The chances are that if you've happened here it's because you saw a picture that I took of my daughter enjoying a picnic. I feel it's incumbent upon me to be terribly British and say how incredibly fortunate I was to win such an honour and how utterly fraudulent I feel as really, I'm just a TV Producer who likes taking photos. A few months ago I saw a call out for food photos on the Guardian Witness website. I had recently taken what I thought was a pretty nice picture of my girl on one of the first sunny days of early summer, so I uploaded it and thought no more of it until they emailed me to say I'd won. I won't go in to the stages of denial, excitement and confusion I went through. Stunned would be an understatement.
It galvanised my attempts at a pretty shambolic blog which I've been writing in various forms for the last few years - these are the fruits of my labours and while they may not seem much, I've got a part time job and a frenetic four year old, so the fact that I've even brushed my hair some days is fairly Herculean.
There's a blog post entitled Peony & Praxis in which I explain the choice of title and I've set out a bit of a mission statement, but really this whole thing came about because in 2011 I finally had a very much wanted daughter, after years of trying. I really wanted to give her a childhood that had a grounding in tradition - I believe that patterns, repetition and soft structure give children an incredible sense of safety and helps them establish their place in the world. It could be a tiny weekly tradition, like cooking pancakes on a Sunday, or a bigger annual thing, like decorating the house at Christmas; I have lovely memories of Halloween as a child, apple bobbing and eating baked potatoes, flavours and feelings that take me back to that safe harbour. It's something I want my girl to feel too, to know that she's loved, to know her place in the year and in the world, but I am ever so sappy about these things, so apologies if it brings you out in hives.
It's a work in progress. When the very lovely lady at the Observer asked me about it in her interview, I considered hiding it away, because I worried it wasn't really ready for public consumption. But as with all things in life, there's never a perfect time to begin, so here it is with all it's flaws and all the caveats you can think of applied!
I should also say that this wouldn't be here in any form if it wasn't for my fondness for photography and Instagram, the only hobby that you can practice whilst holding a sleeping or feeding baby. I'm @freethster and you can see my daily pictures there. Fortunately I didn't have to do a speech at the OFM Awards, but if I had I would have thanked my daughter who is my mouse and my muse, my partner, who is my true love and all my family and friends who are all so supportive and kind and say ever such nice things that make me feel nauseatingly lucky and extraordinarily happy, in a very ordinary way.