Life Inside the Doll House

On Saturday (day 328) the boys and I were hugely excited to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in London. This was the boys' first proper theatre experience and my first time in about 10 years. I was bursting with excitement as I tried to explain why it was different to going to the cinema. The show didn't disappoint and the boys were suitably impressed. Rexy was curious to see how they would show Augustus Gloop being sucked up through the chocolate tube and Roo was keen to see Mike TV. I wanted to see what the oompa loompas would look like. All three were amazing and left us open mouthed and in awe. The sets were stunning too. I wish that we could go to the theatre all of the time, but it really is such an expensive treat. It also felt very sad to leave my husband and Bear at home, but realistically she is much too young to go yet.  The boys were very patient as I crouched down on the ground, blocking the pavement, to get some shots with them and the headboard. The sun...

It was the last day of half term and Roo had a skateboarding lesson. He was very excited to have this opportunity because he got his skateboard for his birthday almost 2 years ago and we rarely take it out. Rexy could have joined in too, and a lot of his classmates were there, but he didn't fancy it this time around.  A year ago I would have felt self conscious about whipping the big girl camera out in front of the other mums, but I'm past that now. No one even batted an eyelid! I used the 100mm. The problem with this lens is that it puts all my other lenses to shame. All of these photos are cropped and yet I am still very happy with the sharpness.  Roo loved his lesson and will jump at the chance to do it again. I think that Rexy will join him next time. It was very nicely run and he really enjoyed the time with the "experts" He as learnt some new moves and was very keen to tell me all about them.  It makes a nice change from Minecraft.  ...

Whoa! I've fallen way behind. I had a major work related project to complete this week and had no time for editing or blogging. It feels so good to be back to usual tonight. I have decided that editing photos with a glass of something is now one of my favourite things to do.  Lets recap on my week of photos. Day 321 - I spent the morning reading my Tony and Chelsea Northrup book which, can I say again, is amazing! I am working my way through the chapter on portraits. It is taking me forever because it is so detailed. I was very interested in their discussion about poses and positioning. According to them, a square shouldered pose like this is more masculine than... ...a turned away pose like this.  They also have lots to say about head tilts and positioning of the hands. I need to revisit that because it was very informative. It makes me think of the wonderful  Strong is the new pretty  project by Kate Parker, which I love with all of my heart. We d...

It is Friday and I am pooped. I took some photos of the boys just before bed. I used my Tamron and I have to say that the focus seems so poor now after using my Canon 100mm lens. I guess that the shutter speed needed to be higher than 1/80. Perhaps it was also the strong backlighting that was making it hard for the lens to find enough contrast to automatic focus. There is also a lot of haze in some of these pictures. I am undecided about how I feel about that. I really love that last photo of the boys. I am gutted that Rexy is not more in focus.  This has not been such a great photography week. 

The projects have been a big struggle this week. I have been focusing on other aspects of my life, such as work, and little time or energy has been left for photography. In times like this it is easy for me to grab a doll to photograph.  Day 317.  This is my newest addition - a Tonner Sindy. I am a little bit in love with her. Editing wise, I just clicked on one of my new presets. Job done! Day 318 was another quick shoot and preset night. I am getting rather lazy now.  Day 319. I wanted to make a bit more effort tonight because I was keen to get the photo for the Project 52 done. The theme this week is Peaceful . I groaned when it was announced. Peaceful is not easy to achieve, yet alone photograph, around here. I returned to a previous idea of me staying still on the bed while the children use lots of movement. There are a lot of problems with this photo, but I am going with it.