Family Shoot At Easter

Somebody asked me the other day 'what do you like to take photos of?'.  Instead of going into auto pilot, I just took a moment. 'Photos that make me happy', I replied. It seems so simple, but it's true. I think there's another blog post in there, so I'll save it for another time. I was looking through these photos I took last Easter, and they definitely make me happy! You might recognise Harry & Jemima from our film (you can click here to see it).

I've been taking photos of them since 2011, when Jemima was a baby and just sitting up. This shoot was telling their story at home on Easter Sunday with all the family.  There were confetti eggs, Easter tree decorating, water fights and paper plane making.  It's one of those shoots that has stayed with me.  And there was cake, what's not to like about a shoot with cake?

A Trip to the Dales on the iPhone

It was at the beginning of this year I made a resolution to get fitter, and it has been happening - some weeks a bit slower than others.  I've been trying to get out a few mornings a week for an hour's walk with a bit of running thrown in.  I decided to set myself a challenge, to climb the Yorkshire 3 peaks in summer.  You can read all about it here on a blog post.  Last week, we decided to give Pen-y-ghent a go with our friends Amy & Claire.  We didn't want to weigh our rucksacks down too much, so decided not to take the cameras, leaving room for the essentials - Dairy Milk Whole Nut and a Snickers.  Instead, we captured the trip on our phones.  On Thursday, we went for a potter around Malham, I don't think I've been there since I was a teenager.  It's SO beautiful.  First to Janet's Foss, and then a walk into Gordale Scar, which absolutely took my breath away.

Photos were taken with iPhone 5, using VSCOcam.

We were up early for a hearty breakfast.  We stayed at the amazing Lister Arms in Malham. They lit a fire for us to have our breakfast by.

We did our last checks, pulled on the waterproofs, filled the water bottles and set off for Horton-in-Ribblesdale. Our first view of Pen-y-ghent, and all looked calm and welcoming!

I was a little out of breath on the very first steep climb, but after that initial warm up, I got more into my stride.  There were still a few patches of snow around...

Chocolate break number one....

The last push up to the top is a bit of a scramble, especially in the big wind that had picked up, but we just took it slowly.

The wind came out, so the hoods went up!

And then back into Horton for a well earned drink.  Inside the pub, there was a board with recorded times people had run the 3 peaks in.  I think the best was 2hrs and 20 something minutes!  We were happy with our 3hrs something for Pen-y-ghent though.  Just need to leave enough energy for the other 2 in July.

Cups of Tea With Ethel

Last month, I went round to Ethel's house to take a photo story all about her Saturday morning.  When I first arrived at her house, she took me by the hand, sat me down, and started to recount stories about her holiday last summer.  Ethel likes to tell a good story, usually over a nice cup of tea.  Ethel's morning unfolded - playing with her toy farm, reading books, dunking buttery biscuits into steaming cups of tea, all to the soundtrack of Saturday morning tunes on the record player.  Ethel has such a sense of old world charm and style. 

This is what we love about our portrait shoots, documenting real life.  Beauty in the small things, beauty in the everyday.