Waterfall walk

This waterfall is part of a series north of Neath in Neath Port Talbot. I didn't take a tripod so had to rest my camera on the stones, plus, to get to the little island where I took this I had to walk through a freezing stream in my trainers! Max is very prissy around water and had to be coaxed across, paw by paw.

A day with Max

For those who don't know, Max used to be my nana's dog until just over a year ago, now my parents look after him and he stays with us on certain weekdays and weekends. This is a little photo story of how Max likes to spend his day: sleeping, walking, eating, chasing cats and squirrels and getting very excited about walking, eating and chasing cats/squirrels.

Dogs are so funny, I love that Gary Larson cartoon with the dog about to get fed and he's thinking "YES! Dog food again!" Max just about has a coronary every time you get his lead out of the drawer... three times a day.

Photographing the stars

We just got back from London where Steven insisted we needed a few more books, you know, because our house hasn't got enough stuff in it already and there is still a corridoor of space between the living room and the door... He laid them all out on the table for me to see when we got in.


In amongst them is a book on Eve Arnold that I was reading last night. Arnold was a Magnum photographer famous for her images of Marilyn Monroe back in the early 60s, and photographed a variety of stars in a documentary fashion on their film sets. Its fascinating to read how Arnold gained people's trust and managed to capture moments that many others would not have. She is quoted as saying, "If a photographer cares about the people before the lens and is compassionate, much is given. It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument." Here are a few snippets I found interesting:

Marlene Dietrich demanded that her negatives be altered to make her appear thinner and more attractive, (1950s photoshop - they altered photographs back then too of course) but taking a risk, Arnold ignored her and printed them using her own techniques because she thought the original photographs were beautiful enough. Dietrich loved them.

A drunken Joan Crawford demanded to be photographed naked, and since Arnold was nervous, she accidentally loaded colour film into her camera that she would be unable to process herself. Panicking afterwards since she couldn't hand the film over to a lab, she spent the whole night learning colour processing. The day after, Crawford wanted to see the images and Arnold had managed to develop them without ruining any.

Actress Anne Bancroft hated being photographed since she had always thought of herself as ugly (I think there is only a minority of the population that doesn't apply to actually). She only sat still for Arnold to photograph her on set because she thought she looked "so small and lost" carrying such a little camera. Afterwards Bancroft saw the images and gasped, 'I am beautiful!'

Its interesting to learn about how photographers this successful gain the trust of the people they are photographing, because once you know how to use your camera, all thats left to distiguish you from everyone else is how you get the best from your subjects.

Here is Eve Arnold's Magnum webpage: http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.PhotographerDetail_VPage&l1=0&pid=2K7O3R14AZX1&nm=Eve%20Arnold

Aidan and Katie

Yey, I finally got to photograph a family member without a cake and some birthday candles inbetween us! This is my brother Aidan and his gorgeous long suffering girlfriend Katie. Katie wanted some cool couple shots of them both and Aidan never shys away from the camera! We did lots of arty shots since I was able to get them lying on the floor, climbing stairs and running around in the cold with high heels on (Katie that is), and they followed all my orders without complaining! My kind of clients. I generally turn over about 150 - 250 shots on a portrait session, and Aidan told me that he would be happy with 50 good ones and 10 REALLY good ones. No pressure then...



I processed some of my black and whites in a new vintagey way for this session. You can't really tell so much on the little blog images but they look great when they're huge!





I wanted this one to look a little bit fairy tale.







I've been wanting to photograph someone infront of this wall for AGES! I love it.



Of course we had to get Max in on the action at some point.







All the lovely daffodils.



Aw, how cute!





Ok, here's the background to the next 2 photos: Aidan has wanted to be a weatherman for as long as I can remember (since he was a little boy, after growing out of the batman phase). He is currently working with the RAF as part of his meteorology training, and will soon be a fully fledged, qualified weatherman. He LOVES clouds. So we had to chase some good ones across parts of Cardiff and found a spot where the light was good, only in the middle of some dingy buildings. I framed the shots to keep the buildings out, but I also want to say - these haven't been photoshopped, I just underexposed for the sky element of the photo and used my flash for A & K. Its the same thing a point and shoot camera attempts (sort of!) when you use the 'sunset' mode.


Here is Aidan with his favourite type of cloud(!) - we also did a serious version of this because Aidan didn't want to look like a cloud tourist.



And one of Katie (sans cloud) that shows off her amazing blue eyes:



Not sure if thats 10 or not, but I hope you like them guys! See you soon xx

Flowers and Consumerism

I got these lovely flowers on the weekend from some girls who also made me a fabulous lunch!



Thank you guys, it was very much appreciated. On a sadder note, my lovely 50mm lens decided to die on Sunday afternoon whilst taking photos of Aidan and Katie (images up soon) . Don't worry, I carry around a bag of other lenses with me on photoshoots. Here it is in 2 pieces:



Looks like I'll have to go shopping. The trouble is, like any necessary purchase, the 50mm lens will be surrounded in the shop by lots of other shiny, wonderful, un-necessary purchases all vying for my attention. Like going into a department store full of fancy dresses to buy some socks. Why am I such easy prey for those evil advertising people? Life is never simple.

Portraits of Catherine

Catherine is a student in Cardiff and organised this photoshoot as part of a birthday present for her 21st. She's such a natural infront of the camera it was a pleasure to work with her. Oh and the fact that she's stunning also helps! We did half the shoot in a studio setting and the other half outdoors. I have to say aswel, even though I had Catherine rolling on the floor, climbing into windows and freezing in alleyways, she was cheerful and lovely throughout. Here are just a few little ones as a sample. We managed to fit loads in and the light was perfect!































Thanks for being such a pro Catherine! xx