My First Couple / Engagement Shoot

I love taking portrait pictures, it’s probably one of my favourite styles of photography and one that I would love to do more of.


Recently a couple approached me about wedding photography as they had been recommended by someone that knows me and were interested in finding out what I could offer them as a package. We arranged to meet so we could discuss the wedding and I could take a few shots of them together in the style of an engagement shoot, something which I have been waiting to do for ages.

We arranged to meet at a local lake on a Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago. As their wedding is in October we decided it would be nice to have a kind of autumnal feel to the photographs with the changing colours of the trees. The lake itself can be walked around in about 30 minutes so I suggested a leisurely stroll round with a few stops along the way for some photographs.

I have to admit I was pretty nervous, having never taken these kinds of shots before and also this being the first time I had met the couple Debz & Chris but they were really friendly and soon we were chatting like we’d known each other for ages.

The lake is surrounded by trees and grass and has a couple of nice little bridges which make a really nice setting for photographs. We stopped at the first bridge where I got a few nice shots.

We then walked round the lake and took some photographs underneath one of the large trees. It was a very sunny day considering it was the middle of October and this made the shooting conditions quite difficult with some rather nasty shadows but I think we were all just pleased that it wasn’t raining!

Debz came up with the fantastic idea of her and Chris having a bit of a fight with some of the fallen leaves, these made for some great pictures – these were really fun to shoot and it showed in their faces.

I tried to vary the style of the pictures and was pleased at how natural they both were in front of the camera, especially as Debz had commented how they hadn’t had very many pictures taken together which weren’t self portraits shot at arms length. It was nice to catch some really natural moments of them together and these are the shots I am really pleased with.

The lake really was a good choice I think as it offers such a lovely backdrop to these kinds of shots. It was a relatively quiet day given the good weather conditions so it was nice to be able to pick and choose where we could stand to try and get the best views.

When you get round the bottom end of the lake there is a really nice area which is brick semi circle that is kind of a watching station for walkers to view the wildlife at the lake. I’d had the idea of trying a few pictures using this as a focus when I was planning the shoot and I think they turned out pretty well.

After a while we had done our lap round the lake and I had managed to get a good amount of different pictures, I felt it had been a productive day and that I had managed to some shots that Debz & Chris would hopefully like. Time for a well deserved drink in the nearby pub although it was soft drinks only for me!

I have tried out a few different effects and editing on the finished pictures as I am still experimenting with all the things you can achieve in Lightroom, once I had completed this I was able to present the couple with their images. I was really pleased with the way they turned out after such harsh sunlight and I really enjoyed the whole experience so many thanks to Debz & Chris for giving me the opportunity to try this kind of photoshoot.

A couple more of my favourite pictures from the day

These kinds of shoots are definitely something that I will be offering as part of my wedding packages from now on as I think it is a great way to meet the couple and work together to do some test shots prior to the actual wedding, plus the couple get some lovely pictures to treasure in the future.

As always I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog, please leave a comment to let me know if you have enjoyed it – I always like to hear from my readers.

Urban Exploration of an Abandoned Brickworks

So it's been a while since I have done a post on here so time for a catch up and to let you all know what I've been up to.


We have had an extremely busy summer this year - 5 weddings, 2 festivals, our own birthdays and my friends hen do - time has just run away with me and I've not found the time to spend on my blog so I apologise for my absence. It has been a very pleasant summer with lots of lovely events to attend though,so I'm not complaining - better to be busy than bored.


So I thought I really should come and do a post but it's taken me ages to decide what to write about as there has been so much going on. In the end I decided to tell you about our second Urban Exploration trip on which we checked out an abandoned brickworks. My last post about our first explore was well received and I thought some of you may enjoy reading about our latest one.

The brickworks was set up in 1897 in a place a which was then called Wootton Pillange by B.J Forder and Son. Over the years they merged with a number of different companies including the London Brick Company which went on to become the largest brickworks in the world in 1936 employing 2000 staff and producing over 500 million bricks a year. In 1984 the London Brick Company were then taken over by Hanson and by 2005 there were only 230 staff manufacturing 135 million bricks per year at the plant which still stood on the same site but the village had been renamed Stewartby many years ago. The brickworks closed it's doors for good in 2005.

The brickworks is not far from our hometown so a short drive led us to the site which is absolutely massive, a lot of open spaces inbetween the many different outbuildings and the main manufacturing plant. We circled the site in the car trying to locate a suitable place to access the site but it appeared to be pretty well secured with massive piles of bricks stacked up high over every open gap in the outer perimeters - a few laps almost left us a bit stumped and we even considered heading home. We decided one final scout round and then we would admit defeat - luckily we spotted a group of lads who looked as if they had just come off the site so we pulled over and asked them if they'd just been in the brickworks. Looking rather spooked (and a little worried) they eventually gave us some pointers after we'd convinced them that we were other explorers and not undercover police officers!

After a bit of trapsing we were on the site and it was at this point we realied just how open and difficult this site was going to be to explore. It was going to take some fast thinking and even faster footwork, we needed to keep our wits about us and my heart was absolutely racing as we made our way to the nearest building to us - what appeared to be a huge shed.

When we got to the building it was obvious that it had been used to house different kinds of bricks and it looked as if people came in to order certain products from here. There were still piles of bricks scattered around and other strange looking things like huge rolls of roofing felt still wrapped up and intact.

Also inside the building was a small room which looked as if it had been an office or workers tea room. As with a lot of abandoned places it almost looked as if the staff just walked out and left all their stuff there, dirty cups sat on the table, calendars were still pinned onto noticeboards and the workers coats and personal items still hung in lockers. Order books were there on tables which probably hadn't been written in for a number of years but almost looked as if they had been used yesterday......

The site, having been empty for a number of years was now unfortunately starting to show some signs of vandalism, one of the perils of leaving a building disused. Urban Explorers do not advocate or encourage vandalism and are in fact very much against it - mindless idiots ruin these places for those of us who just looking enjoy at the demise of a building and photographing the desecration caused by the elements for pleasure rather than a pointless love of totally trashing a building for no reason. One of the outbuildings had blatently suffered an arson attack because the most of the roof had burnt away leaving just a few chared timbers and a half torched shell - this had been sectioned off by security patrols for obvious reasons. Some doors had been kicked off some of the outbuildings for no reason than just boredom.....

We made our way to the next buiding which looked very similar to the first, obviously another housing area for bricks awaiting sale or transportation to buyers. Most of these buildings seemed to be laid out the same with a main warehouse area and then a small office or tea room, each one had more and more personal items housed inside them, these were the areas I enjoyed exploring the most.

We then decided to try and get across to the main building where the manufacturing of the bricks took place. This was approximately 400 yards from us across a vast open space with a clear view from the security hut, it was going to be risky and the only thing for it was to basically run as fast as we could – not easy when carrying a camera bag! Now running is not my strong point but upon the count of three I ran as fast as my little legs could go and was glad to have made it across to the building without detection.

Once over to this, the largest of the buildings we found huge high ceilinged buildings housing lots of machinery. Inside there were piles of bricks which had collapsed into the main area of the building smashing through machines as they fell. This building was like a maze of internal rooms all jutting out to the sides, with a main processing plant slap bang in the middle.

Again a lot of the rooms looked like they had once been offices as there were personal effects from the workers hanging in lockers, empty mugs which once held tea and coffee sat on the desk and even lottery tickets pinned onto noticeboards……

Everything was covered in a layer of white brick dust which highlighted how terrible the working conditions must have been for those employed here, you could almost taste it in the air and this was years after the workforce had left, I could only imagine what it would’ve been like with all those machines working at full pelt in their heyday.

We kept finding room after room, all of which just looked as if everyone upped and left suddenly one day without any warning, the whole remaining workforce leaving at the same time not stopping to pick up any of their possessions along the way.

In one room which was obviously used as an office there were shelves and shelves of box folders lined up. On the desk a file were what looked like architectural plans and technical drawings of previous contracts just left gathering dust – it always amazes me that documents like this are just left and not disposed of or kept in an archive somewhere but often when exploring you see files of such papers, or personal records still in the building you are looking around.

It was hard to picture how the plant worked in its operational days, there was so much to take in, so many pieces of machinery that still stood in situ obviously not used for years but still dominating most of the building. It would’ve been interesting to see the plant in operation although I don’t think I would’ve liked to work there!

We decided that we should probably leave soon as we had been inside the brickworks for a good three hours, there were so many more areas we could’ve tried to look around as the site is so huge but thought it was best not to push our luck so we headed back towards the car running across the open areas as fast as we could again! Anyway a few more pictures for you……

This was definitely a worthy explore and one that I enjoyed – especially as it was totally different to the last one we did last year. I’m hoping that we will get to do another one although am not sure when that will be due to a few other things going on with us at the moment – we are expecting our first baby, due in march 2011 so I think maybe climbing in and out of abandoned buildings may be off the menu for me for a while.

I hope that you enjoyed reading this and looking at my pictures – feel free to leave a comment as I always like to hear from my readers. If this is your first visit to my blog then I welcome any new subscribers and hope you will return in the future. Remember you can also 'like' my work by joining my fan page on Facebook just look up "Photography By Sharon Curran" in the search box.

Thanks for visiting

Sharon

If You Go Down to the Woods Today

Spring has finally sprung and we have seen lots of really lovely warm sunny days over the past month or so. This is my favourite time of year – the brighter mornings and evenings, the flowers all starting to bloom and best of all warmer weather and hopefully less rain. This is also a great time to get out with the camera due to the extended daylight hours plus there are plenty of photo opportunities when it comes to the springtime flower displays.


Unfortunately I missed the daffodils this year but I was determined after seeing some photos of the bluebells in bloom last year that I would try and make sure I got some nice shots of them. I had already researched some of the best places that they grow locally, it was just timing my visit right so that the flowers were out and catching them before they close as they don’t remain open for very long – this would depend on the weather. After a rather rainy Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday morning the sun decided to poke its head out for a while so my husband and I quickly grabbed our cameras and headed off on a mission.

We headed up to a local area called Linford Woods which is has a number of trails and things to explore. The wood originally covered approximate 100 acres but due to development and the building of local housing has now been broken down into smaller areas of woodland popular with locals and visitors to Milton Keynes.

We parked up in a small car park and started walking along one of the many pathways to try and find a nice opening with lots of bluebells. There were plenty growing along the edges of the pathways in small clusters but I was looking for something a bit bigger.

You may recall the song “Teddy Bears Picnic” which starts off with the line “If you go down to the woods today you’re sure of a big surprise” I always think of that song when we go here because whilst walking you will encounter some of the weird and wonderful sculptures among the woodland.

These sculptures are made out of tree stumps and branches which have fallen from the trees and have been hand carved into various shapes and styles.

Quite often the sculptures can be found in places you wouldn’t necessarily see straight away like up in an actual tree or off the beaten track in small pathways which go behind the trees and then back onto the main bridleway.

Every time we come to the woods we find different carvings. The last time we came we even found one of Rupert the Bear which was really good. This time we found snakes heads carved into the end of felled branches and the gorilla, Buddha and owl you see in the images above.


After walking for a while we came across a really nice area where there was the perfect spot for some photographs. With a nice clearing in the trees and a huge amount of flowers covering the ground – this would do nicely.

I decided to climb right down onto ground level in an attempt to get a good angle. After a few days of rain the ground was a little boggy but I didn’t let this stop me. I was determined and just waded through the mud to get the shot I wanted.


A little further on there was another nice area but we were separated from it by a water filled ditch. Not one to be deterred my husband grabbed a quite lengthy thick log and placed it over the ditch – it was a bit hair raising walking along it to get across the ditch as it was covered in moss and quite damp and slippy from the rain but we managed it and I was glad I did as I managed to get my favourite shot of the day.

The flowers literally covered the ground as far as the eye could see, a glorious blue carpet stretching across the woodland floor teamed with the fragrant aroma of the bluebells in the air it was a magical sight. This is definitely one of the reasons I love spring so much.


After taking a few shots we precariously made our way back across the log, amazingly I didn’t fall in the ditch quite a feat for someone as clumsy as me! By this time the sun was definitely being shrouded by darker clouds and we decided to head back to the car and home for a nice cup of tea.

If you ever visit this area I would recommend a trip to these woods. A lot of people just think of Milton Keynes as a concrete town, full of roundabouts when in actual fact there are lots of really lovely places like this where you can walk and explore. You just need to know they are there to appreciate them.

I’m hoping now the days are longer I will be able to venture out with the camera a bit more. I have lots of very exciting plans over the summer at which I should get some fantastic photographic opportunities starting with the wedding of two good friends this coming Saturday. Although I am bridesmaid I will still be trying to take some photos during the day to mark the occasion – let’s hope the sun decides to grace us with its presence.

Thank you all for reading and subscribing to my blog it is very much appreciated. There should be plenty of updates coming over the summer as I have a very busy diary. I also have a couple of things bubbling away in the background which I am quite excited about so hopefully I will be able to report back on those soon.

All comments welcomed as always. Thanks for reading!

Practical Photography DSLR Skills Course

Hello everybody.

So Spring is finally here and the flowers are starting to bloom, after such a cold and rubbish winter it’s nice to finally see some sunny days although I think it’s a bit early for short sleeves and vest tops I am definitely pleased to see the better weather emerging as it means I will be able to get out and about with the camera a bit more.

I recently signed up to a free photography course run by Practical Photography Magazine. The DSLR Skills course aims to teach you different techniques over the space of six months, each month’s module focussing on a different theme. You do need to purchase the magazine each month but they ran a special six month subscription for £10 which was great value as it is usually £3.99 per issue. We are now into our second month and so far I am enjoying the course.

Each month you are set a basic homework task which you must complete plus an advanced homework task which is optional. I’m trying to make sure I complete both homework assignments each month as it should push me that little bit more.

Last months basic homework task was to take a shot of pedestrians using a short shutter speed which would result in a slight blur to the people as they walked past. Sounded easy but in actual fact I found this quite difficult – mostly because it required the use of a tripod and as soon as people see one of those they avoid you like the plague! I tried various locations including outside our local shopping centre which resulted in me getting my first request to leave for taking photographs. In the end I submitted this image of two local businessmen for my basic homework assignment piece.

I wasn’t overly happy with the image but it met the required elements and I wanted to make sure I had time to also have a go at the advanced homework – Urban Light Trails. For the advanced homework we were asked to take a photo using long shutter speeds to capture light trails from traffic – the required element was that it should be shot in an urban environment and include a building or buildings in the shot. I love light trails and had previously tried them before so this was my prefered element of the first module.

I went to a familar spot to pratice above the A5 on the way out of Milton Keynes. This particular spot is fantastic for getting some lovely long exposure trail shots but as much as I loved the images I got I couldn’t really use any of them for my homework piece as they wern’t shot in an urban environment. This is one of my favourites……

So I had to put my thinking cap on and think of somewhere suitable in town to try and get a shot which I could submit for my homework piece. This was easier said than done – due to the grid system in central Milton Keynes the buildings are set away from the roads which meant getting a decent shot with an urban building in the frame along with some traffic trails was pretty difficult.

I tried a few locations but wasn’t happy with the results. So on a last chance outing I decided to head up to a different area and found what looked to be a pretty decent place and this was where I ended up getting the photograph I submitted for the advanced homework this image of the Xscape building in central Milton Keynes.

I would’ve liked the trails to have been longer and brighter but overall I just liked the colours in this image and the starbursts on the street lamps plus I thought the Xscape is an unusual shaped building and the curves contrasted well with the lines of the road.

So we are now onto module 2 which is based on ‘Still Life’  not something I have really had much experience of before so I have been looking forward to trying my hand at it. The basic homework is to take a household object which could be anything from a knife and fork to an ornament or a hairbrush and take a still life picture of it illuminated by natural daylight only.

Having thought about the kind of item I wanted to use as a subject I came up with a few different things to practice with. I have been quite suprised at the results and how well they have come out. I have got four pictures which I’ve shortlisted to choose from……

 For this picture I used an Angel of Patience statue that my friend brought me placing it near a bright window in the lovely sunshine on some black card. I really like this shot, the simplicity of the statue works well highlighted by the window light.

 For this shot I initially tried the egg cups on their own but then tried it with eggs in them and I like the way it has come out. I like the contrast between the dark side of the eggs against the sides which are highlighted by the window.

For this image I took a metal statue of a fairy and again placed it facing the window. The focus is very soft in this picture but I think it fits in with the subject, the lighting is quite soft and dreamy too.

Lastly I took a speaker for this shot and placed it near the window. I like the differing textures and patterns in this image from the grill on the front to the shiny rim on the outside.

They are the four pitcures now I just have to decide which one to go for, luckily I think any of them will meet the brief so at least I have a few options. If you have a favourite please leave me a comment and let me know. I still have to do the advanced homework which is to create a still life using artificial light creating a shadow as part of the shot and I may use one of the statues to do that so I’m considering submitting the egg shot for the basic homework.

So this is what I’ve mostly been doing and so far I’m enjoying it. The course is still open to join if you are reading this and would like to know more you can find out about it here http://www.photoanswers.co.uk/DSLR-Skills-2010 . If you are already taking part in the course you may like to know that I have set up a designated Flickr group for anyone taking part – we have almost 200 members and it is not only for sharing images that you have taken but also getting feedback and critique on them, there is also a discussion area. Please feel free to join us at http://www.flickr.com/groups/dslrskills2010

Anyway thats about all from me – I’m off to look for household objects for my advanced homework! As always thank you for reading and happy snapping!

Benjamin's Photoshoot

For those who have been reading my blog for a while will know that back in November I took a few shots at Benjamins Christening. Ben is now 6 months old and I'd arranged to go and visit his mum for the day and take some pictures while I was there.

The drive up to Manchester was rather rubbish as the weather couldn't quite decide what it was doing but I soon arrived at my destination. Unfortunately Ben was teething and was a little grumpy but with the help of his play mat I managed to get some nice shots, helped by the natural daylight coming in through the window.

 

He is so active now pulling himself around and starting to learn how to move accross the floor so keeping up with him was sometimes quite difficult. He is a proper little poser though stopping every now and then and just giving the most perfect look - it was just making sure I was ready and waiting when he did and unfortunately I missed quite a few shots but this is the joy of photographing children you never know what they are going to do next.

Bens mum showed me how he loves playing in his Jumperoo, his face was a picture but it was impossible to get a shot whilst he was bouncing up and down. After a while he was a little tired out so he went off for a little afternoon nap which seemed to do the trick as he came back a lot more smiley. By this time it was dark outside and so I got to test out my new flash which I'd only recently brought, this was my first time of using a hotshoe flash and I really like the difference it made to the pictures.

I got some amazing smiles from Ben which I caught on camera and some really cheeky little faces too. I especially love the expression in this next picture.

All too soon it was time for bed and for me to head back home. The drive back was atrocious as I got caught in a blizzard and in some of the worst fog I think I've ever driven in during my seventeen years of driving so I was definitely glad to get home. I don't want to put up too many pictures as these are a bit of a taster of them for my friend and her boyfriend but I can't resist putting this last one up as I love it - I just hope they will too.

 

I'd just like to say many thanks to Colette and Dave for letting me take some photos, Ben is definitely one of my favourite subjects to work with as he is such a happy, smiley little boy. I really hope that you both like the pictures.

Next weekend we are off to a wedding and I am going to be taking my camera with me to try and get some shots so I should have some more photos to share with you all. As always many thanks for reading, your support is appreciated - please feel free to leave comments as I enjoy reading them.

A Winter Wonderland

Have had a lot of stuff going on over the past few weeks but I realised I hadn’t updated my blog for quite a while so I thought it was about time I picked up my camera and headed out to get some shots. Trying to find a subject was proving to be difficult though what with the dark nights and busy weekends but I was given the perfect reason a few weeks ago.


As we entered 2010 along with it came some of the coldest weather the UK has seen in a number of years and the first snowfall of the new decade. When I awoke and I looked out of the window I was greeted with snow covering our street, just like a lot of the country.

Luckily for me my workplace was closed and I ended up with a day off. Instead of curling back up in my nice warm bed I decided to don my polka dot willies, gloves, hat and scarf and head off in search of some photographic opportunities.

One of my favourite places in Milton Keynes is the Peace Pagoda and I have been wanting to get some pictures of it in the snow for a while now so that was where I headed. The roads had not been gritted and were pretty atrocious but I just took it nice and slowly – after all there was no rush snow like this was not going to melt in the 15 minutes it would take me to drive there.

I got there in one piece and parked up the car, as I left it parked solitary in the vast snow covered car park I hoped I would be able to get it back out but hey I’d deal with that when I left! Off I walked along the deserted pathway usually full of people walking their dogs stopping occasionally to take a picture.

The snow was light and fluffy just like icing sugar, perfect fresh snow which had been sprinkled overnight from above. There had only been a few people walking along here as their footprints stood out imprinted into the white blanket below me. You could clearly see the pathways which had been more popular with pedestrians…..

I carried on walking and carefully climbed the steps, popular with photographers but hardly recognisable covered in snow apart from the handrail running up the middle. When I reached the top I looked and the trees created a lovely frame to the footsteps running up the middle of the snow covered ground.

As I reached the usually green grassy hill the I was greeted with the crispest blanket of snow covering the whole whole area. It looked almost magical. There wasn’t a soul in sight something I have never seen before as this area is usually bustling with people – joggers having their daily run, people walking their dogs, couples out for a stroll…..never have I seen it totally empty, just me and my camera.


This is where you find the Peace Pagoda. Officially opened in September 1980 the Peace Pagoda is a central part of the Japanese Nipponzan Myohoji Order in the UK. This is where Buddhist monks hold ceremonies to mark specific occasions such as memorials for the Hiroshima victims among others.

Unfortunately the sky was totally white, obviously more snow waiting to fall held within it so I didn’t get the picture I was hoping to achieve but the Pagoda looked so beautiful I couldn’t resist. Typically later on that day the skies cleared into the most beautiful blue colour which was the exact picture I wanted to get.


As much as I love snow pictures they can look a little samey so I’m not going to post a lot of shots as one looks very much like another but one thing that did strike me is how a sprinkling of snow can make something that would ordinarily look pretty boring look totally different like the branch of a fir tree.

So simple but yet for some reason I really like this picture.


Now the snow is starting to melt and it doesn’t look anywhere near as beautiful as it did a week ago. I think that most people are starting to get rather fed up with it now and will be glad to see the back of it. Unfortunately for some reason the UK really doesn’t seem to cope well with snow even though it seems to be a more regular occurrence, we could definitely do with some lessons with some of the countries who are seasoned pros at dealing with it.

Anyway after my expedition out in the snow I’ve realised how much I’ve missed picking up my camera, even though it was freezing cold it was nice to get some nice pictures before all the snow got trodden into slush. Afterwards I went home and enjoyed a lovely cup of coffee………while my husband decided to top up his tan in the back garden…….

This blog is late going up as I’ve been so busy – I promise to make sure I update my blog more regularly from now on!

With that I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone who has read, subscribed and commented on my blog in 2009 your support is very much appreciated. I’d like to wish you all a belated Happy New Year and that I hope you all have a happy and healthy 2010.