More classmates.

This group of happy little kids attend classes with my son.

It's always great to see their smiles break out when each sees their mum at the end of lessons.

This is what I've tried to capture in these photos.

Left - B

T & T

A & G

Tiggers like to bounce.

A chilly winter day is a great excuse to play dress-ups. (My daughter H, aged 17 months).

The great outdoors.

A road trip and a long weekend brought about the opportunity to take some outdoor photos.

My daughter H (aged 17 months) had a great time playing outside, and quickly became good friends with M (the dog).

These photos were taken with a (borrowed) Canon 400D with 18-55mm kit lens.



















My son A (aged three) enjoyed practising his walking, but stopped for a rest so that I could take a few photos.

A new baby.

As promised, here is baby O at eight days old.

She has some cute friends.

I finally had a chance to take photos of some of my daughter's playmates.

First up is R, who has the most beautiful big blue eyes, so I decided to make this one a b&w with just the eyes in colour. It doesn't show up quite as well in this small version, but if you click on it, you can see a bigger version of the photo.
Next is D, who was doing some serious thinking in this photo! I did get a nice one of him smiling, but I like this photo better.
Another cutie, B keeps us entertained with her laughing and clapping (and blowing kisses)... but not for the camera, so I will have to try again another time!
My daughter H was 17 months old in this photo. I haven't had much practice with backlit photos, so this came out a bit patchy. Adding the sepia effect helped even out the colour. And yes, she has finally had her fringe cut.

A father and his son.

At another birthday party, I had the opportunity to catch up with baby M. At about 6 weeks old, he was ready to shine for the camera.

I couldn't pick my favourite of these two photos, so had to include them both. M with his dad L.

Mother hen.

Another visit to E, who was taking a break from the baby preparations to spend time with her chickens.




Baby O has since arrived, so I am hoping to get some photos of her soon.

Practising her smile.

These days I often forget to take photos of my own kids.

Here's my daughter H testing out different smile poses.

She is 16 months old in these photos.

A butterfly fairy party...

And the belle of the party was I, celebrating her third birthday.

It was an honour to be asked to capture the event.

April is birthday season.

My son and his group of friends celebrate their birthdays around the month of April. So there were many opportunities to take photos, with the extra challenge of getting them when they were in one spot and not in the middle of eating the yummy food.

Still having trouble getting the exposure right!

Sisters S and L.

Right: L with her beautiful curls.
The b&w really suited this photo.

Below: C has no trouble appealing for what she wants.

The gathering.

Back in March, we had a gathering of mums of bubs the same age as my daughter (and various older siblings). They were around 15 months old at the time, so it was a challenge to take a photo before their attention had already gone elsewhere.

A had been upset in the photos I took of her earlier, but then she decided to strike some very cute poses for me.








B and W also practiced their charm on us!

(Obviously they are some of the older brothers and not 15 months old!)

Summer swimming for my son.

In the warmer months we had the opportunity to give A lots of time in the pool.

He loves water, and we were excited to see him learn to float independently with the floaties.

Before we headed to the pool, managed to capture the photo on the left, I love the dreamy eyes.

A was 2 years and 11 months old in these photos.

Portraits of my daughter.

As part of the Morguefile course I was following, we covered the topic of lighting for portraits. I used my daughter as the test subject, setting her up in a room with just the one window for a light source. I took heaps of photos, testing different angles.


The photo below on the right is using a mirror to reflect the light on to her. Was also great for getting her attention.

H was almost 14 months old in these photos.

More practise.

I was running out of volunteers to photograph, so had to cast a wider net.


I found C via on online forum, she wanted some more recent photos of her daughter O.




























This was my first time taking photos of someone I had just met, so I was quite nervous! It was a good learning experience though, and we ended up with some cute photos.

Practise.

The next to let me practise on them, was S and her son B.

I also had a bit of fun putting a compilation of the photos together. It's a nice way to include some of the fun shots, which weren't necessarily "right" on their own.

J also joined us at the practise session,
with her sons O and G.

I didn't do nearly as well with these
photos unfortunately, lots of dark
and/or out of focus shots.

G was a performer though, smiling
and playing up to the camera.