Family Photography (2)

OK ... you seemed to like the last post about the kids and their cameras, so here's another one. Over the Easter holidays, we went round to Mum's. We were going to go on from there to somewhere picturesque, but the kids said they didn't really want to, so they decided they'd just use their cameras around her place. I liked this idea - it got them to look at things with which they're quite familiar, in a totally new way. (As always, clicking on the individual pictures, allows you to see them 'embiggened'. Hold down CTRL and click at the same time to open the picture in a new tab. I'm sure there must be a tweak to the html to automatically open links in a new window ... I must try to find it).

No.1 decided she was going to try to get to grips with her Macro button. Her two favourite macro shots of the afternoon were these:

The top one is a flowering shrub Mum has in the garden, I think it's a Japonica - it grows quince fruit later on in the year. It's very pretty, and I think No.1 has captured it well. The second is of a small ceramic frog in the garden - it sits, very unobtrusively, under some plants. I think it looks slightly disturbing, it definitely has a menacing glint in its eyes. No.1 took lots more shots but these two are her favourites.

No.2 continues to surprise and impress me with the imagination he shows in snapping highly original shots:

The top one is 'just' of some shingle his Nanna has in her front garden, but I love the textures and colours he's managed to capture. The middle one is a close up of the badge on the back of his Uncle's car. The bottom one is of a Hellebore in the garden - one flower facing downwards so you can see the pattern on the back of the petals, another pink flower just fading from the height of its bloom, and then on the right a flower as it's aged and going to form seeds, but still showing lovely patterning on the petals.

I have to tell you, before they got these cameras, I'd have bet money on No.1 being the one who would get the arty shots ... but no. No.2, who has never shown a strong artistic streak before, spends time thinking about what he will photograph, and is so enthusiastic about his camera: it's wonderful to witness. We were driving past a wall last week and he commented about the texture, and how good it would look in a photo ... he is really looking at things in a whole new light and I couldn't be more pleased.

My favourite shots of mine of that afternoon were both taken in the garden:

The top one gets up close and personal with a Muscari (Grape Hyacinth). I have a 'thing' for blue flowers, and like the way I could see each individual little 'ball' of blue by getting this close to the flower. The second one is a single blossom from Mum's Camellia plant which she has in a pot by the front door. It's an absolutely stunning plant.

And finally, for all you quilty types - I took some pictures of the latest blocks on one of the quilts Mum's making at the moment. She's quilting it as she goes and will then join the blocks to one another with some sashing. I've made a collage here, but if you click on it, you'll see the blocks in much more detail:

I took the liberty of making the pictures all the same size, but the blocks aren't all the same size, and there are others which I haven't shown - a couple of 'house' blocks, some lovely wavy leaves and buds, one of flying geese 'trees', and others too. I'll be sure to take a photo of the finished quilt and show it to you.

There's bound to be another photo-y post brewing soon - watch this space!

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