By the Riverside

Taken on the "bandstand" by the river Tees in Barnard Castle where I grew up. We spent many hours playing here as children and it's quite nostalgic watching our own children play here now.

I used my 50mm lens which is an old German model. I love it, but for some reason it doesn't have a great focal range so there were a couple of shots that I tried out that just couldn't work. I'd taken another of Nathan sitting on the bench, but as soon as I'd moved far enough back to get the whole bench in it was out of focus! Oh well. I'm sticking with this lens for now though as I find the depth of colour and the flexibility of aperture so much better than with my other lenses.

This shot of Squish was taken a couple of minutes after she'd just fallen head first into the river and mummy had to rescue her!

I believe this unhappy face was a result of being told we had to leave early due to her younger sister's unexpected swim. As an aside... the bridge in the background has always been known to me as the 'silver bridge' but it has recently had some work done to it and a fresh coat of a more greeny-blue paint. It will always be "The Silver Bridge" though.

Family shoot - out and about

After our mini family shoot indoors with the white seamless and rather forced attempts at getting everyone to co-operate I decided that over the following days I'd make extra effort to capture some good shots whilst having fun out and about on our little holiday break. This involved poking my lens into the children's faces and taking a step back from doing mummy activities and trying to be a photographer instead. It may be a little repetitive, but my next few blog posts will mostly be of my children...

Today's two shots show that if in the right mood and when buttered up by a trip to costa coffee, Little Squish is as good at playing up to the camera as her elder sister!

Family Photo Shoot take 2.

Day two of photo shoot pictures. First we have a my littlest squish who really was the total opposite of her sister and generally refused to co-operate for the camera. Not quite sure how we managed to get this little fairy shot but we did!

Daddy and my big girl who was giving her own directions by the end. "Lets do one of me on your knee Daddy, and then one on your shoulders."

A couple with me and the girls. I'm not really a huge fan of the white background photo style but I will admit to liking this second photo of me and Little Squish, so may even print it off and put it on the wall.

Sisters cuddling. I'm certain Little Squish only stayed there because she couldn't wriggle free from her sister's grasp! This little family shoot has been good practice, few tweeks here and there needed but on the whole quite happy!

Family Photo Shoot

Nathan bought me a white seamless for Christmas but as my camera has been broken I haven't bothered to get it out and use it. Last week my camera was returned in excellent working order so we decided to use the half term as an opportunity to try out a bit of a family photo shoot. I'm going to post a number of shots over the next few days.

Today we're starting with my Big girl who loves to pose!

Dressing up as a fairy or a princess is one of her favourite pass times and of course everything must be pink and fluffy!

I've no idea where she gets it from but she is quite happy to dress up in pink frills and perform for the camera. I did direct her a little, but on the whole this all came naturally to her!

On the road again

My little squish turned three over the weekend. I suddenly feel old.

We went into town on the bus together, I can't remember why or what we did, but on the way home she spent the whole half hour calmly looking out of the window.

I haven't been posting much on my blog because I haven't been taking many pictures, mostly from lack of time and inspiration, but also because my camera is not working very well. I'm going to send it off to get fixed. I shall not post anything more until it comes back which could be anything from a couple of weeks until a month.....

Squirrel Nutkin

Remember our garden visitors? The birds disappeared for a while when it was particularly cold, but squirrel nutkin has been a regular on the bird feeder throughout December.

He (or she I should add) struggled to get up the pole when it was cold and icey, but now that it's thawed a little he as been making the most of it!

Winter Trees

We went for a bike ride through our local park on New Years Day and I decided to take a few more tree shots. This time I only took black and white pictures as they were looking pretty eerie as it was and I wanted to try and exaggerate that a little.