Photography Archives - Page 25 of 38

The siblings project – April 2017

13/04/2017

by This glorious life with 6 Comments Parenting Personal Photography

After writing in last month’s siblings post that it really wasn’t feeling like Spring yet, things have definitely turned more Spring-like in Swansea!

We’ve had some gorgeous days with blue skies and sunshine. Which has meant that we’ve been able to get out and about a bit more.

So this month’s photos are from two different days.

The first few are from a week or so ago when we went for a little walk on the beach, and then went the long way round the Guildhall to get back to Victoria park for a quick play on the swings.

Following on from being so organised with my family photo for last month’s me and mine project, I took the opportunity to get some photos of Rhys and Nerys together, knowing that I would be writing this post soon!

You can tell that these photos were taken towards the end of term, because both Rhys and Nerys look so blooming tired!

I love how their personalities show through in this. Rhys is still performing, still busy, still lively even though he just needs a rest! Nerys on the other hand, is a bit more like me I think, and is giving in to her tiredness a little bit more.

The next set of photos were taken last weekend, at the start of the Easter holidays and I think you can see a change in the children already! Knowing they’ve got a break from school, they have both just seemed to relax a bit. The sunshine has helped as well though I think.

The Easter holidays mark the end of Nerys’ first half term of doing half days at school. And it’s been really lovely seeing how well she’s settled in there.

What’s especially nice though is when I pick both her and Rhys up at the end of the day and they excitedly tell me that they saw each other in the yard at playtime. Or ‘the ard’ as Nerys calls it. No idea why, but I don’t think she’s ever said it with the Y at the start. Anyway, it’s just lovely to hear that they’re so happy to see each other like that!

These two are typical siblings.

They know how to wind each other up, and sometimes seem to go out of their way to do so. But then, at the end of the day I’ll hear them in their bunkbeds, chatting away about Pokemon, or playing Doc Mcstuffins.

And it makes my heart so happy.

Living arrows 2017 – 15/52

10/04/2017

by This glorious life with 16 Comments Personal Photography

We’ve had a glorious weekend of sunshine this weekend.

And this little one has spent a good chunk of her time out in the garden, helping Daddy clear out the flower beds and pull out the weeds. Last year our friends picked out a gorgeous little gardening set for her, as part of our review of the Wicked Uncle website, and Nerys couldn’t wait to get it back out of the cupboard and get to work!

She was as happy as anything out there, digging in the soil and filling up the garden waste bags for Daddy.

We did joke though, that she looked like a little old lady in her sun hat and spotty gardening gloves. But seriously, how cute are her spotty gardening gloves?!

She is such a little character now too, and has a brilliant sense of humour that catches me off guard some days. I have a feeling this one will keep us on our toes as she gets older!

The garden is looking so much better already after all their hard work this weekend, but there’s still a fair bit to do which I think Nerys will be quite pleased to hear. We used to have raspberry plants at the top of the garden but they have all but disappeared now. So I’m going to do a bit of reading to see what we can plant there instead, hopefully we’re not too late to start planting things!

Do you grow things to eat in your garden? What would you recommend we try?

‘Show you were there’ round up (week six)

09/04/2017

by This glorious life with No Comment Photography Show you were there

Another week gone, and onto another round up of the photos I’ve loved seeing over on instagram using #ShowYouWereThere.

It’s been a bit of a quiet week over in my little community, so I think a good dose of promotion is in order to get more people aware of, and using, the hashtag. So I apologise in advance if you keep seeing me pop up on Facebook and Twitter talking about it!

For now though, onto my favourite photos from this week:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSosSHkFMtw/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSomc5VAwWP/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSibW4PAIWj/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSWYp9TAxDC/?taken-by=susiehawes

A big thank you to Kayleigh from Little B and me, Jax from Jax and Joseph, Carla from Random thoughts of a twenty something and Susie from This is me now for joining in this week, I really loved seeing your photos and would love to see you again next week! I’ve enjoyed seeing a mix of photos this week, and while I love seeing people’s faces in #ShowYouWereThere photos, I also love the use of the hashtag in photos that show a bit of who people are in other ways!

Now my turn.

I’ll be honest here and admit I’ve not been great this past week at getting in photos. We were all quite busy and generally tired with it being the last week of term. But one evening before the children went to bed I did hand the camera over to Steve for him to take a quick snap of me with Rhys and Nerys.

It may just be us, giggling, cwtching up before bed, but these are the moment I hope the children remember when they’re older. These are the moments I’m pleased we have photos of. These normal, everyday moments. They’re all part of our story.

If you’d like to take part and possibly be featured in my next round up (with a nice link back to your blog!) then just share a photo of yourself over on instagram using #ShowYouWereThere. It’s all about getting more parents in more photos. And if you’d like to take part in my guest post series ‘The photo I’m thankful for‘ then take a look at this post or email me at thisgloriouslife@gmail.com for more information.

Reasons to love black and white

07/04/2017

by This glorious life with 7 Comments Photography Show you were there

You might not know it, seeing as pretty much all the photos I share here on my blog, and over on my instagram page, are in colour, but I absolutely love black and white photography.

I’ve always been drawn to black and white photos, and really love the idea of a photo gallery wall at home that’s purely monochrome. I’m a bit caught up in not wanting to disturb the look and feel of my blog though. I worry that throwing a black and white photo into the mix of bright, colourful ones will be a bit jarring.

Over on my instagram for my photography business though I have started posting a ‘monochrome monday’ photo every week. I’m moving my business over to a more documentary/lifestyle feel, rather than typical posed sessions, and black and white works so well for that.

I’m not sure I’ll do the same with the blog’s instagram, but I do want to start sharing more black and white photos here on the actual blog. I’ll have to come up with a way to do that, maybe a monthly monochrome post, documenting our activities that month.

In the meantime, here are some of the reasons I love black and white photos so much:

1. They take away the distraction of colour.

This photo of Nerys is lovely in colour. Thanks to the lighting, her blue eyes really pop. But, in colour, her Peppa pig hat is really quite distracting as your eyes are sort of drawn to the bright pink writing.

Changing the image to black and white though makes it so much better. The writing on her hat is far less prominent and you’re drawn much more to her face and her eyes.

2. They’re classic and timeless.

Maybe it’s because they remind of us old photos, but there is a real timelessness to black and white photos. Sometimes taking the colour out of an image also takes away some of the clues that would help date it.

I really love that classic feel that you get from black and white. This photo of Nerys wouldn’t feel quite so timeless if you could see the bright pink of her Disney princess helmut!

3. They’re forgiving.

What I mean by this, is that photos taken in our cluttered, busy houses with toys and dishes and bits and bobs everywhere look much better in black and white.

The next two photos show what I mean.

In colour your eye gets distracted by all the visual clutter. The colours fight for your attention and you’re not really sure where to look. In black and white though, it just looks better!

The cluttered worktops and cupboard full of tins just helps tell a bit of the story, rather than being a big distraction from it.

4. They can be dramatic.

A few years ago, my black and white photos were much softer and brighter than they tend to be now. I used to love the high contrast images my husband created, but they didn’t feel like ‘me’. I loved high key, bright images.

But I’ve had a bit of a shift I think. Maybe it’s down to embracing natural light more, and starting to ‘see’ light better. Maybe it’s just that my personal tastes have changed, I don’t know! But I’m definitely leaning towards a darker, more contrasty black and white style.

I love how dramatic they can be.

This image of Nerys at the park is just quite fun in colour. But making it into this rather contrasty black and white really adds some drama to it. Which I love, because I think it creates that feeling of taking on the world that you have as a child, tackling something challenging at the park!

So there you have it, my reasons for why I love black and white photography, and why I want to get back to using it more!

What about you? Are you all about bright colourful images, or is black and white more your thing? Leave me a comment and let me know.

The photo I’m thankful for – #ShowYouWereThere guest post series

06/04/2017

by This glorious life with No Comment Show you were there The photo I'm thankful for

Welcome to my new guest blog post series – The photo I’m thankful for.

This is a project that has been swirling round in my head for a long time now, and I’m really excited to get it out of there and onto here.

Now, I’m not sure if this is the done thing, but for the first week I’m going to be my own guest, and feature my photos that I am thankful for.

That’s what this guest post series is all about. You might know that I go on a lot around here about how important it is for us all to get in more photos, well this is a continuation of that.

I want people to share with me the photo of themselves that they’re really happy was taken. A photo that captures a moment in time that means a lot to them. A photo of them with someone they don’t see much anymore. A photo that they know they’ll look back on in the future and be really thankful for.

I’ve got a few photos that I’m sharing in this first post. Some of them I’ll admit are sort of cliches, but I’ve decided that’s ok. Things are often cliches for a reason. And these photos of the big moments in my life are ones I am really thankful I have photos of.

So, enough talking, on to the photos!

This first one is from 2007, when Steve and I flew out to the South of France to meet my parents for a holiday. It was the first time we’d done anything like that, and it’s something I’ll always remember.

My Mum has always said that you can tell when Steve is the one taking a photo of me because of the way I’m smiling in it, and I think that is really true of this picture. There’s a bit of a sparkle in my eyes that does tend to be just for him! It’s quite scary to think that this photo was taken 10 years ago, and I do look really quite young in it. I love looking at this though, and thinking how different life was back then, before we got married and had the children. The girl in that photo? I’m not sure I’m really her any more, so much has changed in the last 10 years. Not everything changes though, there’s still a sparkle in my eyes when Steve takes a photo of me!

The next photo is a more cliched one, but I’m extremely thankful for it.

In case you can’t guess, it’s from our wedding day, only a few months after the photo in France was taken.

We got married in County Hall in Swansea, and walked over to the beach after the ceremony for some champagne. It was a tiny wedding, only about 12 of us there, but luckily our friend Dave agreed to take some photos for us.

I’ll always be grateful to him for that, those photos that he took mean so much to me. And I love that they so perfectly capture what our day was about. In the future, we can show these to our children, and they can see how much love they were born into.

The next photo is me and my family. It’s a snapshot really, taken by my niece. But again, I’m so thankful for it. I don’t see my family that often as we live quite far apart, so whenever I get the chance I make everyone get in a photo with me.

These family photos mean so much to me now, and I know they’ll mean the world to me one day.

The last pictures I’m sharing are real cliches. They’re of me and my babies, right after they were born.

The first one, of Rhys, is so important to me because I had been on gas and air for so long by the time he arrived that, honestly, my memories of those first moments are hazy at best. And as for the photos of Nerys, I really didn’t think they existed until I went on a mission looking for them for this post!

I thought Steve must have taken some of me and her together, but they weren’t in the folder on the computer with the rest of her photos. I really had started to believe that maybe we were both just a little surprised that she was actually here and that we didn’t take any photos!

But a dig around his old phone photos revealed a little treasure trove of memories. There’s a photo of me with monitors taped to my stomach, tracking Nerys’ movements and then, from just over an hour later, there’s a photo of her in my arms.

These photos, I’m so thankful for. Those were some defining moments for me. The moments my life changed. And I’m so happy I have the photos that show I was there.

Now, over to you.

If you have a photo and a story to tell please do get in touch.

I would love to hear all about the photos you are thankful for. The photos that show you were there. The photos your children will be so thankful for in the future.

I’m looking for photos that show who you are now, or who you used to be. The photos that capture those moments that mean the world to you. The photos that show those tiny, everyday moments that seem so ordinary now, but will mean so much more in years to come.

Oh there are so many possibilities here!

Maybe you have a photo of you that made you realise how beautiful you are, just as you are.

Or a photo of you doing something that makes you feel really proud, that you’ll love to talk to your children about when they’re older.

It could be a photo of you and an adored pet who is no longer around.

And it doesn’t necessarily have to be you in the photo. If you have a photo that means the world to you, of your parents or a sibling, or an old friend, that counts to. The point here is to celebrate photos, and how important it is to take them and to be in them.

If this sounds like something you’d like to get involved with then email me at thisgloriouslife@gmail.com

This moment is your life

03/04/2017

by This glorious life with 3 Comments Parenting Photography Quotes

I’ve written a lot over the last month about how important it is for us all to get in more photos. It’s something I feel really quite passionate about.

I think we can all come up with a pile of excuses as to why we don’t want to be in photos, and the thing is, we tell ourselves it’s ok because we can get in some photos when we lose that last bit of baby weight, or when we have more time to put make up on and look more presentable.

We tell ourselves we’ll get in a family photo ‘next time’. But, what if there is no next time?

Chances are you’ve seen this story recently, about a Facebook post written by Michelle Steinke from One fit widow. In it Michelle writes about how her biggest regret is that she didn’t get in many photos with her family before her husband unexpectedly passed away. It’s a beautiful, heartbreakingly honest post. And there’s a really simple but powerful message for all of us behind it.

We worry so much about being perfect that we miss the moment in front of us. We don’t always see that this is what life is, it’s beautiful and it’s messy and it’s hard and it’s wonderful. But if we’re always feeling like we should be more or have more, then we’ll miss it.

This moment right now, in its own way, is perfect. And you are good enough, just as you are, right now, to exist in photos for your loved ones.

Don’t let your excuses leave you with regrets. Because one day, you will regret not being in the photos.

Michelle said it just perfectly in her post:

“You can always work on improving yourself but this moment will never come again. Don’t waste it wishing you were more. You are enough, right now, right as you are. Take the photos. Love your life”

Those right there, are words to live by.

Living arrows 2017 – 14/52

03/04/2017

by This glorious life with 13 Comments Personal Photography

For the longest time Rhys was obsessed with Angry Birds.

He loved playing all the different versions of the game on whatever device he could get his hands on. He’s got books about them, has seen the film quite a few times, and has a rather impressive collection of Angry Birds soft toys.

But then, a little while ago, he seemed to move on a bit. He discovered Minecraft and Pokemon, and the Angry Birds got sidelined a little bit.

This past week though, he seems to have remembered how much he loves them!

He’s been playing his own live action game of Angry Birds epic. He’ll spend ages finding things from around the house that can act as helmets and shields for his birds. Then he’ll act out battles with them, moving them around the house to different levels of the game.

It’s fascinating to watch him play in that way, with that much imagination.

At the weekend we actually had nice enough weather for him to be able to move his game outside to the garden, which he absolutely loved.

Our garden is a little on the wild side, which I would imagine makes it quite fun for children. He definitely enjoyed clambering around the place and setting up his little action scenes with his toys.

It really was nice to be able to be out in the garden with the sun out (even though there were still dark clouds threatening to make their way over to us!). With the clock change it meant the children could play out there quite late into the afternoon, something I think they’ll be wanting to do a lot now that Spring is here. I can see a trip to the shops being on the cards soon, to pick up a new sandpit. The one we had last year really hasn’t survived the winter!

Madeline Littlejohns is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk

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