Wordless Wednesday...

When I'm not working with my camera (see my websites at www.happypetsphotography.com and www.barbarajacksonphotography.co.uk) I like to just play.  It's good to create images just for the sake of it and stops me getting fed up with the whole business of photography.

Because the weather was so warm last week I did a mini shoot in the garden involving some very cute drinks jars I found for 59p each! I knew that I wanted a bright, summery shot and I knew that I wanted my Japanese Maples in the background, but the sun was far too bright in that corner of the garden so I had to soften the light somehow.  I decided to use a reflector as a scrim so that there was less light hitting my setup, it also meant I was able to shoot at a wider aperture to make the background less in focus.  You can use anything translucent to make a scrim - a shower curtain, tracing paper, a voile curtain. It's great when you're shooting portraits too and want to keep bright sunlight from someone's face.

I took a few shots before adding the tablecloth but decided it didn't look bright or summery enough...

...so I added a white tablecloth.

...which also helped to bounce light back up into the scene.

The roses are from my garden and are called Tess of the D'Urbervilles, they also smell as beautiful as they look.

David and Ralph dropped by to see what I was up to,  I think Ralph was hoping he'd get to have his photo taken ;-)

And We're Back!

Helloo, helloo!  Well my indecision was final - after closing this blog down a year ago and trying out Wordpress (can't say I was impressed), I've decided to reopen Words Words Words renamed as The Happy Pumpkin. No particular reason for that name other than that I like pumpkins and I'd rather see a happy one than one drowning in self-pity and misery, and Words Words Words just didn't seem right for a blog so heavily biased towards photography!

So what's new? Well I'm working part time as a photographer, and part time for PetPals who are a pet sitting/dog walking company.  I love my job (well the majority of the time I love it, every job has its days...); I get to go out and play with pooches, then come back to my kitties and be grateful for how quiet and calm they are (usually).

So talking of cats, let us waste no further time before posting some pics:

Pepper: Yes my beautiful little Buddhist is still as fabulous.

It was her 17th birthday on Sunday - she celebrated by lying

around on tulle with some artificial flowers.

Charlie: Charlie is getting on in years now - still irascible,  still a diabetic, 

and still moaning about Ralph.  He has become something

of a lap cat in his old age - although I'm not supposed

to mention that so as not to ruin his 'hard cat' image.

Sorry Charlie ;-)

Ralph: Ahh Ralphie, well he is a total love bug.

He's funny, cuddly, a bit naughty but just

so gorgeous it's untrue.

Photography tip: When shooting portraits of pets or people, always, ALWAYS, focus on the eyes.  This is especially important when using wide apertures as you will only have a narrow depth of field to play with, so it's important to get the focus spot on.

You can view my professional photography websites at www.barbarajacksonphotography.co.uk and www.happypetsphotography.com

Au Revoir...

I've decided to stop posting to this blog and start afresh, it's just become complicated to separate general blog stuff from my photography business.  Thanks to everyone who has followed and commented over the years.  For those of you who would like to still see what I (and the cats) are up to you can find me at https://thehappypumpkin.wordpress.com.  This will be my general blog for cats, crafts, musings etc.  My official web page is www.barbarajacksonphotography.co.uk which has my business info on it, and linked to that is my official photography blog at http://bee.proimageblogs.com which will mainly be for photoshoots etc. xx

Mrs P...

Such a sad day yesterday.  I had to say goodbye to my dearest, sweetest girl Mrs P.  We had eighteen years of friendship (she was at least 20 years old), but she was struggling so much the last week or two that I thought it only fair to let her go whilst she still had some quality of life and dignity.  She loved everybody and was quietly confident (ok, she was insistent) that the affection was returned, which it always was.  She accepted all other cats on friendly terms although never allowed them to take liberties with her food or blanket.  She liked to chat to people, wriggling her paws at them at the same time, and always had an opinion on everything.  She was always there for me and I miss her so much.

A Home Alone Day...

Today was about having the house to myself (the mogs were in but asleep - no change there).  I was going to be a sloth but then got distracted by actually doing stuff - the best laid plans etc.  I started with 30 minutes of yoga, then my campaign to eat more healthily continued with me making Moroccan style sweet potato and chick peas (the smell of the garlic and spices was delicious), with cauliflower rice.  I was rather sceptical about the cauliflower rice, but not being a fan of actual rice decided to give it a go.  I loved it! For those of you who haven't come across it, the instructions I followed are here. Amazing!  Will definitely be using it again.

Later I decided to try some still-life shots although failed to get any with the bunting that I made, I just can't figure out how to combine it with other elements so it looks as if its meant to be there rather than just happened to be in the way.  I will not be beaten by the bunting though and my search for the elusive capture continues.

Garlic…

If only all food were this photogenic.

The healthy lunch…

The buntingless still-life.

And Breathe...

Am just stopping to catch my breath after a very busy few weeks.  I can't believe that it's over a month since I last posted.  What have I been doing? Photo shoots, yoga, trying to eat more healthily, trying to get the garden back to some semblance of order after the winter, work, getting a new camera, more photo shoots…

Anyway, enough of the excuses, here are some images from the last month or so.  I'll post more images from each of the shoots over the next few weeks.

Be Still 52...

Some people have been… hard-going this week. At times like this I'd like to grab my camera, books, cats, and iMAC and head for the nearest island to escape from everyone (I know I'm on an island but it's a big one so it doesn't count).  Foregoing that, I just grab my camera and enjoy a few moment of stillness.

This week it's all about backlighting - not too different to many other weeks for me as it's one of my favourite kinds of lighting.  I used bounced fill-in flash on these from an on-camera speedlite.