Unity Dogs

So, I know I already posted about Unity Day, but I felt this needed to be in it's own post. There was a DOG SHOW. Yes, yours truly went to a dog show and it was glorious, dear friends. The show was open to everyone to enter and all dogs got a rosette and bag of treats just for taking part. The winner was chosen by a raffle ticket game at the end. Have a look at some of the amazing dogs I got to see! There's even a 4 month old beagle puppy and a THREE LEGGED JRT. I was in my element. I only wish I'd taken Alf with me and entered it, his play dead trick would have knocked the judges for six! Next year, Alf, next year.

Yep, this dog is balancing a treat on his nose.

PUPPIES PLAYING!!!!

This dog was also called Alf!

Unity Day / Unity Gardens

Last weekend I was asked to photograph at Unity Gardens, which is an event set up by a community group in Hyde Park in Leeds. It was a part of the larger annual Unity Day festival which I have attended every year since I moved to Leeds, so I was really chuffed to actually be a part of it this year instead of just a visitor!The whole day was fantastic and there was such a lovely, laid back atmosphere about the whole day. I believe the Unity Gardens group had received some funding to complete their project for this year, and they really went to town with it! There were loads of activities to do including face painting, glass lantern painting, make-your-own hanging baskets and window boxes, face painting, a messy paint area, puppet making and a puppet theatre, plus loads of games and toys to play with: all for FREE. Hundreds of people came through the Unity Gardens and each one left with goodies and a huge smile on their face! 

I thought I'd share a few of my favourite photographs from the event. You can see more on the official website and facebook page. 

Is this the coolest kid ever? I reckon so!

My Mel, my muse.

I just wanted to put up a few of the pictures I took of my best friend Mel a few months ago. They're my favourite portrait photos that I have ever taken and I just like looking at them because she is so beautiful!

Cool pool party la la la la

One of my favourite people in the World came to visit me this week. This is the beautiful Eleanor Jane. I've been feeling real crappy recently for reasons I'll probably talk about at some point, and she sacrificed her relaxing break from work to travel down from Newcastle to help cheer me up. She picked the best few days to come down as Leeds was one of the hottest places in the country, and we thought we'd make the most of it by hanging out in a paddling pool in my garden. One of our favourite things to do it to dress up and we usually need very little reason to do so, so we took full advantage of our mini pool party and dolled ourselves up for a mini photo session. I've been practicing my victory and barrel rolls quite a bit recently and it was nice to be able to do someone else's hair as well as my own to get a different perspective on it.  

We didn't really think about the fact my garden actually slopes, so we ended up spending about two hours trying to build a platform out of duvets and cushions to even out the surface under the pool, and we  accidentally created a really comfortable pool with a deep end and a shallow end. As the day reached it's peak temperature, it really did feel like we were on holiday somewhere nice instead of just in my back garden in Leeds. 

Here are some of the pictures we took:

Eleanor Jane:

Swimsuit - Primark

Sunglasses - Primark

Lipstick - Mac

Me:

Swimsuit uk20 - Sainsbury's Tu

Sunglasses - Primark

Lipstick - Mua

 

 

 

I must say I've been so inspired by some of my favourite bloggers who have all taken part in the Flash the Flesh swimsuit challenge this month. I hope I don't offend anyone by singling these two out, but seriously Lisa and Rachel are just so amazing and I am quite obsessed with them both. If you don't already follow them go there right now and do that because you will not regret it.