Let’s talk babies…

My most recent shoot was a newborn shoot. If you are a photographer reading this then you will know how unpredictable babies are *head in hands* lol.

Now let me start by saying, I am not a newborn photographer, nor have I taken any newborn courses, so I am basically like a fish out of water here. My first newborn shoot was with my step daughters new baby and there was no pressure. The shoot was basically a favour for family, under familiar circumstances and even at that it wasn’t a walk in the park. I done my research, found some useful tips and learned that to capture the best images the shoot should be done within the first ten days, this is when babies sleep the most (apparently). Well apparently not….. this defo wasn’t the case for this little madam, eight days old and she stayed awake for the whole shoot, well up until the last five minutes (bearing in mind the shoot was 1 and a half hours and 4 outfit changes) lol. I’m not going to lie but I really had to work to capture the money shot and I swore I would never do it again until I’d taken a newborn photography course. Unfortunately covid denied me of any course and put a haul to those plans. Not sure if that was a good thing or bad to be honest, lol.

Anyhoo my recent shoot was also a favour and before the shoot I was already fearing the worst. This little lady was a week old and i swear she could smell my fear *massive sigh*. Two hours and she just wouldn’t settle, I knew I was walking away with nothing as we tried everything to comfort her and send her off to sleep. Lack of knowledge played a massive part in this, and all involved were stressing that there wouldn’t be any pics of this beautiful newborn baby girl. A hot water bottle provided by mum and dad at the very end, placed under the blanket that she lay on soothed her long enough to take a few pics before traumatising everyone. The moral of this story?? Don’t do anybody any favours lol! No but seriously… knowledge and experience is defo the key here and bucket loads of patience.

I was extremely lucky to get these images and thank my lucky stars that I had something Nice to show mum and dad. Never again! Well, not without proper knowledge lol. I take my hat off to newborn photographers, it’s defo a talent. Probably don’t get the credit and appreciation they deserve.

I would like to take a moment and thank you all for joining me on my photography journey, and listening to me babble on and on, not forgetting my bad grammar lol. I’m taking some time out just now but won’t leave it too long! until the next time 😘

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4th Jul 2021 0

Summer is here

The days are warmer, the schools have finished up and outdoor locations and attractions are packed….. must be summer lol.

Most of you will think I’m mad but I’m not a massive fan of summer, for me it’s the heat and I don’t cope great in the heat. I do however like the nice feeling that the sun brings, nature comes alive and the nights are less of a bore.

Most people if not everyone is outside, enjoying not only the weather but the easing of restrictions in Scotland. photographers are making the most of the nice weather and venturing outside with their cameras. This is a great season for outdoor photography and a busy time for working photographers. Unfortunately Ive had to postpone both professional and personal projects as I make some personal changes within my life, i won’t go into too much detail just now but if you follow me I will explain these at a later date.

Ive not been blogging much really, as I’ve not had much me time but i will get back to boring you all soon lol. Anyhoo… I had the pleasure of doing my first communion this month, the weather stayed dry and that’s all I could be thankful for. Being a photographer I thought I could go out into the world and capture anything.. I’m quickly learning that isn’t the case. I’m not the most confident person and I’m extremely hard on myself, maybe too hard sometimes. I’ve learned that outdoor portraits isn’t my strong point and I put a lot of pressure on myself to capture something different, this does not do me any favours. Did I enjoy doing the shoot? No. Did I capture something different? No. Will I do it again? Probably 😂

This shoot was extra special because the girl making her first communion was my niece. Having me as her auntie, she is a pro in front of the camera as you can imagine and she looked gorgeous ☺️ I’m starting to babble on now so I’ll just show you…

Her mum, like all other mums out there just wanted a nice picture of their child that represented their special day as a keepsake, and I think I managed to give her exactly that.

In the fear of writing a novel and talking too much I will keep my recent shoot for another blog lol. Until the next time 😘

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3rd Jul 2021 0

Landscapes

So the Scottish weather improved and lockdown restrictions eased, this is the best outcome for landscape photographers.

I love a good landscape picture as do most of us. A good image can make you feel a certain way, you can imagine being there in person and it can inspire you to go visit the location. Landscapes are pictures that you can hang on your wall and they look pretty within the home, even if they were captured by a complete stranger. Now imagine being the photographer of that beautiful picture??

All that said, I have decided to give it a go. This genre is far from what I capture, but I’m excited to explore it a little more and see how I get on. I mean it looks easy enough, right?? Lol. I know it’s not easy and I learned this through studying the genre briefly in college. There are many aspects to consider before even venturing out for example; the location, framing, point of interest, accessibility, angle, weather, sky, time of day, tide times if at sea and even where the sun is and how it effects anything within the frame. That’s not everything but a start, the biggest downfall for me is patience 🙈 I am not the most patient person and landscape photography requires patience.

I captured my first landscape in 2018. I had stumbled across a lovely picture of the cloch lighthouse, Gourock, Scotland and decided to go take a similar pic. I grabbed my camera bag one evening, a friend and a tripod and headed out to capture this image. On arriving the tide was out, the sun was directed towards the white lighthouse and the rain was close by (not ideal). I wanted a slow shutter speed shot and In order to achieve this, a filter was needed to restrict the amount of light entering the camera. Unfortunately at the time, none of the filters in my bag where good enough for this, and I was unable to get the shutter speed I would have liked. I didn’t fully explore angles or viewpoints and snapped a few shots regardless. 🙈 let’s just say… I was extremely unprepared and uneducated and it shows, as you can see for yourself…

I wasn’t impressed by this and decided landscapes weren’t for me lol. Regardless of how I felt or my poor attempt I still had a brief to fulfil, so I turned to research and lots of it. Research is dreaded within the college course as its intense, tedious and hardcore throughout but I soon learned that it was necessary. I came across some beautiful places, but it’s impossible to find a lovely location in Scotland that hasn’t already been captured 100 times over. Eager to complete my course and push myself, I visited a few more beauty spots, and even managed a sunrise at 5am…

The lone tree, Milarrochy Bay, Loch Lomond

To date I am in the process of planning my next landscape and I have chosen my location, went and seen exactly what I want. I’m just waiting for that perfect day, you’ll need to keep an eye out for that ☺️

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1st May 2021 0

Achievements

It’s been a few weeks since my last blog. I don’t know about you, but Lockdown is starting to take its toll. As a photographer I have no inspiration these days and the camera is beginning to collect dust 🙈 I’m hoping it won’t be too long before I can venture outside the five mile radius in order to capture something that excites me.

On a brighter more positive note, last week and this week have brought some exciting news 😁 I recently sent some of my work into my local papers and they were selected to print. Friday seen the first of my images chosen by the glasgow camera club to be printed in the Glasgow times. The image printed was my first ever newborn shoot featuring little baby Sofia Irvine…

I was chuffed to bits that my work was chosen to be printed in this paper and that a wider audience would see it ☺️ first time for me.

Then while browsing the Scottish Daily record on Saturday evening I was blown away to see that another of my images was chosen as a £100 winning image ☺️ totally buzzing. This is a great achievement for me and it fair cheered me up. The winning picture was a long exposure shot of Charing Cross in Glasgow…

And if that wasn’t enough yesterday this image was also chosen as picture of the week in my local newspaper the Hamilton advertiser 😁

So you could say it’s been a good week for publicity ☺️ I wonder what’s next… stay tuned to find out.

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16th Mar 2021 1