Portraits

“When you take a photograph of someone, you take a portrait of their soul” – Winna Efendi

This is that moment when you first bite into an ice lolly and it feels so good!, The flavours and cold  hit your mouth after moments of anticipation. I have a colour version but it doesn’t seem to have the same quality, although I do wonder how the photo would look with just the lolly in colour! What do you think?

This little girl is a dream to photograph. She is so free and natural I feel the camera picks up her energy so well. I love this picture which I took as part of an assignment. I didn’t submit this one as it happened as I didn’t feel it was technically as good. The love between these two is so clear it really tells a story and draws out an emotion. 

Always good to get a photograph of someone else taking a photograph. This young chap is absorbed in the world around him, the camera really getting him to look, notice and reflect. 

Love a picture of someone taking a photo of someone taking a photo. This one is the classic stand-off! A rare (at this time) colour portrait but I felt that the colours really needed to be there! If you look at the photo really carefully you can see the rain, it was a cold wet day but we prevailed and both got some great shots

A dramatic interpretation of the weather and the day, with the dark clouds hanging over head. These and the  swirls of the sea made a black and white option easy to make. My daughter trying to escape the waves adds to the movement of the sea.

Another shot of my daughter, this time she is resigned to having wet feet and the sea withdraws, with the next small waves already making their way in. The colour in this is wonderful, with blues connecting the 3 main subjects, My daughter, the sea and the sky.

Sadly this is out of focus but hurrah for soft filters that means that the haziness can be attributed to artistic design and not a make mistake. Still such a cute photo of a young girl not impressed at having her photo taken when there were Christmas presents to open.

One of my favourite photos and although it is not technically brilliant I haven’t messed with it too much. This photo was taken in Cyprus and I just loved this image. Sums up Cypriot life.

By the shores of Loch Morlich, near Aviemore, Reuben just having a chill on the sand. There is a certain degree of abstract in the background and there is a distinct zig zagging of lines… if you follow the line of the body of the young lad to the right, then the foreground shoreline to the left, the background shoreline to the right the back through the tree – line… once  you see it you can’t unsee it!

This was hard to edit due to the intense glare on the sea. I wanted the glare to still me a strong element of the photo as I feel it says so much about the scene, helping set the mood. I personally get a sense of some early evening fishing with two friends as the day quietens down and they are enjoying a more reflective moment.

As a snapshot I was really pleased with this, I could look at this photo for ages. Finley looks so relaxed and natural and is one of my favourite photo’s of him.

Again not a technically brilliant shot, but I think the feel of this photo outweighs the lack of focus and sharpness. Photos are about memories and this is full of happy memory. The simple joy of messing with water on a hot summers day, no cares, nothing but a paddling pool full of water and a jug.

How can you not love this photo. My Nephew giving it some attitude… that look, the pose  is a portrait photographers dream.

This continues to be a work in progress as I haven’t managed to get it how I want as yet. I really want to get a clear black and white with out the red hues in the far ground. A little lesson on Ps will be in order. The wide angle has really emphasised the curve of the road. I did try having my sister facing me and with the brolly up but I felt that this combination worked better.

Another ‘where should I put this?’  Decided that portrait was a good place as the image is about the person in the background, what are they doing?… thinking about?…feeling? 

This was one of the first really planned portraits that I took for an on-line course that I was doing. The contrast of the ‘blown out’ light from the window against the darker corner of the room seems to work well. 

Oh gosh had an absolute ball taking these photos of my daughter. She is a real natural in front of the camera and with a bit of Rhianna blasting in the background it was very easy to get quite a few good shots. 

This photo was taken on the monochrome setting with a red filter. I took the red out by decreasing the saturation giving a lighter look to the top. Smoothing the texture and also the ‘fixing’ the graininess from  having a high ISO has given this image a real soft feel which is a nice difference to the other images.

A lighter version that some of the other. This looks quite hopeful as Kiaya is looking into the distance somewhere. The cropping is designed to be that the she is looking beyond the photo so more background to the right than the left.

This is a very natural shot which gives it it’s gentleness and interesting composition. When looking through this just a little ‘yes’ in my stomach. Sometimes these are the shots that you don’t expect.

This is a really fun image and like P20: it is a shot that you didn’t expect to get but gives you a little bit of excitement. When I changed it to black and white this was even more exciting so ramped up the textures and details to give quite a rock chick feel to it.

I love this peek-a-boo image. I just gave Kiaya an oriental umbrella to play with and got this cheeky shot. In terms of placing her eye the centre of the composition was definitely the place to go.. rather than the usually preferred off-centre. Removing the colour enables you to really be drawn to her eye, peering out at you. Really happy with this one. Oh and as in all the shots of her.. the background has really helped bring a depth and texture to the images.