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Josephine: In her new desert boots and favourite Coco & Wolf dress.

Coralie: Little fingers and pretty florals.

Images captured on our Coco & Wolf AW16 shoot.

GOLDEN CHILD VINTAGE: nell mallia photography

I was so excited to be contacted by Clio from Golden Child Vintage about doing a shoot with the girls for her new vintage store. As you know, I love vintage and love dressing the girls in it, so I jumped at the chance. Plus I'm loving doing lots of commercial work right now (you can see more over on my website) - as well as family sessions - it's fun to do something a bit different.

We headed to the fields at Rainbow Woods and watched the cows. The house in the background is the prettiest you'll ever see - it's like a doll's house. So incredible. The September sun shone done and both the girls loved their dresses.

It can be hard to beat a bit of vintage, especially for children. It's awesome knowing they won't be wearing the same thing as every other child in the playground, and I can't help but think of the first person to wear those dresses - their childhood adventures, the stories those pieces could tell and how different the world was back then.

Clio has really kindly offered a 15% discount to my readers with the code NELLVINTAGE so head over and snag something for your little ones. Golden Child Vintage has such a great range of wearable and affordable vintage - seriously if Josephine was a bit older I'd be buying this and I'm really tempted by this and Clio has a great range of Osh Kosh dungarees too. It's a pretty tempting shop!

Can't wait to share a few more photos next week on my website of this little shoot too, so keep an eye out...

WORK

 

As the new year started, I made the decision to work really hard at taking my photography business to the next level, and try to make some other career dreams come true. It's always been my plan to slowly build the photography stuff over these years while our babies are small and at home all day, and hopefully by the time they're off at school, I'm able to make it my full-time career.

Do what I love doing, be my own boss, earn some money, and be there to pick the girls up from school.

Trying to fit all that prep work into three two hour slots a week (while Coralie naps on the days Josephine is at nursery) is hard. And come the evenings and I'm mostly just too knackered to sit at the table for hours on end. It can be frustrating, but slowly slowly things are coming together and building. It's exciting, and I know it's worth it.

Occasionally, I try and fit in a bit of time at the computer while the girls are playing nicely. But I've learnt that it normally ends badly. They can sense my concentration is on something else, even if they haven't noticed what I'm doing, and bickering often ensues.

So it's best to get out, get some fresh air and not miss a second of what's happening today, whilst trying to build my business for the future.

The balancing act continues... (and these little Mama's make it all look so easy!)

NELL MALLIA PHOTOGRAPHY

Last summer I attended Tim Coulson's workshop in London and it changed the way I thought about the pictures I was taking. A real passion for photography had grown inside me over the previous couple of years and, listening to Tim, I realised that this was something I'd love to do professionally. I decided on the way home from London that I was going to snap, snap, snap away and one day I'd launch my own business and see where it would take me.

Today is that day, and I'm so happy to be introducing Nell Mallia Photography.

Since that hot July day, my life has changed in ways I could never have anticipated. Not in a million years. The following month we found out we were pregnant again. Then my Dad died, and then Coralie arrived. It's been a year like no other I've experienced. The highest of highs and lowest of lows. But through it all I knew I wanted, at some point, to pursue this photography dream. And as the weeks after my Dad died turned to months, and the babymoon haze lifted, I started taking pictures again and made a start on my website.

Inspired, always, by my beautiful Dad. By his passion for life. And by wanting to make him proud. And by wanting to be as inspirational a parent for our girls, as he was for me.

As with any big step and new venture, it's exciting and terrifying all at the same time. I'd love to hear what you think, and would really appreciate it if you could hope over to Facebook and like my page.

Here's to seizing life, living it to the full and following your dreams.