About My World​

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Thank you for stopping by and looking at The Enchanted Photographer.  My name is Jo and I live with my husband Kirby and my beautiful boy Teddy.  Ted has been my constant source of inspiration, and Ant has encouraged and supported me to pursue what I love.

 

Teddy is full of love and inquisition with a huge helping of impish spirit. He is my absolute miracle and I am thankful for him every day.  Parenthood totally has to be the biggest challenge I have ever faced, but also the most amazing.  For me, as a child who grew up playing with dolls and make believe fairies, having a boy has changed my world.  I am learning to embrace building dens, getting muddy and being outside! 

I am passionate about the people I love and care for.  Our family is chaotic, hilarious, complicated, exhausting, fun, overwhelming, but most of all, it's full of love and never dull. 

I love art, photography and music.   I am often told I am quirky which is another way of saying, “you’re actually a bit awkward, or odd.”  I’ve accepted it now, sort of.  I am a ridiculous contradiction of telling people they can do anything they put their mind to, yet in the next breath, I am constantly talking myself out of my own ideas. 

Like most people I have days where I feel ready to take on the world and ready for whatever the day has to throw at me.  Other days, I am crippled with fear and feel too vulnerable to face the world; plagued with self doubt but a determination and drive to prove myself wrong.

So... after a series of epiphany moments, lots of coaching from people I love; a lot of gentle and actually sometimes quite aggressive encouragement, I decided to create The Enchanted Photographer.

 

 

My Love of Photography

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From an early age, I was always fascinated with photography. I would happily spend hours looking through old family albums and trawling through boxes of old photographs.   These images told a story of life before I existed, or before I was old enough to remember.  Our family photographs were always disorganised, dishevelled and rarely in albums. Like a chaotic slideshow of years gone by.  

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Many of the images were torn at the edges, coffee stained with hand written scribbles on the back. The notes sometimes meaningless to me, but they obviously meant something to someone at the time.  They may not have been perfect compositions, many of them were stiff and wooden like. We all have them; those family events where everyone is stood in a line looking awkward and uncomfortable. Because life is like that, everyone stands in lines.

  

My favourite images were always the ones where the images were taken whilst the subject was caught unaware, the ones that captured something special. Some may have even been taken accidentally, but for a split moment in time, someone chose to take that image and that moment has been captured forever.  

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I think that is what is so special to me about photography. It’s not just the image you see, but the story behind the image and how that can make you feel. Art and photography can say so much more sometimes that written word. Give one image to several different people and it will evoke different feelings, in all of them. Each of them may see something different.
 

Most people that are close to me realise that my mind can be a chaotic place, flitting from one idea to the next, I am always looking forward to the next project - without little time to do it!   However, photography has always stuck with me and my love for it has never gone away.   When you look at any type of art, photography or music, you have to be able to see and feel that the artist has passion for what they do. If they have empathy, a love for the world around them and a passion for creating precious memories for people, this will be reflected in the images created.

 

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My Photography Style

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Life is imperfect and that really is okay; it can be beautiful, intense and overwhelming at times. Life is precious and to be part of something where you can capture something for someone else, to me, that is one of the most amazing feelings. My aim and my passion is about creating something that is real and authentic, honest and raw.  

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In a world where we are subjected daily to social media, superficial images and lives that often portrayed as picture perfect, lets create something real.  I want to document life that is honest and imperfect.   In years to come, when you look back on the most precious moments of your life, I can promise you almost one thing.... 

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….you will wonder why you were so worried about whether your hair looked okay, or if you'd ironed the creases out of your shirt; whether your babies are smiling and looking in the same direction.... you will be thankful for having something real to look back on, to remind you of an important moment in your life, that passes by so quickly.  It is the closest thing to going back in time. ​ I'd love to hear your stories and be a small part of your journey.​

I have worked almost twenty years in Social Housing specialising in Anti-Social Behaviour and Enforcement.  Prior to this,  I studied at Oxford Brookes University where I gained a BSc (Hons) 2:1 Early Childhood Studies and Educational Psychology.

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 I am well equipped to deal with stress and the unexpected; trust me, I have seen pretty much everything!

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Enhanced DBS.

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Full DBS Check.