The kids always want their photo taken when they get their face painted. I’m a Dad, I usually oblige. But generally it serves as nothing more than a record of face paint that at best stimulates a memory of a good party.
But now my kids have started painting their own faces.
Little Tiger by Big Sister
And now you have an image which captures artistic endeavour, the relationship of three siblings and a boy who really is a tiger.
I never thought I would ever see anything in a picture of a child behind a mask of face paint. Once again, my kids have enlightened me.
I was sent this photo by a client who ordered Birth Announcement Cards as part of a baby session:
The Many Faces of Rosie M
Poor Rosie doesn’t look a bit impressed by being out numbered by her own image. Thanks to Dad for sending me this picture.
At home, we’ve been sending personal cards with photos of the family on for years – especially at Christmas. It has been a delight to call to people in distant lands and find one of our cards still on the fridge, the mantle or even framed on the wall.
I know my wife will soon be telling me straight that I’d better get on with this year’s Christmas Card.
Premium Greetings Cards with an image from your session can be ordered in batches of 20 for €50
However I also offer a deal which includes a short photo session at a location of your choice (in Cork) plus 20 cards for €80.
Discounts apply for larger batches of cards.
I’d better get my own cards done. Now, where are those Santa Hats!
My Dad did a turn out a while ago and arrived with a small selection of my old toy cars. Now I’m not convinced, given that this is a 1960’s car, that this was actually originally mine (sorry sis) but I do remember it well because of the driver and the dog in the back. Some of the scars on it are certainly my doing.
So this little Matchbox Morris is probably over 40 years old, has survived at least two of my family and is now in the hands of my small fella. And the dog is still faithfully looking out of the back window.
They don’t make ’em like that anymore.
I did a quick search for the Morris MG 1100 and came up with this site. Isn’t the Internet an amazing thing?
I came across this post on the BBC website by Phil Coomes. The New Statesman have hired a photography editor to take control of the delivering their photographic style.
Wow.
As a youth my parents occasionally took the Guardian newspaper and even through that haze of teenage memory, I remember being struck by the photographs it carried in almost every issue.
I have since regularly read and heard journalists bemoaning the change in the industry, both in written, radio and photojournalism. Don McCullin’s auto biography is very interesting on the subject. John Simpson has even reflected on the changes at the BBC.
I have a selection of World Press Award books dating back to the early 90’s and even in that short span you can see a change in the style of photojournalism – or at least that which is being recognised within the industry. Don McCullin’s stunning and moving photographs from various conflicts through the 60’s and 70’s rarely featured dead people: they reflected on the impact of death in conflict rather than death itself. It is stark contrast to the images that came out of the Gulf Wars.
There seem to be very few news or feature periodicals that seek to make a specific statement in their visual content. So All Credit to the New Statesman. Good Luck to Rebecca McClelland, a true, classic style is a much harder thing to develop than following trends and using gimmicks. I’ll definitely be watching her progress in Easons.
Found these growing in the bottom of a pot in the front garden:
Mysterious Mushrooms
I bought the Macro Lens for baby sessions because my standard portrait lenses just don’t get in tight on the smallest of tots. But there’s lots of fun to be had with it in my own backyard.
I spotted this photo of the US Open on the BBC website.
Spot the Chimp
I mentioned chimping a couple of times already. The ability to review your shots has helped digital take over from film in many aspects of photography. But this is a classic example of missing a shot due to chimping.
Maybe he had it in the can already. But this guy is obviously a pro, he has a nice big Canon camera and a big lens with IS, what are the chances that he actually missed the shot? And if he had missed it, wouldn’t he be better off shooting some more versions of this key moment, rather than checking his LCD?
How many times have I been at a tourist spot and nearly fallen over someone who has stopped dead in the middle of the path to check the shot he just took?
Digital cameras are very fancy these days. They miss very few shots in most circumstances. Any many times with action shots, if you miss them, you miss them. Taking your eye off the action to check what you might have missed just makes you miss something else. Take the shot, look for the next one or put your camera away and enjoy what’s next.
It’s not that I don’t chimp. I come across many difficult lighting scenarios and the ability to review the shot, check the histogram and adjust wherever possible is invaluable. But I try to keep my eye on the ball.
This video on chimping is excellent. There is a bit of ‘we film guys were good enough without chimping and you digital guys are all soft’ to the whole thing. And to be honest I see what they mean – photographers who shot film had it a whole lot harder and all the more credit for them to get the pictures they got on film. But in the context of sports photography, there’s a lot to be missed by sparing at your LCD and not the game in hand.
Apologies to both the BBC and Getty for snipping this image.
I climbed the hill after tea to try to get a few shots of the Copper Mines before the sun went down. It wasn’t working out for me but I noticed the evening light hitting the hills across the valley and took a few shots of that before I realised that there must be something creating that gorgeous light and turned around.
Photography takes me out of things to concentrate on what’s in the viewfinder. It is important to ‘feel’ these moments of incredible natural beauty as well as photograph them. So I took the shot and forced myself to put the camera away and just watched the sun set. Ahhhh. These moments are rare enough.
I finally got some time this morning to work on this picture. I wanted to balance sunset and coastline so I effectively double-exposed the original RAW file and blended them to back together maximise the impact of the sun but keep some detail in the hills (I know it is hard to tell from the small version).