Happy Birthday DD

Do you remember being 7?

I do!

I remember there was something about that age...

something innocent.

The future was before me;

I was discovering it,

but I wasn't really thinking about it.

I was enjoying being small;

doing cartwheels and handstands,

running until my breath ran out,

playing games that lasted for days,

building Lego that I'd never take apart.

Life seemed so full 

and not much got in the way of my living it.

I think 7 is a golden age,

before thinking really sets in ~

it is the age of SILLY!

Enjoy 7 little man!!

(Taken June 11th 2012)

Iheartfaces ~ Beautiful B&W

I ♥ BW in a seriously BIG way! 

You only have to take a look at this post to see that... Best Face 2011

It's been SO hard to choose an entry for this week ~ esp as iheartfaces have upped the stakes somewhat ;)

In the end BABY gets a feature.

If you follow me at all, you will know I shoot lifestyle ~ and I try not to edit too much of that 'life' out of my pictures, which means you get to see Baby with all the 'crusts' of the day left firmly in-situ ~ sorry folks! But for me that's part of the beauty of Baby ~ the soft freshness, and the grubby 'life' of crawling around on the floor all day!

Photo Challenge ~ By The Book

There's no shortage of books in this shot!!

Taken during an ordinary day at our house ~ 

this is our 'school' room, with lessons in full swing, on the first week back in September!

This wasn't the first shot that sprung to my mind for this theme, or my most recent, or even my favourite 'book' shot, but when I trawled through the many I have, I stopped here ~ I like this one for the story it tells. It really is 'just us'  ~ I hope you and the judges like it too! :D

To join in with this week's book-y theme on iheartfaces just click the logo at the top of the page and link up to your blog post.

See you there :D

Photo Challenge ~ Family Fun

This picture has to be one of my recent faves!

It's taken on my son's first birthday. He had a bowl of bubble to play with, but was very unsure about the whole thing! Do you see the white spots on my Nanna's trousers? That's the water that my husband was squirting over everyone ~ to try and encourage baby to enjoy it! (you can see more HERE ).  I just love all the different expressions on all the faces ~ even my mum's look of slight disdain at the silliness of it all! ~ real FUN!!

To join in with all the fun @ i♥faces this week, click on over and link up to your 'family fun' blog post ~ see you there!

Photo Challenge ~ Best Face Photo from 2011

WOW ~ such a tough call. I have taken so many 'faces' this year, and so many of them I would consider 'best' for one reason or another. But I wanted my entry to be one the judges would come back to over and again to look at ~ one that would stick in their mind above all the many other entries there will be ~ and THAT is tough!


Pretty much all my favourite shots have been processed in Black & White ~ there is something about BW that just speaks to me, especially when it comes to faces. Something of a person's soul can be seen when all the colour is stripped back. 


In the end, this one wins over, simply because it the picture that springs to my mind often & certainly every time I am asked what my favourite shot of the year is.


I know it's not technically perfect, but it is perfectly HIM ~ my little soft, but serious, six year old son (also my sixth child). And there IS something about this picture that just makes me just want to keep looking at it and coming back to it. I can't put my finger on it, but it's there. 

To see my other top picks of the year click here.


And to join in click the i♥faces button at the top of this post.


Go For It!

Experimenting...

It has long been on my wish list to own a 'Lightscoop'. Right now I can't afford a fancy off-camera flash, or even a hotshoe flash, so I have to make-do with the pop-up. Now lets be honest, the light is AWEFUL from any pop-up flash and almost impossible to control in any way. I HATE it ~ with a passion! So much so that I would rather embrace the grain on noisy pictures, than use it. I'd love a prime lense, and yes, that is on my wish-list too, but for now I think a lightscoop would be the cheapest and most easy solution, but guess what... I'd have to have one shipped from America! Nowhere in the UK sells them (yet) :-( ~  So what to do..? Well, I found this little thing on Amazon for just £3, including postage :D. It came with three different colour shades, but I  doubt I will use any other than the white one. Problem was, although it did improve the pop-up flash slightly, it was not quite enough to convince me that I wanted to use the pop-up flash any more, only in emergencies maybe...


Then Sunday night we had a little shop-bought chocolate cake, and it came on a piece of shiny card ~ silver one side, gold the other ~ you know the kind? Bugs suggested he wipe it down and add it too the 'card making' materials. I thought that was a good idea and agreed. Well, it got wiped, but never quite got put away, so this morning I found it sitting on the kitchen table ~ and as I picked it up a light-bulb went on in my head!!


Remember this... 

well I just wondered... 


I'd been looking at the Lightscoop online just last night, and thought how simple the idea was. I was wondering then if I could make something myself that slotted into my hotshoe without doing any harm... With the design of the real thing in my head, my light-bulb idea was definitely worth a try...


I cut a strip off the shiny card and did this...

The diffuser shade is quite tight, so it sort of grips the sides of card nicely, such that it stays put really well.


I experimented...

And so did Bugs (with the cross bar from a broken chair) ...

And well... I think we can say that works!!! I couldn't be happier :D  ~ now I am all set to take shots for Baby's 1st birthday (in 19 days time) with the pop-up flash if I wish too, and not have to worry about editing out a stack of grain (and with it the details), or blowing the picture completely out!


And here's some more from today's play with it ~ just look at the catch-lights in his eyes to see how spread out that flash is :D. These are virtually SOOC (except for the BW conversion)...

That'll do me nicely  ~ for now at least!

Friday Five ~ a Fortnight of Favourites!

See you over at Lisa's!

Friday Faves

It's been an age since I posted here. I've been shooting, editing and uploading to Flickr, but not really posting, because that takes so much extra effort and time that I just don't seem to have had of late. Life seems to be running away from me a little atm...

All the same I want to share some of my favourites from this week ~ because they make me smile in all sorts of ways and I like to share a smile or two with my friends!

The Season is most beautiful right now ~ and actually unusually warm & dry

It's perfect for wanderings...

alone...

...or with family.

It makes me pause for thought...

...to realise it won't belong now before this little man is joining us on those walks.

I cannot think of anywhere I'd rather spend these days

...than here 

(this is our home, nestled in the autumn countryside)

...under these glorious evening skies!

And on that note I shall let the final farewell fall to Minnie... 

my Crazy Kid! :D