Cherry blossom Portrait

I've taken 2 of my pictures, both taken using natural light and blended them in Photoshop to create this portrait....

Model Mayhem at Melen Studios

Today was another great Melen day. Thanks to Phil for organising some fabulous models (all via Model Mayhem), and to the models themselves - they were awesome today! Also, thanks to Mark for bringing the Harley!!! - made my day! If anyone out there is looking to hire a studio, then contact Phil at Melen studios, Great Gaddesden - the facilities there are top notch. Look out for their portfolio building courses too - it's a great chance to practise and hone the lighting skills and creativity. Here are my results from today:

Bayeux

I recently had the good fortune to spend the night in Bayeux.  It is a truly beautiful city with a great range of shops, cafes and restaurants.  Its history is what draws the crowds and it was great to see the famous tapestry depicting the battle of Hastings. However, the cathedral is its stunning centre point and it is currently lit at night with a great slide show that is projected against the rampart walls.  I would strongly recommend a visit!

www.songbirdphotography.co.uk

Baby Photography x

I have had the pleasure of photographing these 2 beautiful babies this week.  Both adorable and I'd love to do more. There is something very appealing about tiny fingers and toes!
Check out some of the photos.....

www.songbirdphotography.co.uk

Widmouth Farm Cottages

Have just spent a week in North Devon at this fabulous place. We had a great time walking, took a speed boat ride, went horse riding and spent hours rock pooling on the private beach!  Feeding the animals every morning was the highlight for my 2 girls and the entire place is doggy heaven - especially for our soppy labrador who fell in love with the sheep! We will definitely be returning and I can't wait!  Check them out here:
http://www.widmouthfarmcottages.co.uk/

Mead Open Farm

www.songbirdphotography.co.uk

A fantastic place for childrens' birthday parties - great fun, attentive staff and a host of four legged friends!

Don McCullin

BBC 1 - Imagine: Portrait of Don McCullin

I found this to be one of the most compelling, awe inspiring and thought provoking programmes I have ever seen.  In this programme Don McCullin talks with honesty and humility about the horrors he has borne witness too as an observer in countless conflicts around the world. He is a self confessed war junky, but this is a man who seems almost to have risen to a calling and has been left questioning his role as an observer in situations where he felt powerless to help.  There is no bravado in the way he talks but a great sadness at what he has witnessed as well as a disillusionment about whether his pictures have had the impact he hoped they would.  He has gambled with his life and sacrificed his peace of mind in order to confront the world with the real horrors of war.  The programme barely touches on his extraordinary skill as a photographer and instead hones in on the real value of his legacy.  He has recorded man's inhumanity to man in a starkly graphic way in an attempt to wake up the world.  These horrors are too easy to shy away from in our over sanitised and very comfortable world which makes them even more explosive in their impact.  He has come face to face with the most depressing aspects of human nature, borne witness to the most horrific human actions, the perpetrators of which often turn to politics or religion in their defence.  He refers to it as some kind of madness but despite this, he is still compelled to tell the story of conflict with his images.  If he has squirmed on many occasions because all he had to offer the victims of war was his camera, then I hope he can take some comfort from the fact that if anything is ever going to change humanity for the better, his images are perhaps the best hope we have.  In my mind, he is a legend.

www.songbirdphotography.co.uk