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.