Hello, long time no post!

Yes, it has been a while since I have posted on my blog, but for good reasons as you know. I have been on maternity leave tending to my gorgeous newborn baby boy. He is now 16 weeks and I can't believe where that time has gone! Looking after 3 boys has been testing to begin with, but I think we're all finding our groove in a bustling household.

Without further ado, these are photographs of my baby boy from a few days old until now.

7 days new

3 months

With his big bro

I am officially back in the studio and will be posting up a couple of gorgeous newborns that I photographed this week and also why booking a newborn photographer is a wise investment.

If you go down to the woods today...

...remember to wear comfy, practical shoes.

The big kid and I ventured to Woburn woods during the Spring term break. There is something so magical, primitive and to be totally honest, quite scary about walking amongst the trees. It was quite busy however, with people casually wandering around (like us), walking their dogs, jogging and a few mountainous bikers on the trail that they have there.

Of course I took the opportunity to take some photographs whilst we were there, much to my son's delight! Not! I took most of the photos on my medium format, which I will need to have processed soon. The rest I took on my digital camera, one of which was this:

So, if you go down to the woods today, pack a camera, the light that comes through the trees is magical, oh, and yes, wear some comfy shoes! And you may just see the Easter Bunny!

Happy Easter everyone!

You are my sonshine

You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. 

And if you treat them like sons,

they'll turn out to be heroes,

even if it's just in your own eyes. 

~Walter M. Schirra, Sr.

 



Patience, patience

Patience is not the ability to wait

But how you act while you're waiting

~ Joyce Meyer

And I did act as calmly as possible to try and get a decent photograph of my two, it's an impossibility at times, and from experience I just bide my time and I do eventually get that shot. Here are some of the outtakes...

And here is one of the resulting shots that I manage to get when they managed to sit still for two seconds. Granted my youngest is 22 months, so this is a VERY difficult age to photograph, but my (nearly) 9 year old isn't that compliant either!



Mixed emotions

So...I'm currently 28 weeks pregnant, and counting!

I have my days when I'm tired, day's when I'm nervous (about the impending arrival), and days when I am so excited I can't contain myself. Hormones...aaaah such a wonderful thing.

[Today, if you're wondering, is a 'tired' day.]

The realisation of becoming a mum to three children is quite a thought, one that hasn't quite sunk in yet. I sometimes wonder how mum's of three or more do it? Three different personalities to contend with must be mind numbing at times, but hopefully joyful!?

And a question that has been going around in my head lately, when do you feel like you're done? I mean really done? I do have days when I think, love, you're in way over you're head looking after just two, what possessed you to have another? And then thoughts of how lovely having a large family would be. The chaos, the different personalities running ragged around our bustling home, and even now, being pregnant, whenever there's a newborn baby I'm just reduced to putty, so god knows what I'll be like again in a couple of years time. I can say this now, I know, but my thoughts may soon change on that one once baby number 3 comes along.

What it boils down to is that going from 3 to 4 means a much bigger car, making more room in your home, etc, etc. then it's more or less the deciding factor in knowing when to stop. It's just that it sounds so very final. I am blessed to have another child, the understanding that other's aren't so lucky, I have had the experience of losing a much wanted baby during the first trimester of my second pregnancy, and it is devastating, so it's not always been a bed of roses.

Maybe the deciding factor is how it affects the rest of the family, us mother's can at times (very rarely) think selfishly, more often for the right reasons, but we take into consideration every other family members point of view (whether we like it or not!) or maybe like most of us it boils down to finances, but that's another story.

All this thinking is taxing on my brain!

Blame it on my age...or hormones!

A Beautiful Life

I have been creating, nurturing, growing a beautiful new life...due May xoxo

How beautifully everything is arranged by Nature;

as soon as a child enters the world,

it finds a mother ready to take care of it. 

~Jules Michelet

 

 

My love for photography

Photography has long been a love of mine, it stems from childhood. Peering through my grandmother's albums of generations past. I was always intrigued and fascinated who they were, what they were wearing, and when it was taken. The black and white portraits were captivating, and I would look at these photographs time and time again, always seeing something new within the composed photos.

I never once assumed what camera did they take them with, but I get quite a few comments on 'what kind of camera do you have' with the assumption that said person was given my camera their photographs would undoubtedly come out the exact same. (Yes, people do assume this, believe me).

I once read in a blog post:
Once upon a time a photographer was invited to have dinner at the home of a nice couple. During dinner the wife comments to the photographer “Your pictures are beautiful. You must have a great camera.” The photographer nods politely. After finishing dinner the photographer comments to the wife “That was a fine meal. You must have some great pots!

And that resonated with me. I don't mind anyone asking what equipment I have. Do I shoot in natural light/studio light etc. I love talking about photography. But I do worry that people are duped into buying very expensive pieces of equipment, without fully understanding the mechanics of what a camera can do.

I'm a Nikon girl, always have been. It just 'feels' right in my petite hands. I started off with a second-hand Nikon D50, and used that for approximately 3 or 4 years, and was still my back-up camera when I upgraded to a Nikon D80, which I have had for 7 years (and still use to this day). It took me a loooong time to fully appreciate what both camera's can do. I studied the manual (yes, really), researched online, and took every aspect of learning about photography by the scruff of the neck, and still feel I have a lot to learn.

Last year I purchased a medium format camera with 120 film. I love the novelty of what film does, waiting for the negatives to be processed. Unlike the have it now world of digital (one click and voila it's there, I wait patiently for the lab to finish processing my endless reels of film to be send back from the lab).

Photography is an expensive hobby, so invest wisely and learn the basics of the craft. There are so many teaching tools online, forums and other photographers who are willing to share what they do. It's a learning curve, but an enjoyable one. Regardless if you have a very basic camera, keep practicing, take your camera everywhere with you.

Above all enjoy it, I never tire of using my camera, creatively it what drives me to try different things, learn more and more importantly learn my tool to the best of its ability. Above all it will be you who will make that everlasting image. Moments can't be replicated, make sure you document or capture those times.

And besides, who wants to be the same as everyone else? Find your style, for me, it's taken me a very long time to find mine, but I'm getting there!

My eldest boy taking with 120 medium format film:

Soft, sweet moments

I cherish those moments, of quiet, stillness and calm. Those moments are very few and far between in my life, and because of that they are so much sweeter.

The noise that encompasses my daily life are filled with chatter, laughter, ideas, gossip, play, story-telling, and so much more, this is a reminder of memories to be shared, moments to be realised and more importantly that life is full.

My loves, my life. Fills my heart with joy.