Design Templates

I love to check out other peoples blogs and am constantly amazed at the creativity and wealth of shared knowledge available.  I have recently become a fan of The Coffee Shop Blog; Rita who runs the blog has created some fantastic frames/storyboards and actions for photographers. Amazingly most of them are free to download.

Here's a couple of examples using the coffee shop colorbar colour palette:

They're great fun but be warned - Rita is right when she's says using them becomes addictive!

The Coffee Shop Blog

Golden Wedding Anniversary in Dorset

Its amazing just how many wedding anniversaries there are at the end of July - both my parents and my husbands parents also married on the last weekend in July. They of course were teachers and keen to make it the first weekend of the summer holidays which goes someway to expaining the appeal of this weekend. This year it was the turn of Ralph and Freda to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary and great to see two people still happily married and enjoying life together.  They had a celebration with their family & friends which included son Clive and his american wife Lisa - friends of my husband and I from our days when we were living in the USA. 

It was a lovely day, the rain stopped midday and the sun came out which allowed everyone to enjoy the garden which was looking splendid thanks to Ralph's green fingers! We enjoyed catching up with old friends and I captured some great pictures of the couple with their family and friends - some of my favourite from the day are below.

Oxfordshire Christening

It was a glorious summer day ten days ago for the christening of Charles at Kencot church. Family and friends had gathered to celebrate, including siblings Ella and Henry, and I was invited to take some photographs of this wonderful occasion. The glorious weather meant we could spend the afternoon in the garden after the christening and get some great shots of the kids at play.  Some of my favourites from the day are shown below.

  

SWPP Members Training Day - Morag MacDonald

Yesterday I attended a SWPP members training day.  It's been a while since I found time to attend an educational course for myself but it was a good reminder of the benefits and inspiration we can get from observing others work. The day focused on using natural light and creating additional lighting where necessary in a way which still retains a natural look. Something all photographers try hard to achieve! Morag MacDonald has I style I appreciate being a fellow documentary photographer so I was particularly keen to learn how she approaches her work and creates her images. Like me, she tries to avoid overly posed images and may direct on occasion rather than formally pose a shot.

Her work shows strong influences of film noir and uses natural light to create shadowy, contoured images which give her subjects a 3D feel and realism and thus creates a natural feel to her work. The ability to place a subject in the available light and position yourself as the photographer correctly to create these images is a skill and an art not learnt overnight but with many years practise and refinement. I came away from the day feeling inspired and with a passion to attempt some of what I learnt.  Although we have similarities in our style, it is not my intention to copy Morag.  As with all art and photography that inspires me, I take the learning on board to use and create images in my own style.  A few images from the day are posted below. (Thanks to our model for the day Vivienne Edge).

Another bronze award from the SWPP

I love taking all kinds of photographs - if its there I'll shoot it!  Every style and subject is a learning experience which feeds into my professional work.  So I was pleased to achieve another bronze award from the Societies for this single entry shot of an Eagle in last months competition. June is going to be a busy month with half-term over its back to business - prewedding shoots, SWPP members day course with Morag MacDonald....and that's just next week! 

Competition Honours

Its been a while since I found time to enter any competitions but last month I submitted an entry to the science and nature section of the SWPP monthly competition and have been award a bronze for this image of a dandelion. It always great to get recognition for my work and encourages me to try new areas of photography to expand my skills.

Some of my previous awards are below:

Silver:

Bronze:

Springtime in bloom...

Gardening is one of my passions so I was delighted when Holly from Thanks a Bunch, the florist in Faringdon, agreed to let me do some photos of the flowers in her shop.  They are updating their website so its always important to have fresh, up-to-date images to accompany the site. It was an interesting morning and gave me an opportunity to capture some lovely spring blooms in her shop.  Some of my faves from the shoot are below.