The best way to burn off one or two of those Christmas Day calories is by taking a good walk on Boxing Day, and on this Boxing Day, 2018, the sun was shining in Belfast, and I was visiting a family in Sydenham, and where better for a walk after my visit than Victoria Park, one of Belfast’s legendary green spaces in the industrial landscape.
Last week we visited Portballintrae, a village right on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, and close to the world-famous Giant’s Causeway, and the even more famous Bushmills Distillery.
This image was added on 1 November 2018:
Portballintrae is very much a ‘dormitory’ village, now built up with modern apartments used a holiday home by people from elsewhere, which gives the visitor the impression that it is a soulless, sad place. There is a small harbour, and a boat-club with a small clubhouse, and a decent beach, topped by an archeological treasure, the Lissnahall Prehistoric Earthworks. A short drive leads to Bushmills, and I was intrigued by the bunting in the town square. Continue reading Portballintrae
This happy chappie is young Sebastian, who came with his mummy and daddy to visit the studio at Dundonald to begin his ‘Baby’s First Year’ sessions. He smiled all the way through!
Here’s James, who has just began his Baby’s First Year photo-package at our Dundonald Studio. He’ll get a studio visit at 4 months, 8 months and 12 months, and a beautiful frwmed piece of wall art, a photo from each of his visits framed in a triplicate frame. What a great deal, and great fun as well.
Watching Bethany, my granddaughter making chocolate chip cookies, I was intrigued by how her hands kneaded the dough, and caught just a few of the moments on the Fujifilm X-T2. I kept the aperture wide open to reduce the depth of field, and blur the background as much as possible. Difficult enough exposures, for the kitchen was quite dark at the time, and ISO was 12800, so some of the images very noisy indeed. However…
What a delight it is to welcome little babies (and their parents of course) to our Dundonald Studio to make memories that will endure. Especially when they are there for a ‘Baby’s First Year’ photo-package. It’s wonderful to see the babies throughout their first year of life, and watch them growing.
Today Baby Alice came with mummy for her 4 month + session, and what a lovely girl she was…
At our professional studio at Dundonald, we have a variety of posing aids and props to suit all ages, including Sydney – the Studio Snake. Snakes are well known for mesmerising their victims, until they are under their influence. So when baby George came in for his second ‘Baby’s First Year’ portrait appontment, he fell under Sydney’s charm and soon was totally spellbound! Here they are together…
Lots of lovely babies in the studio this week. I run a ‘KidsClub’ offer, with (usually) three studio visits over the first year, at 4 months, when they are able to lift their head, at 8 months when they can sit up, and at 12 months when they can stand.
Not everyone want to have their kids featured on a website or social media of course, but thankfully, these two lovelies had no such reservations.
Baby Daisy, celebrating her 1st Birthday with a special cake. 
Baby Edison, at his eight month session.
On a bright sunny April Friday, we visited Monaghan on business, and spend a little time around the busy town centre wiith the Fujifilm X-T2. Here’s some of the images.
If you want to make a photo into a line drawing here’s an easy and effective way to do it. (Just hold on… why would ANYONE want to do that? Lots of reasons, like making a colouring page for children, or creating artwork for a website…)
Here’s how I do it:-
