Family Portrait - my family that is.

A short while ago my wife, Annie and I had the great privilege of being photographed by my good friend, the very talented Brett Harkness. He has kindly allowed me to post a few of my personal favourites on my blog if I sing his praises. Well he didn't actually say that but I'm going to give praise where it is due. Brett and Kristie (his lovely wife) are a big reason I'm in photography and have achieved what I have so far. Their passion, creativity and drive for this business we are in is a constant source of inspiration and motivation for me. If you are interested in taking your photography or your photography business to the next level you could do a lot worse than attending one of their excellent training days at the fabulous BHP Studio. If you are simply looking for inspiration then check out his blog as often as you can. Or better still become a fan on Facebook. And while you are there, become a fan of my FB page as well.

Snow Day Part 2

Endless patterns, limitless pictures.

Lovely.

Incidentally, if you are in the market for a new pair of walking/hiking boots I can highly recommend the Salomon Quest 4D GTX. I've been wearing a pair of these for the past few months (well, not for months... you know what I mean) through mud, water snow and ice. They are light, flexible enough to be worn for many miles but stiff enough to support when the going gets tough. 100% waterproof and warm. Add a decent pair of gaters and you'll be set for some pretty serious weather and terrain.

A study of snow

And still the snow fell... so, out with the camera I go.

I really enjoy the way snow and ice clings, sticks, hangs and covers everyday objects and plants. The patterns and unusual shapes are everywhere if we but stop to look.

Photographing snow and snow covered things is quite tricky. The best tip I can give you is; wait for the light. An overcast day (often the case when snow is about) gives very flat lighting, great for easy portraits but it over no contrast. Without shadow it is difficult to define or describe anything in two dimensions and especially so when shooting white on white. So hang on until the sun comes out. The direct light will create shadows, which show texture and create depth in your pics.

You will also need to over expose your images most of the time either by shooting in a manual mode and taking full control of your exposure or by adjusting your exposure using +ve EV. Many point & shoot cameras have 'snow scene' modes that work quite well - this mode is doing the same thing. Without this over exposure your snow will be grey rather than near white. Of course, you can go too far and pure white snow will record as nothing but that - white with no detail.

These images were shot on a Canon 5DmkII using just a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.

Model Shoot

Recently I had the pleasure of working with two of my favourite freelancers, Louise Lunn and Tina Cambers. Louise provided the stunning make-up and Tina did the wonderful hair styles. We were fortunate enough to be given access to a very grand entrance hall belonging to friends of mine (thank you Nicola and Ian) for the shoot. With plenty of space and good natural light I was able to experiment a bit with flash lighting, video and natural light. The main objective was to show off the hair and make-up so I didn't get too creative with the posing... until I'd got the shots for Louise and Tina then I was free to play a bit.

First time I've ever tried a shot where the models are holding the flashguns pointed at themselves. I've seen it done a few times so I've always wanted to give it a go. Surprisingly difficult to stop to model blinding herself and to get the light in the right place. Still, the results were quite pleasing I think. Had a bit of a play with coloured gels as well. Not something I get the chance to do very often during a wedding. 

Resolutions...

I don't really go for the whole New Year resolution thing. It never really made sense to me. It's just a date after all. No more special or significant than the 1st of any other month when you think about it. If you want to make a positive change in your life why wait until New Years Eve? Do it now.

Having said that, I resolve to shoot more and post more to this blog than I have before. It's pure fluke that this resolution coincides with the 1st of January... honest.

A few thoughts from the past week or so

1. I'd forgotten how tricky it is to get your exposures spot on when shooting in snow - plenty of that in past week or two.
2. How nice everything looks covered in snow.
3. How difficult it is to push a pram in snow.
4. Why can't we have the Christmas celebrations without all the capitalism and overspending?
5. Babies look great in winter clothes. Well, mine does.

See!