two holes. The thought of this immediately made my bottom lip quiver and the tears staring welling up in my eyes. The dentist started to get nervous.
• Remove the baby tooth, leave a hole for a year and then fill the hole with an implant. Implants are DRILLED into your gum. This prompted my internal voice to start saying "I am going to die, this is the worst thing that has ever happened to me in my life, I really might actually collapse and die right now".
• Remove the baby tooth and then use the braces to force that side to fill the gap. Dentist assures me that the baby tooth has no root it will just "come straight out with no force".
Apparently this blinkin' baby tooth is going to fall out anyway, so at some stage I am going to have to face the issue. I am trying hard to make a decision, but just thinking about it brings me out in a cold sweat and I start thinking about collapsing and dying and this being the WORST thing in the world ever.
I came home and told my husband all of this and he proceeded to tell me that tooth removal was horrific and that the dentist would be standing over me with pliers and the blood and guts from my tooth would start shooting out of my mouth.
Ever since he has taken to calling me Ugly Betty.
And May McFettridge.
Anyway...here's some pics of the puppers on a recent walk. I didn't get too many because they were running completely wild and didn't stay still, or even within shooting distance, for any amount of time!
This weekend, in between flights and galas, I managed to sneak in a shoot of two adorably cute little boys. Ewan and Jack are brothers but they are so different! Ewan has bright blonde hair and huge blue eyes and he is so full of chat and energy and fun. Jack has dark hair and the most amazing brown eyes but he is quiet and prefers to sit back and take everything in. But when either of them smiles it would just melt your heart :)
Ewan was quite insistent that Batman had to be in the photos too. I was happy to oblige!
Looks like an angel, right?!
Iggle Piggle is Jack's favourite toy and he is never too far away.
This is 'how many' Ewan is.
My camera getting the 'spidey' treatment.
He can't help the drooling - he's teething. And I think it is cute!
Oh - when I did my "can you look in my camera and see the little people" trick, Ewan totally surprised me. Most kids look in there and realise it's a swizz and lose all interest. Ewan looked and looked and I asked him if he saw them and he said "Yes, yes, they are waving at me and dancing"! Soooo cute!!
I am soooo delighted and can't thank you all enough for voting for me. The GMINI awards are extra special because they are voted for by clients and their guests, so it really means a lot that I made it to second place. You all rock!
• Nuala McKeever abused my dress - I guess it was kinda short lol!!!
• I nearly had a dodgy moment when I went on stage to collect my award - my heel slipped a teeny tiny bit! I think Emma thought I was going to come down on top of her!! But I don't think it was noticable - at least no-one at my table noticed! I did insist on wearing 5.5 inch heels though - maybe my dad is right, maybe I will do myself an injury in those things one of these days!
• I got to meet fellow finalist and photographer Sara Dalzell at the awards. She came up to congratulate me and have a chat, which was the nicest thing. She is the sweetest girl, and it is always nice to talk to female photographers and compare notes!
Here's the lovely girls from GMINI magazine. Everyone looked AMAZING!
So, I'm off to get stuck into my to-do list, which is rather long and scary looking....
Here I am at the airport with nothing better to do than think about truly unimportant things:
• If any of the writers or producers of One Tree Hill are reading my blog, could you answer me this question? Why-oh-why do the characters all call each other by their full name? All the time? Example of a recent conversation.
Patten: Brooke Davis, you are awesome.
Brooke: Aw thanks Patten Sawyer, that's so sweet.
Luke enters the room.
Brooke & Patten: Well hello Lucas Scott, how is it going?
Even the little kid does it!! What 5-year-old knows everyone's last names?! (On another note, should I take up writing screenplays?).
I am slightly ashamed to admit to watching this show...but I can't help it. It's like Dawson's Creek with regular sized foreheads and less big words.
• While I'm on the subject of TV shows, I am LOVING The Office (US). This is the first year I've discovered I can watch tv on my laptop in the airport. Hence the tv related post. That's what she said.
• OMG - Desperate Housewives!! The Scavos! Can't wait to see what happens. Arghhhh!
• I don't even know who has been booted out of the X Factor!! Please don't let it be the hot little boy group! I could happily lose Diana though, her voice annoys me..and her try-too-hard-to-be-a-shoeless-hippy look also annoys me.
• Lastly - I have some exciting news!!! I am through to the final of the GMINI awards again - thanks to all my fab clients and their guests voting for me :) The Gala is Saturday night and I am so looking forward to it because there's 10 of us going and it will be so much craic! And - even though this might be bad luck - I am going to show you my dress because it is utterly fabulous!
I don't remember being this excited about clothing since my Fruit of the Loom sweater/Levi 501/Kickers combo in the 90's.
Wish me luck :)
***EDITED TO ADD*** I have just found out I have a 24 HOUR delay :( This is the worst day ever. Will Cinderella even make it to the ball??? Sob.
I have never been able to do a real photoshoot for any of my family believe it or not! I get to take lots of shots for them when I am here, but we have never got together to take 'proper' family pictures. With the girls coming in on Saturday we thought it was a great opportunity to get the Cathcarts together for their first family shoot :)
Bless them - they waited around for over two hours while I did the other shoots...and there wasn't a peep out of them. Well, maybe PJ was a bit hyper but the kids were good lol!
Americans voted in record numbers yesterday with around 136 million voters casting their ballots compared to 122 million in '04. Someone said it was the largest turnout in 100 years! It certainly is a historic day and I don't think anyone could fail to be moved by Obama's acceptance speech. Lets hope he keeps his promises and becomes the leader we all hope he will be.
Just a couple of random thoughts:
• How could you be so composed after winning the Presidential Election? 2 years of work all coming together in one huge, overwhelming night? I would be a sobbing Gwyneth Paltrow mess!!
• Michelle is a gorgeous first lady. Like, properly beautiful.
Saturday I also got to take pictures of beautiful little Ava, who could be a child model I'm sure. If only Angela would become one of those crazy celebrity mums like Lynne Spears!! Again - gorgeous location, lovely weather and super-cute family, you just can't go wrong with that combination :)
So here goes! I'm blogging these photoshoots in the order I took them so Angela you will have to wait a wee bit longer :)
Saturday I shot some great families at an amazing location my sister Michelle found for me. It is a huge private residence with all sorts of nooks and crannies for photos. We also got a gorgeous day, considering it was snowing here this week!
The Cutlers are so fun and they wanted their pictures just to reflect how goofy and happy they are - I hope I did them justice!
Matthew is really six? Where has the time gone? I know he is getting more grown up because I have always been "Auntie Neen" and this year I am "Aunt Janine". Matthew is one of the sweetest kids on earth. He is a sensitive wee soul, but on the other hand he is just such a typical little boy, loving the company of other boys and believing that he might actually be a clone trooper when he is older.
Some day we are going to have to break the news to him that Uncle Andy doesn't actually play for Man United. I hope he isn't too disappointed!
Michelle said he had a real 'grown up' moment the other day when she picked him up from school and a little girl walked by and said "Hi Matt". Matthew turned a deep shade of red and Michelle considered bringing him home from school and never letting him out again :)
I will never ever tire of seeing this smile, of hearing those clone war stories and receiving the biggest hugs he can possibly give. Without a doubt my favourite 6-year-old boy on the planet.
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