Tom and Katie Down Under: An explanation

To our loyal readers, I feel that I owe you an apology, or an explanation at least, for the lack of regular blogging activity for the best part of 2011-to-date. You see, I have been rather distracted with couple of new activities, and that old chestnut that always gets in the way of doing the things you want to do - work. That aside, some more exciting things in life have been occupying my weekends and taking up my valuable could-be-blogging time, and I'm happy to share these with you today...

Firstly, I have a new passion in my life - photography! After owning an SLR for a good 4 years, but never doing more than pointing and shooting, Tom and I finally unlocked the power of the Canon EOS on a photography course last year. Since then, I've developed a love of taking photos of people, and before Christmas I booked myself onto a specialist portrait photography course. Since then, I've been studying the subject and practising my shoots whenever I can, and to display my work I've set up a portfolio website of my own - www.katielister.net (Lister will be my married name, in case you were wondering). So far I've been photographing my friends and their children, but soon I hope to get some independent business which will contribute towards the cost of my equipment, and photograph not just children, but adults too. Here is a sneak peak at my portfolio to date:

When I'm not taking photos, I might be found working on a website project or two, with the latest online venture being in aid of one of my favourite pasttimes - dancing! Some of you may have spotted that a new series of So You Think You Can Dance has just started on BBC One on Saturday nights, and one of my old dancing chums from Diane Gulliford's has auditioned for the show. I've made her a website to support her campaign to become the nation's favourite dancer, and I hope that all of my blog readers will support her if you watch the show. Next week is is the Choreography Camp episode where we find out who makes the top 20. I can't reveal whether or not she makes it, but will let you figure that out for yourselves....