Wow what a year I have had! Made it in Dubai!

Its hard to believe but 2014 is coming to a close. I have had the most amazing year to date in regards to how much my business have grown and all the fun photo shoots I have had the honor to work on.
I am having a  hard time to pick a particular moment because I have had so many totally awesome ones this year but if I would just mention a few that are topping my list I would say photographing Donald Trump for a magazine cover was a super fun photo shoot and to photograph the Majesty the Queen of Sweden was pretty cool for me as well being a fellow Swede :) It was also a total honor to be the chosen photographer to photograph some of the Al Maktoum children. When I got the phone call I totally thought I was on candid camera or something lol. Same thing when I drove up to the palace and the guard stopped me saying I must have gotten the wrong house and asking me do you know who lives here? -It is Sheikh Mohamed Al Maktoum! And my reply was yes then I'm at the right place thats where I am going. You should have seen the disbelief on his face ha ha. But a phone call later and the gates were opened for me. It was pretty awesome to say the least.
I also have had several nice article write ups about me in the press both here locally in the UAE and back home in Sweden, as well as several radio appearances in both Sweden and here in Dubai.
2014 was also the year I started photographing local Emirati weddings, previous years I have photographed European weddings where most of them being Scandinavian weddings either Norwegian or Swedish ones, but this year I also embarked on the Emirati ones and I am loving to be chosen to also capture them. I have photographed 11 local Emirati female weddings this year and I already have quite a few booked in for 2015 with my first one this Friday the 2nd of January in Abu Dhabi, so I am predicting the numbers will be at least tripled for next year easily.
I have had a very diverse and very fun year to say the least hoping for just an exciting and fullfilling 2015.
Do you have any new years resolutions?
I have one which is to learn how to film with my dslr. What is yours?
Happy New year to you all!!
Over and out for now.
Helen xx

#Selfie

Al Badia Golf Club

Darren Clarke

Donald Trump

Tiger Woods

#DubaiPhotoWalks

Rory McIlroy

Amelia Magazine. Swedens largest women's magazine

Helen and Donald Trump

Live on the radio

Miguel Angel Jimenez

Louise Larsson

Eduardo Molinari

Donald Trump

Dubai Photography Walks

Hello everyone,
A fun way to learn more about Photography is with Photography Walks!
It is always more fun to learn something with other people that are just as enthusiastic as you are yourself. I am just about to start this seasons Photography Walks. Tomorrow we are off to Bastakiya and on Friday we are walking around Heritage Village. I still have a few spots available for both days if anyone would like to join in.
I also still have a few spots available for 13 and 14 November 2014 and 8 and 9 January 2015.
Send me an email or call me if you are interested to join. info@shippeyphotography.com Mob. 055 107 89 88
We will walk around for 2 hours and photograph every time will be a different location so you can join in all of them if you like. I already have a few bookings for all of them which is lovely. The groups are small to ensure that I can assist all of you with capturing the photograph you have in mind. I am at hand the whole time to answer any photography related questions you might have. After the photo walk you will be invited to a closed FaceBook group where you can continue to ask photography related questions if anything came up once you got home and looked at your photographs as well as upload up to 5 of your photographs that you took during the photo walk and I will critique /give you feed back on them, everyone will see all the comments and photographs so we can all learn from each other as well.
To participate is only AED 150 per Photo Walk, if you book more than 3 at the same time you will receive a discount, so each Photo walk is then AED 125. No prior knowledge of photography is needed. All you need is to have your own camera with you. Can be any camera.
Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

Hope to see you at one of my Photography Walks!
Happy snapping everyone!!
Helen xx

Photography Walk Schedule:

Thursday 13 November 10.00-12.00

Friday 14 November 09.00-11.00

Thursday 8 January 2015 TBA

Friday 9 January 2015 TBA

Lets Kick Start the Dubai Wedding season!

Hey!
Hope you are all great! I am super duper today. Very busy but that is always a good thing right? Having people asking for edited photographs right left and center almost a bit overwhelming but Hey I can do it right?!! Yesterday was a fun day I got three new jobs that are coming up shortly. It rarely happens to me that I get three jobs booked in on the same day so that was great news! One is already happening tomorrow thankfully its in the afternoon towards early Saturday morning because I had already another shoot booked in, in the morning, it will be a long day tomorrow for sure. That is when its good to be passionate about what you are working with then you don't really mind the long hours sometimes. :)
I will start my day photographing some jewelry with two models, I have been photographing the jewelry pieces by themselves all week and will continue next week as well its so many different pieces. But then the real fun start in Abu Dhabi in the afternoon with a local Wedding where 900 guests are expected to attend. I am glad they are not asking for a group shot :) since then I would probably have to be up in a helicopter hovering above them with a super wide angle lens ha ha ha. Which in it self would be great fun!
I am pleased that the Dubai or should I say U.A.E. Wedding season have started! I just love photographing a wedding everyone are so happy and its a great fun day.
over and out for now.
Helen xx
So Lets kick start the Wedding season!

Rock The Goat Catalog Photo Shoot

Hi,
While I was in Sweden I had so many fun photo shoots. The weather was nice most of the time started off a bit on the cool side but made up for it in the end with being on the very warm side. But not as warm as in Dubai of course but without AC you do feel slightly handicapped in the heat :) I will show you a couple of the photo shoots here for sure but today I want to start with the one I did for a new up and coming children's clothing line. All the clothes are made out of 100% cashmere in Italy with a Swedish designer. The brand is called Rock The Goat So please check them out. They have some very cool stuff for kids. ps. I have had a sneak peek of their upcoming collection and it looks super funky so stay tuned for our next photo shoot that will take place in November in Dubai.
I had some great Swedish models all around 5-6 years old when we photographed the pre-collection. All the models were super good listening to what I wanted out of them so we finished the whole shoot 2 hours ahead of time! So client was super happy as was I.
Just to make the photoshoot slightly more challenging I used colored powdered sand for some of the shots. I can tell you how I did it all in the end another day that could be a whole blog post by itself lol. I had never photographed with such a powder before so felt I needed some practice so I invited a few friends by asking can I please throw some sand on you while I photograph it? Surprisingly I had two people saying Yes to that. Must be proper friendship then don't you think?
Not sure I would be able to pull that off here in Dubai... don't think I have enough close friends lol
Here are some of the snaps that I captured on the day for the catalog.

Me behind the scene explaining to my model what i want him to do next.

This is the final catalog. 

I was chatting on the Swedish radio about taking a chance in life!

Hi,
I was live on Swedish Radio on Thursday the 17th of July 2014 on the channel Sveriges Radio Vastmanland P4.
Click on the link below to listen to it. Disclaimer It's all in Swedish !! :) You can fast forward to about the 59th minute thats when I come on.
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt/395468?programid=2985

I had a great time chatting with the radio host Ida about taking the big leap and moving abroad, curate to do it and would I recommend it and tips about expat life! In short Yes I would recommend moving abroad if you get the chance to experience life a bit differently for a little while, you don't have to do like me move and then stay but it is definitively fun to experience for a little while gives you perspective of life and the world for sure!
Catch you all later.
Helen xxx

Dinner Time Dubai

Hi,

I had the great pleasure to work with a company called Dinner Time. Their staff are the greatest so bubbly and very fun to work with and to have around you. I have actually worked with them twice on two different projects. This is the first one where I photographed from their distribution center which is Choitrams super market, every thing looked spick and span and super fresh.

The company idea is that you book a box with food where they have prepared for you 4 meals with easy to follow recipes and the ingredients that you need for it. They also have a gluten free option which is quite unique. They use organic vegetables when they can. I can say it all looked very nice so I will shortly be one of their customers as well. It is hard working full time and finding the time to go to the grocery store their box of food comes straight to your door super convenient. You also won't buy all that unnecessary stuff you see when you go shopping or if yo have a little mischievous one like I do that tries to help you shop and definitively do not put in the things you want in the basket but some how end up buying, bless her :) So I bet its cheaper ordering it to your door than going by your self ha, ha. You also do not need to come up with what to eat by yourself someone else have decided for you that to me sounds so convenient and are worth a bit of money in my book. Sorry did not mean to try and sell you on Dinner Time I just like the idea its a great one. I think I have heard they have the same concept in Sweden as well maybe also in other places in the world.!? 

Any how here are some of the snaps I took for them.