Twas the night before Christmas and the Robins were sitting on the tree... 24th December.

Hope you all have an amazing Christmas day tomorrow, full of Celebration, fun, festivity... don't forget to spend a moment thinking about why Christmas exists though.. the celebration of the greatest saviour, Jesus, coming to earth 2000 years ago. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

www.ruthjones.org

www.facebook.com/ruthjonesphotography

www.twitter.com/theruthjones

The Icing on the Cake. 23rd December.

The Brass Band Christmas Carols. 22nd December.

You know it's nearly Christmas when the Salvation Army come out into the high streets with their brass instruments and start playing Christmas Carols. It just really gives towns and cities across England that "Christmas Feeling"

www.ruthjones.org

www.facebook.com/ruthjonesphotography

www.twitter.com/theruthjones

Santa's House. 21st December.

So the world's existence didn't come to an end.. so you get to see another one of my daily photographs. Today I bring to you Santa's house. I love Christmas houses, from houses with hints of Christmas, to large displays which light the whole street up! 

www.ruthjones.org

www.facebook.com/ruthjonesphotography

www.twitter.com/theruthjones

Christmas House 2. 17th December.

Christmas is nearly here and houses are cluttered with lights, especially this one. This house down a small lane in a fenland town has been filled with lights every christmas for many years; through these lights the owners have raised thousands of pounds to give to charities which support children with Leukaemia and Cancer. It is great to see how people are using simple things such as christmas lights and the christmas season to make such a positive impact.

To learn more about this house visit: http://www.childrenwithcancer.org.uk/Blog/christmas-lights

www.ruthjones.org

www.facebook.com/ruthjonesphotography

www.twitter.com/theruthjones

Christmas House 1 - A seasonal photo-documentary. 14th December.

If you haven't guessed by now, I like Christmas.. the lights, the smells, the celebration.. it's a great time of year! So I started working on a seasonal photo-documentary without realising it, most of my daily photos are going to be Christmas themed and the film in my analogue cameras is going to be thoroughly Christmas-ified during this glorious season. So, keep watching my blog, facebook and twitter to seem my updates.

www.ruthjones.org

www.facebook.com/ruthjonesphotography

www.twitter.com/theruthjones

Christmas Window. 12th December.

It's this time of year... the time when dreary, drab and dark windows get replaced with a hint of light... Christmas light. The attics have been opened, the old bag of decorations has been dragged downstairs, and once again houses across the world have been given that hint of Christmas.

www.ruthjones.org

www.twitter.com/theruthjones

www.facebook.com/ruthjonesphotography

The Robin. 27th December.

This little robin was sitting on the tree at my Boyfriend's house, I had to photograph him as I thought he was ever so cute!

I am hopefully getting back to shooting for a couple of projects over the next few days and I shall be blogging about the progress of them on here, as I've previously said I am currently coming out of relaxation mode, it's not the nicest, but Photography is the best kind of work which I can do, so I am happy with it! 

I highly reccomend Michael Kenna's book, images of the seventh day, I was given it for christmas and the print reproductions in the book are beautiful! He is a photographer that has really impacted and inspired me, I really reccomend looking at his work.

Going Back to Work. 26th December.

So, It's boxing day... the aftermath of Christmas Day.. and also the day which I realise that I should start working soon! I'm starting so sort everything out, start organizing shoots and start working on projects again. Christmas isn't fully over yet, there are still many festivities, but it's time to start preparing for working again.

Boxing Day by Relient K popped up on my facebook newsfeed today and it fits my feelings about this day very well: 

All For a King. 25th December.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, Whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, Whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town. 24th December.

So, it's Christmas eve and everyone is looking forward to the big day tomorrow! Fun, Food, Family and Festivities which are all celebrating the birth of Jesus, it has to be one of the best days of the year. So tonight is the one night of the year which parents don't have to wrestle with children to get them into bed as the faster you go to sleep the faster Santa comes! I seemed to have captured Santa flying past my home a couple of mintutes ago and I have decided that it would be quite a fitting photo for the day, so I have now uploaded it! 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Breaking Point. 23rd December.

So, today my family took the cover off the pool table and got into the competitive Christmas spirit by playing pool, a game which I am yet to master! I love how the pool balls sit so still on the green felt and the lights leave shadows of the balls on the table surface, but when they get hit they move quickly and then can settle back into stillness again. Anyway, I decided to have a little session photographing the pool table and I wanted to capture the essence of the game in one photograph, I hope this photograph does the trick!

The Balloon Seller. 17th December.

It's the last few days till Christmas! I am trying to get all the little bits of Christmas shopping finished now and when I was doing it I saw this lady selling balloons... so I thought this photo would capture a snippet of my day rather well! 

In other news my Church (Kingsgate Community Church) held their first Christmas service tonight, I was blown away by it, so many people were using such great talents to honour the birth of Jesus. AMAZING! There are three more services tomorrow, I'm excited!

  

The Candle. 12th December.

 I don't know why people seem to use candles more over Christmas. It might be because the days are a lot darker in England over Christmas, so candles bring a little bit more light into the world. It might be because Christmas it about Jesus's birth, which is also seen as the light of the world being born... so a candle signifies light. It might be because people just like candles! I don't know, it's just one of those funny little English traditions!

I spent some time with the Smith family today, they are a home educating family from Huntingdonshire. They are a great family and I am very happy with some of the photographs from today, this project is growing and getting stronger. Very exciting! I have a shoot with another family tomorrow, they approach Home Education in a different way to the Smith family, so it will be interesting to see what I get out of the time I spend with this family.

I also produced more photographs on my "Electric Landscapes" series today. I am going to start looking at another way to expand the project as I have now shot a series of landscapes with Pylons, I am now wanting to incorporate other forms of things relating to the subject.

An English Moroccan Christmas. 2nd December.

I was in my local city today, Peterborough, and it was the first time I had properly seen all the Christmas lights! They have a Moroccan style market in the main square selling things which would be good as gifts, it is not traditionally British and was made Christmassey by a few decorations on the stall! It shows how commercial Christmas is now becoming, what happened to the good old stalls selling Mulled wine and Mince pies?! The square does have a great feel to it and there is some really nice stuff being sold, but I miss the traditional aspect of Christmas and feel a little bit disappointed that it has not been represented!

Anyway, tomorrow is going to be a fun day... so you better be looking forward to the blog post!

The Countdown Begins! 1st December.

I apologise that this blog is quite simple today, been busybusybusy with projects today, starting to develop ideas for a new fine art documentary project too! Today was special, it's the 1st of December, meaning that I got to eat a chocolate before breakfast, my boyfriend bought me an amazing Lindt calender and it is sooo yummy! Christmas is a great season, full of festivity, friends, family, fun, and celebration! I love it!

Christmas Lights. 23rd November.

So... it's almost a month till Christmas! I love Christmas, but I have only started touching on Christmas shopping at the moment, I really need to get my head down and start buying! Anyway.... one of the lovely things about Christmas is the lights, and even though my town has had the same set of lights since I can remember, I sill love them being up, they bring colour and joy to the cold, dark winter nights... and they also hint to the fact that Christmas is definitely on it's way.

I took this photograph and made it all out of focus and bokeh-ified to bring the focus to the lights, when I was little I always used to make my eyes go out of focus so I could see the little round balls of coloured lights on the Christmas tree, or on the street lights as I was in the car... I love the fact that you can make the camera do that, so this photograph is a little bit nostalgic for me!

Leopard Print Girl. 21st November.

I was in Ely today, so I did a little bit of Street Photography (which can be found here) and I saw this woman and I asked for her portrait, because I thought she had a really unique style! 

I also started a little bit of Christmas shopping today too, the thing is I always find it really hard to work out what to get people for Christmas... it'll be worth it when everyone opens their presents and I can see the joyful looks on their faces! 

The Foggy Day. 19th November.

Today was a very foggy day! So foggy that my driving test was cancelled, which was quite annoying as I had driven completely safely to the test centre, just to be told that I couldn't have my test, hopefully I'll be able to book it asap!

I went out in my town today to take some street photographs, as there are some interesting people in my town! I took this photograph and I did quite like it, although it isn't quite street photography... the foggyness of the street and the Christmas decoration make the photograph feel slightly festive... and I love feeling festive :D