Dog fun in South Parks - event photography, Oxford

My favourite from the day

Comedian Miranda Hart was in Oxford today as part of her Comic Relief 'Five Challenges', her task for the day to find some beautiful beasts in the city for a dog show on the Beeb tonight.  With hound, daughter and camera, I pitched up and took a few snaps; here are a few of my favourites.

Woof!

Contestants checking the paperwork whilst their 'lookalike' hounds look on

A contestant from the 'dogs that look like their owners' category

Successful candidate phoning home

Looking dapper

'Smile!' - typical doggie photo

Obviously been interviewed on telly before - look at the posture!

Patient waiting

Beautiful colours

And the other side of dog glory - my Ses, responding to not being chosen to compete in any category

Oxford photographer

The Beans - impromtu child portrait photography

On Friday night, I took advantage of the perfect combination of beautiful evening light (the 'golden hour') and three very special and willing models, and did an impromptu shoot with my partner's god daughters in their back garden.  A washed out blue wall formed the backdrop, and the girls ('The Beans' - Zoe and Maisie, twins aged 9, and Boo, aged 7), fresh back from summer holidays in Italy, looked stunning in their tanned and carefree state - and so full of life.  It was a really special moment.  I especially love the images of the twins - that sun-kissed holiday look makes me nostalgic, I remember coming back from holidays like that with my parents, complete with new summer frocks and boosted confidence!  Below are a selection of favourites - enjoy. 

And thank you lovely girls - you ROCK!

Twins (and my favourite)

Sisters Boo and Zoe

Another clear favourite

Three Beans

What are you thinking about, Zoe?

And another favourite

Beautiful Maisie

The beautiful Zoe

Love this one too...

Boo!

Beautiful one of Zoe - so composed

Tank tank does some modelling (woof)

Up here!

Child portrait photographer Oxford
Family photographer Oxford

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Family shoot on the farm

Back in April, I joined Ali and her three kids on her mother's farm, to create some portraits for her husband's birthday.  We spent a great hour climbing trees and running around, and I got introduced to their pet chickens.  I love working with little ones, they're often so open and eager to share their interests and joy at the world; showing a keen and genuine interest in what they have to say comes naturally to me, and helps develop great rapport for some lovely photos.  I created a range of images in the time we had together - of all three; more posed individual shots; shots of each with some thing they love (in this case, a tree, a trampoline and a chicken!); and group shots with other family members.

For the last ten minutes, we were joined by Ali's mother and grandmother, and I had the honour of photographing four generations of women together.  I hope one day I get to do the same with my mum and the Bee...  

Below are a couple of favourites.  Thanks Ali, and a huge thanks to the kids for showing me your chickens, woods and tractors!

Oxford portrait photographer 

What happens when you day 'no funny faces!' - works every time :)

Love the expression on the left

Four generations of women

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More of a dog's life - portraits with my 50mm f/1.8 prime lens

I recently got my hands on a beautiful Nikon 50mm f/1.8 prime lens ('prime' means of fixed focal length, i.e. 50mm, as opposed to a zoom lens), and I've had lots of fun playing with it over the past two days.  The brilliant thing about this lens, and others like it, is its wide maximum aperture (f/1.8), meanings it is brilliant in low light conditions (it allows sufficient exposure with a very fast shutter speed), and you can get really cool photos with a really shallow depth of field (check out some examples here).

I love this effect, especially in portraits, so getting this lens is exciting - and what's more, it cost just over £100, which is cheap for a good lens.

Last night I shared a bottle of wine with a friend, hedgehog expert and photographer Hugh.  It was great to spend a few hours looking at each others' photos, discussing kit and our various attempts make a living from photography, and it reminded me of why I love photography, and left me itching to play portraits with my 50mm prime (Hugh showed me some lovely portraits done with his 50mm f/1.4).  So, this afternoon, Ses the dog napped as usual on the sofa, and I took a set of portraits - from time to time, she opened one eye to see if I was still bothering her, sighed and closed it again.  Below are some Sesi pics - I'm really pleased with how they came out - and the lens allowed me to do exactly what I wanted to do.  I also took a set of portraits of Maya, as well as a bizarre set of photos of moss at sunset, and will share these shortly.  Thanks for the chat, Hugh :).

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