Sunday 27 April 2014

My First Wedding Shoot!

So last week some mad pair decided they would take a chance on me as their wedding photographer! Well it was exhausting! Brilliant, challenging and hugely rewarding... But never again will I think anything less than how hard wedding photographers work for their money! 

Anyway... Emphasis on the BRILLIANT! I had such a great time, such a wonderful day to be privy to, especially as the photographer you really do get to get up close to the action and the excitement and the nerves. Just brilliant.

Here's one snap... I'm yet to ok I can share them on the blog as they are sunning it up in Florida but here's one I definitely can share :D :D :D 


If you wanna see more please go Like my page on Facebook!

learninglessonsinmummyography

Friday 25 April 2014

"Just Doing Nothing..."

Euna is ALL about Winnie the Pooh at the moment. Specifically the old 70s "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" film. I like that it feels calm, has "oldie" music and I love getting nostalgic remembering loving it when I was a kid. It's ideal post nap, coming back in to the world watching. 

Anyway, at the end Christopher Robin asks Pooh what does he like doing best in the whole world. Pooh makes some food related response and then Christopher Robin says "...what I like doing best is just doing nothing." Then Pooh asks how do you do nothing and he replies "Well when a grown up asks you what are you going to do, you say 'nothing'. Then you just go out and do it!" Then Christopher Robin alludes to going to school soon and how he won't be able to do "just nothing" anymore. The first time I watched that I must of been a bit sleep deprived or having a hormonal moment but it actually choked me up! 


Then a couple of weeks ago we went to a friend's babies' blessing. I was telling another mummy friend how relieved I was that Euna was going to preschool because I was finding it stressful not being able to meet all her development needs with a new baby and how I worry she's not being stimulated enough when I have to sit down and feed all the time etc. She turned around to me and said "oh I don't do any of that stuff. My mum never took me to classes and things when I was a baby. When our Mum's were at home we just hung out at home."


And that kind of stuck. I think back to my memories of being a toddler (few they are but they're there) and all I can remember is being at home. I don't remember feeling bored either. I don't remember feeling frustrated or understimulated. Infact if I think back to being at home with my Mum I remember feeling incredibly calm. I remember watching her cut out metres and metres of fabric to make curtains for people. I remember walking the dog a lot. I remember being in the garden and it being so peaceful. I remember barbecuing apples. I remember learning to hand sew and making pin cushions. I remember having a little sandcastle bucket and picking out staples from old chairs that Mum was upholstering. I remember watching the Grand Prix with my Dad on weekends too.

So we decided to start doing a lot more nothing. Actually since Bow come along we're probably doing the same amount of nothing but I feel much calmer about it. I feel good about it infact. I feel like I have just realised what value there is in just letting life sink in for a child. There's something about it teaching them contentment and settlement. Because if you can't be contented... Especially when you're a toddler when life is all about scoring extra cheese for your pasta, getting thrown on the sofa, reading The Highway Rat and singing "Winne the Rabbit" (which is hilarious to a 2 year old)... When can you be?

A friend on mine posted this on Instagram the other week and it totally crystallised it for me...

“Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.” William Martin



Lazy nothings... To Easter somethings...












Monday 21 April 2014

Laptop-less!

I can't work out if it's all tragic how much I hate not having my laptop. The habitual online shopping is no loss. Good riddance to the pointless Facebook timeline scrolling. But I miss my photos. I miss editing. I miss reflecting on a day out in the evening. I miss working. I miss being creative. And I am dying to see my first paid wedding photos on the big screen!!

So I'm sat here on Steve's IPad thinking the internet is widely known as a tool that takes us out of reality and I agree it does I'm also a believer in how it can help us connect. If it wasn't for parenting forums and the access to hundreds of opinions, tips, perspectives, reading recommendations and experiences my parenting and therefore the landscape of our family would be very different. If I wasn't inspired to share good photos on this blog I might never of tried to get better at taking photos. I probably wouldn't of taken a fraction of as many pictures. I wouldn't be sitting here on a Sunday morning thinking "where are we all right now and how do I want to share that?" Taking time to process it all. I could be doing washing right now... I don't suppose I would feel close to anyone/thing except the bottom of the wash basket for that.

Anyway I hope to be back soon with lots of photos! Including my first formal maternity shoot, my first shot at wedding photography and lots of our first Easter as a four! Come on Apple! Please be speedy!

In the meantime I'm looking back over old fav snaps to decide on what should be getting printed for the walls... What do you think?



















Saturday 12 April 2014

Working...

I'm working a lot recently. WORKING! Wow. 

I keep saying on here that it's scary and it is. Parenting has defined everything about everything I do, say, go, wear, eat, drink for so long... So long that when I go out there in a capacity I feel like I'm walking around with my flies undone. Like I'm some kind of social baboon and any minute I might completely lose control and spontaneously take my trousers off and start singing "The Wheel on the Bus" whilst swinging a Lamaze rattle around my head.

I haven't... yet. And all the while I'm not doing that I think we can conclude it's going well! Even better if you all could find your way over to my Facebook page and give me a "Like"?! ;)


Also loving this recrop of one of Bow's newborn shots... 


Tuesday 8 April 2014

Watching Her

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in an direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the only one who'll decide where to go..." Dr Seus, 'Oh, The Places You'll Go!'

She's taking the lead more and more now. She wants to go here, eat this, wear that... It surprises me about four times a day that this once was tiny, fist sucking, dribbly person now has will and preference. I'm prouder of her independence than I am of anything else. I've always enjoyed open spaces but now more than ever, to be able to stand really far back and watch her... 


Saturday 5 April 2014

A Little Wave Back to My First Time Mummy Self...

Having a second baby has made me do a lot of reflecting back on what it was like to have a first baby. The nerves, the self doubt, the worry and the fudge-ups... And now I'm here in the realms of typically much more laid back round two I have decided I wouldn't change a minute of those worrisome rookie times. I wouldn't un-overthink the correct number of layers she slept in. I wouldn't take back one single of the million glances per evening at the monitor. I wouldn't tell myself to get a grip Googling all the dangers of UV sun-damage that can occur in the shade. And I wouldn't not buy all those overpriced newborn outfits she barely wore.

I wouldn't change any of it because quite often I miss that clucky, tense, over zealous noob mummy. She was so typical. Being her was such a right of passage. She made all the best "remember when" stories...

So on the off chance a first time mum or two stumbles across this... Carry on! You do need another 3 pack of cosy new baby grows (even though there's only really one in the pack you like). It is imperative you change their entire Moses basket bedding set because they dribbled minutely on it. Your baby will probably never recover their physical development if you miss a week of baby yoga.

Dear First-Timer-Me, Dive in noob! You won't regret a second of it and deeper you go the better the stories! Xxx

A few from the week...
















Wednesday 2 April 2014

My First Cake Smash!

So this is Lucas... I did some baby shots of him at about 7 weeks old and here he was last week! A brand new one year old ready to stick his face in cake! :D

We had a great time and I learnt lots. I could easily run away from this photography lark right now and I'm really aware I don't really like being at the lower end of a learning curve. It's even less appealing with little time to work on getting better, especially when I seem to find myself with about a million things I want to do right now. Funny how having babies makes you want to be better...


learninglessonsinmummyography

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...