We wandered to the woods near West Stoke last weekend and had a great time taking a few shots of the wee ones. The old adage about not working with children or animals rang true once or twice but they were (mostly) fantastic and we managed some good shots.

 I didn't take much equipment beyond the camera and a few spare lenses, I really couldn't see the camera staying on a tripod! Some extra light could have helped and I'll think about an wireless flash next time. It'd help fill the shadows a little.

 It's true, actual sun in the uk! We did take a few props such as the balloons and chair etc.

 These two turned out really well :) Just having a few clicks after we thought we'd finished and they turned out to be really nice shots.

 The Sony alpha 77 and tamron 17-50 are turning out to be a solid partnership, I don't think that lens has left the camera in a long time now. Fast autofocus, very reliable and great IQ at all f-stops.

As always, I'm finishing with a personal favourite!

On a freezing day in October we all went for a play in Hillsborough Park in Sheffield, the weather was perfect for a good stomp through the leaves and once the wee man had chosen a few good leaves to march about with we took the chance to get a few Autumnal pictures.

 The Sony A77 proved itself again and we even managed to get a half decent video of him walking about in the leaves. I've invested in a new lens excitingly; the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 which is turning out to be brilliant, and here it is on Amazon...
http://www.amazon.com/Tamron-17-50mm-Vibration-Compensation-Digital/dp/B002LVUIXA
It's sharp right from the get-go and the 17mm wide end is more than enough for a good landscape when it's called for, I find 50mm isn't quite enough length at times but the quality more than makes up for it.

 I was keen to capture the colours of Autumn in the leaves and the dry weather helped a great deal.  Wet or mouldy leaves would have been a bit sad looking and a lot less fun for him.  We could have put him in brighter colours to contrast against the leaves; and next time, or if I shoot this with other children then that would be a proper consideration.

 On the whole, I'm really happy with these.  He was beginning to get a little tired (might be better to do this on the way to the swings next time!) and didn't want to walk about very much but he pulled out some lovely smiles for us.

Lordington Lavender

During a twenty minute lull in the summer's rain we piled into the car, grabbed a few props and joined friends already at Lordington Lavender...

http://www.lordingtonlavender.co.uk/

Due to the fairly miserable weather we've had this summer the lavender wasn't as thoroughly in bloom as it has been in previous years but we were very keen to take a few nice pictures of the wee one.

We had a vintage suitcase, a home-made quilt and a few balloons from a party as props; so it would be a little bit staged but a great opportunity to try out some family portrait ideas.

We had time to take a few for our friends as well, the balloon worked very well as a fun prop to play around with and both of the boys really enjoyed themselves.

It was lots of fun and although they both insisted on eating a fair bit of lavender I took a good few photos that I'm happy with.

 After a short while it really turned into an 'eat the lavender' competition and although no one is looking at me I like the two pictures above.  It's relaxed and almost looks like a sunny day!

 I contemplated a speedy lens-swap as the girls went for a walk but shot this with the sigma 24-70 and cropped in a bit.  The Sony Alpha 77 has such a loopy resolution (24mp) it allows me to crop in a fair bit before loosing resolution.

 It was all very relaxed and we managed to get a fair few pictures shot before the clouds began to threaten again.

 The suitcase worked very well, he could almost be about to catch the train and head of on his holidays here :)

 When they weren't industriously munching on lavender flowers (he's also pretty fond of clover) they both pulled out the smiles and generally made it all lovely and easy. 

 There was a little hedgerow of wild flowers next to the field so for variety we took a few of our props (and a child) of for a few pictures.

It was a brilliant afternoon and well worth re-visiting next year.  There are already a few families booking similar shoots so drop me a line and we'll book in a day!  www.edwardbryan.co.uk

Rob and Alison came to visit.

We had a fantastic day when Alison and Rob came to see us a while back in February and we even got to meet the lovely Joseph again. He's the grand old age of 9 months now!

After a busy day looking around Chichester, catching up and generally chatting we thought we'd missed the chance to take some photos of him. There were a few short minutes before Alison and Rob had to go so I grabbed the opportunity then.

These are all taken with the Minolta 50mm and I thought I'd go all out on the aperture and take them all at f1.7. It's resulted in some really nice portraits and these really show of the best of the camera.
He was a bit tired but pulled it together for these pictures!