Blog Circle Challenge - April: Through the Glass

After my hiatus last month (thanks to a tummy bug), I tried super hard to meet the challenge this month.

Let me be the first to admit, this challenge is not easy.

There are a couple of things about shooting through glass -

Reflection - if you're doing any shooting in daylight the only image you get is yourself - everything reflects.

Lack of ISO - My little 450 only goes to 1600 ISO - this made shooting challenging as the only time I could really bypass the reflection was by shooting in the early evening

The photos are definitely not my best but I enjoyed the challenge and learning how to look at things a little differently - think about framing and playing with my cameras settings to get the effect I wanted.

Through the looking glass...

Reading Stories through the glass

Fish Tank Watching

Please now visit Becky for her take on Shooting Through Glass :)

Weekly Challenge Catch Up

As promised here is my weekly photos for the last few weeks!

I'm following two lists - one with my Clickin Moms group and the other with our own private group on Facebook.  Some weeks I've had two photos, others I have just chosen one week to roll with - so enjoy :)

Week 12 - Autumn

I can honestly say Autumn is my favourite time of year.  I love the leaves turning red, I love the cooler mornings but generally nicer days, plus its the time hubby and I got married and had Ash so to me its just an awesome time of year.  After a long hot summer Autumn came late this year, and with this theme falling as early as it did I didn't think I could actually fulfill the request.  However, one afternoon driving along Waikoukou Valley Road I came across some lovely trees opposite Matua Vineyard, which surprisingly had the familiar red leaves to show the time of year.  I was stoked to be able to capture them!

Week 13 - Blue

This weeks theme was hard for me as I was short on time and luckily my mother in law came to rescue.  Snoopy our now nine year old cat has always acted like a kitten when it comes to wool so what better but to give him some blue wool to play with?

Week 14: Golden Hour

I LOVE shooting at golden hour.  Light at this time is just amazing, and one of my biggest struggles as a mum of two is actually taking advantage of this time.  Unfortunately mornings are usually spent cuddling in bed, and afternoons is mayhem between dinner, grizzling, feeding and staying under control.  This Sunday afternoon however was quite calm in our household, and Ash and Harry had a little play in the sandpit before dinner.  I love this photo as my two boys are starting to really interact and build a little friendship.  Its wonderful to watch it!

Week 15: Reflection

This week hubby and I attended a wedding in Melbourne - childless!  We have never left the boys for a long time before so it was a little daunting for us but enjoyable.  We decided seeing we could never do it while the kids are young to take a tour bus up Great Ocean Road and visited the 12 Apostles.  This coastline is awesome (although never as beautiful as NZ) so it was worth the investment.

(Please note hubby is wearing my sunglasses - he's not into diamantes...)

Week 16: Animals

Our furry friend Benson has been with us for nearly nine years and often the subject of my photos.  He seemed the perfect fit for this weeks theme (although is in a desperate need of a haircut!)

Week 17 - From a High Angle

This weeks theme was easy for me - I love capturing the kids from different angles.  This shot of Harry I adore - he has had Hand Foot and Mouth and been generally miserable with high temperatures.  In this particular shot he was super grumpy, and just couldn't understand why I was standing above him to get the shot.  I love the expression on his face - one of annoyance but still intrigued - this little guy just absorbs so much, its so nice to watch him learning about the world.

Been a bit quiet...

I'm sorry, I have been a bit quiet of late on the blog front.  I've still been photographing, still been doing the weekly challenge, although I did miss the March monthly challenge due to being stuck in bed for about a week with some lovely tummy bug my beautiful children passed on.

Plus, I'm taking advantage of Facebook.  Since last being on here I have started my own Facebook Page - please check it out (and like if you want to!).

This is a massive step for me starting a facebook page - I have been doing shoots for a while for friends out of love.  I love photographing, and I've loved learning over the last few years I have been doing them.  But demand has started to grow - its awesome people enjoy my photos, but it has come to a point now where it is starting to cost me money (travel costs, lens costs, and most of all time away from my family and other business so I have started to charge.  Only a very small fee as I don't believe my quality is anywhere near those that have studied photography and pursued as a career but enough to basically cover my costs and justify doing shoots.

So over the next few days I will be playing catch up - plus updating with our monthly blog circle challenge tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping in...

PS - here is an updated photo of me and my beautiful boys