18th Birthday shoot

10/06/2010 by Anna.

Last weekend I photographed Chris who has just turned 18. The weather was lovely and we had a fun session with a walk around his lovely village in Oxfordshire.

A photo session is a lasting present to give someone, especially for a ‘big’ birthday. And especially for the 18th birthday, with the launch of life after school!

I like to include the home environment - it may not seem important now but I think it will bring back so many memories in the future. This is Chris’ ‘cot’ - a bed on a platform.

It’s amazing how changing the lighting changes the whole feel of an image! With this image I intended to create a timeless portrait - we just used window light and reflectors for this set-up.

We had to have an image of Chris dressed in his ATC uniform!

For his image I used window light balanced with an off camera flash.

A very manly pose! Off camera flash was balanced with daylight to get some lovely details in the clouds, rather than being washed out which would have happened without the extra lighting. This image has been processed to give this subdued range of colours.

Thank you, Chris, for an enjoyable session and I hope you are pleased with the pictures and will enjoy them for many years to come!

Posted in Teenage children, Portraits | 1 Comment »

Fashion shoot in Bath

17/05/2010 by Anna.

Jodie Clay is in her final year studying Fashion Design at Bath Spa university and wanted some pictures of her final year collection. We met at The Little Theatre cinema in Bath for some photography in the main auditorium.

The collection is called Glamour and was inspired by musicals of the Twenties, looking at streamlining and movement, so the surroundings of The Little Theatre were just right.

I took along a speedlite and mounted it off camera using a radio controlled trigger to  fire it. I had to match the output of the flash with the ambient light to give the dramatic lighting that I wanted.

The models were all students at the university and were gorgeous! This modelling was a new experience for them.

For this picture we went up to one of the projection rooms; unfortunately there was so little room I couldn’t even get my flash, mounted with lighting umbrella to soften it for this one, inside the room, so we went back down to the auditorium.

By this time the fee paying public were queuing outside to come in and see a film so we had to leave! There was beautiful sunshine outside so we found a quiet spot to do a little more photography.

A very different feel! I like to see how clothes drape and move with movement.

The sun gave all the dramatic light I needed for these pictures!

The attention to detail in these clothes was beautiful.

Good luck with your future career, Jodie. I hope you can continue to do what you love.

 

 

 

Optional Excerpt

 

Posted in Fashion, Teenage children, Portraits | 1 Comment »

Family photo shoot in Bristol

10/03/2010 by Anna.

The cold weather continues but the light levels are so much higher now than in the middle of the winter, and I’m enjoying the lighter mornings and evenings too. Natural light photography is certainly easier when there is some! This entry shows some of the pictures I took at a recent photo shoot in Bristol.

We took our dogs along as Louis loves playing with them!

The dogs were very happy too!

The sun was quite bright so I had to find some shade for some of the shots…

… or use the sun as a back light. The colour patchwork behind Louis is from the allotments and buildings across the valley and I have attenuated the colours by increasing the vibrancy of the image.

The whole family surrounded by wood in the lovely dining room.

I like to show a person’s environment and a girl’s bedroom can be a very individual place, showing something of this stage of life.

The dogs could hardly move the next day!

Now is a good time to book a spring photo shoot - I charge £50 for the session, to be held in your home or out on location. This is refunded when you spend over £200 on prints and products. A family photo session would make a brilliant Mother’s day gift.

Posted in Family, Children, Teenage children | No Comments »

A Grandchildren shoot

08/11/2009 by Anna.

This session was done to provide some pictures of children ranging in age from 3 to 18 for their grandparents as a Ruby wedding anniversary present. Such a wide age range can be challenging to accommodate sometimes, but all the youngsters were wonderfully helpful and a pleasure to photograph.

Piling onto the bed with faces lit by window light is a good pose for youngsters, if there is room for me to fit in with my camera!

The dog joined in with this picture! I like to show details of the home environment as it’s such an important factor in the life of a family and lovely to have on record for the future.

I always vary the locations of shooting in a session because different locations inside and out have different lighting opportunities. In this shoot James, the oldest, who is a keen photographer, helped me with ideas and with holding the giant reflector I often use.

This is one way of fitting them all into the same picture.  I hope the grandparents will be thrilled with their present.

Posted in Children, Teenage children, Family gatherings | No Comments »

Ed’s 18th birthday

10/10/2009 by Anna.

My birthday present to my nephew-in-law (is there such a thing?) for his 18th birthday was a photo session and he was surprisingly keen to have it, so here are some of the results of the day.

He made the most of his session, had lots of ideas and really played up to the camera!

Well, of course you need a bit of alcohol at 18!

I used an off camera flash to give a bit of umph to the images, having the flash exposure just enough so that the ambient light was slightly subdued.

Thank you, Ed, for a fun session - I hope you like your pictures!

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Ed’s 18th birthday

10/10/2009 by Anna.

My birthday present to my nephew-in-law (is there such a thing?) for his 18th birthday was a photo session and he was surprisingly keen to have it, so here are some of the results of the day.

He made the most of his session, had lots of ideas and really played up to the camera!

Well, of course you need a bit of alcohol at 18!

I used an off camera flash to give a bit of umph to the images, having the flash exposure just enough so that the ambient light was slightly subdued.

Thank you, Ed, for a fun session - I hope you like your pictures!

Posted in Teenage children, Portraits | No Comments »

The Last of the Summer Sun

22/09/2009 by Anna.

Aaahh! Isn’t it good to get some early autumn sun? The photo shoot that I’m posting this week was planned later in the day than I would have liked because of teenage children’s Saturday jobs, but in the end the sun was still so strong that it was just as well!

Jason is soon starting university so it’s nice to get a record of the family at the end of an era and the beginning of the next…

I like playing around with different colour effects - I think this one is quite cool!

As the sun was so bright, for this picture I placed the sun behind Katrina and got her to lean in to the camera. I had to use a reflector to bounce light back into her face.

The back light gives wonderful edge lighting around the hair. Again a reflector was used to bounce light into the faces.

I used a little fill in flash in this image to balance out the light a little.

Here is a family portrait set in the beautiful surroundings of the river in Malmesbury.

So, the next thing to look forward to is the changing colour of the trees. I took some beautiful family pictures with children playing with the leaves in the autumn  sun in Corsham Park a couple of years ago. Anyone interested?…

Posted in Teenage children, Family gatherings, Portraits | No Comments »