Another busy weekend of Communions coming up – I hope everyone has a great day.
Remember that we also do a lot of sessions after the day: it’s a nice chance to get dressed up and have a relaxed photo session without the pressure of the Big Day.
Contact us now to chat about how a session like this might work for you.
Back in the office today after the first busy weekend of First Communions.
Everyone was in fine form – despite the untimelty downpoor on Saturday. It’s a lovely time to be doing family photos and there are always some lovely photos coming out of the Communion sessions. The kids are a great age: full of fun and confidence.
I’ve my work cut-out getting through all those pics before next weekend but if you had a session with me over the weekend then proofs will be available shortly.
If you have a Communion coming up then we’re fully booked for the 23rd May but there are some slots available on the 9th and 16th May so call now 021-4293714
It’s in the nature of what I do that many assignments come at short notice. Yesterday lunchtime I was asked to photography my daughters for a promotional image for the dance company they work so hard for. My pleasure. But what to do?
What do we have to work with: it’s sunny, we are blessed with a large garden but it’s a bit cluttered (trampolines, sheds, swings, nets etc), we also have access to our neighbour’s garden which is a lot greener (but quite narrow). Thankfully it’s half-day at Secondary school and the girls are in fine form and have matching dresses.
So we’ll work out the garden thing but the sun is the first challenge. Nice and bright but we need to make sure we deal with the contrast between the direct sun and the shadows. There’s no real shade at this time of the year so we need to plan to shoot in full sun. Personally I generally shoot into the sun or at a slight angle so that my subject is in reasonably even shadow and we might get a bright rim light.
Fine but now there’s a stop (or more) between my subject and the background. You have two options: expose for the shadow and blow the background by overexposing it; or get some additional light into the subject using a reflector or an artificial light source. I want my background so it’s going to be the second option. I’m a big fan of the reflector but I don’t have one big enough to light a full length shot and no time to find something to improvise. On site I’d normally use on-camera flash to fill in here but I have a little more time and enough kit at home to try something else: off camera flash to one side. This gives me the option to get more dramatic lighting (since it’s a dance pose).
When we get to the bottom of the garden there’s actually some lovely dappled shade at the bottom of the garden from the bare trees. Two bonuses here: the back-lighting is now way more interesting and textured; it’s also somewhat diffused so there’s slightly less contrast between the sun and the shade. Result.
As it happens my first few test shots show that the camera’s exposure is pretty much bang on so we work away.
Some lovely stuff in there and hopefully we’ll be seeing them around Cork very soon ahead of the show in May.
Daughter Number One has been on at me since Christmas for some nice shots of her dancing to balance out the swimming pics on her wall. So as well as the duets for Tina we do a few of her on her own. I’m sure Other Daughter will want some now too when she sees these…
After what has proven to be a number of false-dawns, I’m back on the blog and determined (this time) to generate some interesting and useful content.
Many people have commented on seeing my work in a particular local press publication (and an associated magazine). Although that gig was fun while it lasted, that relationship has run its course and I’m now able to focus my efforts back to my core business.
It was a good experience on a number of fronts:
So I need to make a public apology to everyone who didn’t get as much of my time and attention over the last six months due to the distraction of The Press. I vow to re-focus my efforts on doing that I do best: looking after people and their memories.
We’re pleased to announce a special deal for Christmas Cards for 2014:
For a special price of €95 you can get a studio family photo and 30 christmas cards.
Cards are printed in-house so we can turn them around quite quickly but call now to get your session and cards done in time to catch the post.
Still lots going on here at Rob Lamb Photography. Media-savy followers may have noticed that I started a regular gig with the Cork News in October with is keeping me busy meeting a lot of interesting personalities and local businesses throughout the city on a weekly basis.
It’s not all pounding the streets for a scoop, photo calls, press deadlines and the smell of hot presses (that’s printing presses, not storage for your towels).
Cork News list a number of the city’s finest restaurants amongst their clients. Normally most food isn’t that disgestable by the time you’ve finished photographing it but if the chef is kind and you work quickly enough, life can be good…
Well done to Nathalie and all the other constants in the Belle of Ballinlough over the weekend.
We were very proud to have Nathalie represent us on stage but unfortunately this wasn’t her year.
Congrats to Eimear representing the Orchard Bar who is the 2014 Belle.
Nathalie has a natural presence and was certainly very comfortable in front of the camera when we did a quick photo session in the Japanese Gardens last week. Here are a few more pics from the session and you can follow her Street Style blog at https://www.facebook.com/Streetstyleandsmile
We’re delighted to be supporting Nathalie Tobin in this year’s Belle of Ballinlough.
Good Luck at the Judging night tomorrow at the Silver Key and we’ll see everyone on Saturday at the Youth Club Summer Festival.
We’ve been to the Festival most years since the kids were young (and even got roped into the acts last year) but this is the first time we’ve had our act together enough to get involved in the Belle. I hope all the girls and their escorts have a great night and fingers crossed for Nathalie.
Confirmations started a couple of weeks ago and we’ve had a number of sessions for families since then.
As in previous years we can do more formal studio sessions or sessions at home for Confirmations. For many families the Confirmation is a much more low-key occassion compared to First Holy Communion.
However it marks an important transition: from primary school to secondary; from child to young adult; from tween to teen. This are set to change for these kids. Big Time. It’s a great opportunity to get pictures of everyone together before all this comes upon ye.
We are available on the day of the Confirmation but we’ve also had sessions booked on other days.
Sessions on the day are more convienient and allow you to get pictures done while everyone is together.
Home sessions afterwards allow you to take more time over the pictures and maybe show-off that outfit one more time.
As with previous years we have special print packages for Confirmation Sessions – see https://roblambphoto.com/?page_id=796
Call us now on 021 4293714 or drop in next time you’re passing to enquire about availability for your day
So where are we after all these pictures of Nana?
Well we’ve some lovely images here and personally it was well worth getting these taken. She’s someone who I’ve found difficult to capture in an image and now I feel I have something that starts to do her justice.
However this was also a series of experiments in photography as well as an excuse to photograph Nana.
I’m definitely liking the medium format thing:
My 35mm digital working is much more dynamic. It allows much more freedom to shoot and it suits the way I work with kids much more. It has less advantages for more static subjects like this but:
35mm Film presents very little extra to add to the way I work at this stage. It’s has only two things going for it and these aren’t going to be enough to offset the cost and advantage of Full Frame digital:
So it’s easy to see why 35mm film is pretty much a craft market these days. It’s lovely to work in but lacks a strong case for sticking with it.
The assumption here though is that you can afford to kit yourself out with 35mm Full Frame DSLR kit. If you’re shooting a crop sensor or even a compact with a smaller sensor and you want that ’50mmf1.4′ look then in fact a film SLR and a 50mm lens may be your most cost effective way of starting out. It might be enough to help you understand if this is going to be useful before forking out and extra few grand on a Full-Frame DSLR.
I’ve learned something about shooting portraits. I have some new techniques that are now good enough to use commercially (and can still improve).
I’m not sure I’ll be using 120 film in my commercial work but I will be ordering some more film for a few more personal shoots.
The fun of spending time with Nana, shooting with all those cameras and the feedback on the images was definitely worthwhile.
