Reflection part 6: Where are the kids? #whatsthestory #magicmoments #mammarazzi

Continuing my series of looking at some of my favourite images from the last year. You can see some of my other posts by following the link ‘ishoot’ in the menu bar. They are all in there! 🙂

So this week i thought i would look at that elusive model..nope not the toddler but the teen!! *gasp*

Yes i do occasionally get asked to photograph older kids, young adults. Generally they are as part of family group! But they aren’t toddlers and they are certainly not kids..and would never want to be considered one of the old adults. I do really enjoy working with this sort of age though, they really stretch me and i have to put some thought into how to make them feel at ease and relax into the shoot. Some of my favourite images have come about from having a older kid in the family. They are particularly good at getting younger kids to do as you are asking them.

Here are a selection of some of my favourites and some of my ideas about how I got there:

This shoot was for two teenage sisters and we were in a large warehouse type building. I have found that walls are great for teens. Often they are a bit at a loss with what to do with themselves, what to do with their hands, etc. If you give them something to lean against. In this shot she was standing under a hole in the ceiling that was letting some sunlight in! Which was so ideal for the shot as it threw light in such a directional quality that we just had to use it! We got her to stand in the light and put some HUGE shades on and look up to it like a movie star. I love the texture of this shot!

I shot this image using flash! Yes really! It gives a little bit more of a edgey feel to the shot i think. Shot using high speed synch flash at a fast aperture to blur the background.

Adding a dramatic background and using some leading lines for this shot. Again getting a young lad to lean against a wall means that he doesn’t have to think about what to do with his limbs!

Leaning on something is another go to pose i have found that works. It looks natural and you can slap them straight in the middle of the shot, commanding the stage! I was asking this young man about his girlfriends which his family thought was hilarious..he was quite dignified in telling me though, it was serious stuff!

This is a great shot for a teen and also for anyone else really as it is really flattering. Lean yourself and your model against a wall or something similar and shoot along it, you can see how it gives a real depth to the shot leads the viewer exactly where you want them to look. Just remember to focus on the right point!

Always good to give them a chance to ‘cuddle’ their siblings!

Up close. Super sweet portrait shot, in soft sidelighting, i had mum holding a reflector to the right (being really picky i should have asked him to turn his head slightly). I really love this quiet seeming stillness, at the beginning of growing up!

That POSE. that all girls do 😉 But it works really well and again is a good way of getting your model to do something with their hands. For boys have them stand with their feet about shoulder width apart with their thumbs tucked in their pockets.

Another portrait shot, this time with a slight angle on the shot as i took it and ive also added some texture in post processing which adds something. Plus this guy had incredible eyes! I have found as well that teens like the serious look, brooding with attiude. I think its great to let them do that. This guy also cocked his eyebrow in a really cool way, something which probably makes him..him if you know what i mean! lol,

Actually one of my favourite shots! Three brothers. Look at how the littlest one is trying to copy the cool older bro! Priceless!

Motivational Monday

Follow:

#silentsunday

TheBoyandMe's 365 LinkyWeekly Top Shot #94OneDad3Girls

Follow:

Daddy went to climb a mountain #countrykids

Last weekend the OH and a few crazy friends of his set out for a weekend in Scotland to climb a couple of mountains if they could. It was forecast to be an awful weekend with hail, rain and high winds. Just the sort of weather you want to go climbing a mountain in…not.

Well not in my case but he cam back buzzing and full of how amazing it all was. The pictures they were sending back just made me feel cold to look at them! But i knew the OH was prepared. A large portion of his degree was outdoor education and i sometimes forget until he goes away like this and the crampons, ice-axes, and ropes appear from the loft. He was also travelling to Scotland on Burns night and although i think they might have thought it was fun to go and have a dance at the hotel cedilah. It ended up with them getting a take-away and falling asleep from the tiredness from all that activity!

Here are some of the pics from the weekend..these are obviously not mine and are the work of our friend Will. Who had the quick mindedness to snap some shots as it seems that my OH didn’t take a single one. tsk tsk 🙂

Those of us left back at the ranch so to speak were also being blessed with a weekend of crazy weather and we spent a lot of saturday and sunday dodging the hail and the rain. On Sunday afternoon in a bid for some outdoor time, myself and the other ‘scottish widow’ decided to head out to a park and play a quick game of rounders. Which was going well until as we arrived the biggest black cloud showed up and we got pelted with hail for 30 seconds or more.

I think the kids thought we were crazy when we just told them to hide under a tree! My youngest was pleading with me ‘i want to go home!’

But we chivvied them along and found a large fallen tree to play on, which of course was now very slippery!

But we did eventually get our game of rounders and the kids could burn off some steam. Once the game had started thoughts of going home seemed to leave their minds and they got stuck into the game. It wasn’t a long game but we had achieved a little outdoors and whilst it wasnt the trek up the side of a scottish mountain in the snow that their Dad’s were doing. It felt like a lot of a victory to us two mums and our, between us, eight kids!!

 

 

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

mummy mishaps
Follow:

Dear Sarah..

Firstly i have only just discovered that you do in fact have two different names..er…why?

Seems a but unfair if you ask me but anyway.

…Sarah.. lets talk…

Coats and general winter type attire…

Sticky subject i know. You like it, you like them all..you seem to like them a LOT. You seem to spend a LOT of time talking about coats, jumpers and gloves.

I dont understand this..why do you do it. Coats and jumpers are not interesting. They are not there for fun, they do not make things, squidge things or play things. They are not entertaining,  In anyway shape or form and yet you and i have long conversations about them everyday.

Well you talk, i rarely listen if the truth be told.

Sorry..but you know, you tell me not to lie.

When I am inside the house I see no need for extra layers. Feet are supposed to be bare. I sort of like the idea that i have bear feet.

heh heh.

It seems that the best thing i can do with my arms is not to stick them in a coat or jumper. There are far better things that i can do that require much less padding and cumbersome, getting in the wayness, of these coats!

Whats wrong with them? well ill tell you…

they have labels! WRONG! itchy, horrible tags of death. Why do they need them? i know my age and i don’t need to see those little symbols that have something to do with the white box you put clothes in dry and they come out wet. 

They are far far too padded. the reason i have elbows is so that i can bend my arms. If i wanted to play dress up as a scarecrow i would put the kitchen broom down my sleeves! 

They are too warm. No i am not like you, no i do not need a thousand layers and a blanket to keep myself warm. What is it with old people. Move around a little. 

They are not easily off and onable. This is a big one. Why should i want to spend half an hour getting into a jumper..when i know once i have chased the dog round for a few minutes im going to say im too hot and we have to start the whole circle again. 

Let me just say this..if i am cold i will ask for something warmer to wear. You can save yourself hours of trying to convince me im cold when im not and i can save myself hours of effort just fighting with you and refusing to put the coat on.

Sounds like a win win right? 

Love…

every single toddler that has ever been in the house. 

ps. Rest assured – that time when you have decided to finally let me make my own decision and not brought a coat and jumper with us when we go out…to..what ….try and make me learn is it? We both know how that backfires when i get cold and plead with you for warmth in front of those alpha-mums. 😉

 

mumturnedmom

 

Follow:

#matildamae

 

Dear little Miss Tilda,

I heard of you when your mummy was still expecting you. She had written of what your name was going to be and i remember smiling, we have a Tilda of our own and what a cheeky little girl she is.

Seeing the message pinged into the universe that your short life had come to an end was heart stopping. I think i might have re-composed my reply so many times, what can you say to a mother who has just told twitter that her baby did not wake.

You can say..nothing. Because there is simply nothing to say that can comfort such tragic loss.

But you are free in heaven little Matilda. Dancing and playing with those angels. Even though you are pain free and live in glory forever more. Your influence goes on here…people are walking, moving, marching with determination to discover what it is that makes little babies go to sleep forever in the beds.

Because of you Matilda, more people are aware. They know the sad truth and they are starting to ask why? Why are these babies dying and what can we do?

You, Matilda, are changing things. Your little life, your tiny baby sweet life, is changing our lives and the lives of others whose babies might be saved through the research that can take place now because of you.

Your legacy is this army of parents who will wade into the river of pain and stand shoulder to shoulder with those who are themselves in this dark place. Not just your mummy and daddy but those who come after you. Babies, like you, who are destined to be stars. We will stand with those left behind.

For you, little Matilda, its near your first anniversary, the day when you went into glory, the day you dance became forever. Hang on sweet girl, smile through the clouds and the raindrops. Slide the rainbows and plop your toes into the dancing streams. Sing with the wind and call out the names of your family in the thunder as it rages.

Dance little one, dance till your sweet family are with you again.

Someday.

 

Follow: