I got Distinction

I can’t tell you how chuffed I am about this.

I have a new business blog, which can be found at www.bryonyclairephotography.co.uk and clicking on blog. Direct link to come soon, as soon as the techie guy can tidy up some links.

I do intend to maintain this blog – it just perhaps won’t be quite as lively.

In the meantime, how about some spring delights?

You know it’s spring, when you are sneezing due to the yellow:

But doesn’t the sky just make up for it?

And Yay for the flowers blooming:

And for the minibeasts coming out to play:

Will try not to leave it too long next time!

P.s did I mention I got a Distinction?

MCanvas Prints is an up and coming company providing easy and accessible services for ordering prints on canvas. I decided to use the following image which I had taken earlier on this month in my Mum’s garden:

The service was indeed easy to use. I simply sent an e mail, or you can upload on the website the image I wanted on canvas and within a week, the canvas was received safely packaged and in good condition.

The canvas I chose was a wrap, where the edges of the image wraps around the wooden frame. Canvas prints are always best looked at from afar, and there was no disappointment with this one.

The colour quality was lovely and portrayed my original image very well. The canvas was securely attached to the frame and was very pleasing to receive.

I would recommend MCanvas for good value canvas prints. Their prices start at £35 for a 8×10 canvas. Well worth a look!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my family and friends who have been fantastically supportive in the last couple of weeks. I was really unsure what people would think, whether I was good enough, if I was thinking ahead of myself especially as the motivating trigger for taking the plunge and setting up was ultimately due to a large loss in my normal income, but those who have commented and spoken to me about it have been absolutely brilliant. So THANK YOU, it means a LOT xx

New website and facebook page details here!

As for what will happen to this blog, I’m not sure. I will let you know once I do!

E mail me if you’d like to know more, I’ll be looking to build up my portfolio while the website gets set up and the details fine tuned.

Wish me luck, I’m only going to be doing this part time, but it’s a huge venture for me nonetheless

Anyway, something sparkly and pretty is always going to set my shutter button finger twitching and naturally I’m going to share what I came up with:

Isn’t it just so pretty? Go and have a look, go on you know you want to! x

Initially, I only wanted to do Level 1, to get onto the Level 2 course which is notoriously hard to get onto if you haven’t done Level 1 but I am so glad I did start from the beginning as it’s been a real experience.

I’ve met some lovely people, I’ve been challenged, and had good excuses to spend lots of time doing all things photography. I also learnt a thing or two! (Did you know that while doing a long exposure shot on say, lights, with a zoom lens, if you zoom in and out while the shutter is open, it creates a cool effect?) It has been very basic in the grand scheme of things, but I didn’t care. It helped me structure my Photography knowledge and soon, I’ll have a shiny certificate to prove I do know my stuff

Anyway, I’ve finally finished my images that I will be submitting with my final assessment tomorrow night. Some are good, some are not so good. The not so good images, are due to lack of time, lack of imagination and perhaps lack of skill on my part (!). But the good images, perhaps make the set.

The theme I chose, was the rather twee title of “Journey of Life”. See if you can work out which key event each photo represents and if you have time, be sure to let me know what you think!

All mounted and ready to go!

I’ve learnt a lot of very handy things preparing for my final assessment. One in particular is the proportions of photo printing sizes. All my images were set to be proportionate to 4×6 in photoshop, but my maths and my head went all wrong and thought that 8×10 was the bigger proportion. In actual fact, it should have been 8×12. I understand this now, and have learnt the hard way. It meant that some of my shots were cropped when I didn’t want them to. In particular, the bride’s head and the P plate on the car. However, I’ve explained all this in my evaluation in my book, and will take the lesson learnt with me, next time I do something like this.

Wish me luck, I’d like a really good mark!

P.s, please remember all images are copyright Bryony Parkes. Thank You x

On Sunday, I had the pleasure of shooting a lovely family of Mum, Dad and two gorgeous teenage girls. Such a photogenic family, will always make it easier to get some pretty good shots but I was pleased with how I did. I think I’ve still got a way to go yet before the lighting is 100% but it was a challenge I needed. It gave me the opportunity to use my lights and a bit of logistic thinking with the space I had.

I wanted to make sure that as well as some lovely posed shots, I got some natural ones too of the family being themselves and showing the camera the fantastic nature they hold as a family.

Here are some of my favourites

and one more of the girls together, aren’t they just so pretty?

I am LOVING this photography lark at the moment. Long may it continue!

Photos taken at 1/125 and f/5/6 with flash gun and one studio light (with exception to curtain background)

Just a sneak peek today, but I’ll update with some more photos soon. Here’s Flo at 4 weeks old:

Congratulations to Liz and Lee, she’s such a cutie xx

I love love love them. They will be blown up and put on the wall of my new house one day. I hope.

Firstly, pretty self explanatory;

And this is a male hand and a female hand intertwining the sign “I Love You” which originated from the American Finger spelling alphabet, but is known by Deaf people worldwide.

The day was just beautiful. By the time the wedding party arrived, the sun had come out and the snow was heavy on the ground as far as the eye could see. It made for picturesque scenery.

The snow did mean however, that I had to drastically rethink a few things upon arrival. I had visited the venue only the weekend before, pre-snowfall, to get an idea of what was about and had lots of ideas for shots within the grounds, including by the canal. Alas, the snow meant that it was bitterly cold, and it would be extremely wet against satin bridal slippers not to mention making it more difficult to get about… nonetheless, I decided that it was better than dull rain. And the exposure challenges provided by the light glaring from the snow would do me good, to think on the spot.

The shoot itself went well. I was very nervous, being my first ever wedding shoot and also I was still recovering from my operation two weeks previously. I got to the venue early, which was at Marston Farm Hotel near Sutton Coldfield. The first thing I did was to check the ceremony room out and find the cake for some close up shots with nobody about to wonder what an earth I was doing.

The ceremony room turned out to be a different room to the one they had told me it would be the weekend before – but far easier to shoot in from an angle point of view which was a huge relief.

I busied myself for a while, re-visiting the areas around the grounds, testing the pathways and depth of snow. I took a few detail shots around the hotel, played with settings and had a breakfast bar or two to steady my nerves.

And then the Groom and his Best Men arrived!

Don’t they look dashing?

Before I knew it, it was time for the Bride to arrive! This was where it got difficult. The ceremony room was quite dark but there was still a bright white light coming through the windows which contrasted everything in the room to shadows. I was also not allowed to use the flash, or move around too much so the shots I ended up with I was quite disappointed with. Nonetheless, I’ve since found out that there are plenty of other photographers who have the same problem, and I knew I’d make up for it later on.

One of my favourite shots of the day, is a really natural shot of the Bride and Groom, plus the best men and the Bride’s sister walking up to the canal after the ceremony. We were still in shadow of the building, so the light was easy to work with in quick succession while they were walking, and you can see the utter delight in their faces as they relish in the first hour of marriage wading in snow wearing their finery!

We had some fun by the canal, I thought the arch would be a good backdrop. Becky and Simon were great sports and did everything I asked. Some ideas worked, some didn’t!

The group shots were a lot more straightforward in the courtyard which had much easier light to deal with than the direct winter sun. My favourite shot was taken from above, but in the future I will definitely watch out in advance for intruding open umbrellas covered in snow which are nigh on impossible to clone out!

Back in the warm, and I had some time with the couple on their own. The first shot was a real challenge editing wise. There was a curtain issue, shall we say? But I’m pleased with the end result.

I used two lenses today, my trusty 50mm (although am now craving a 35mm due to fixed focal length of the 50mm creating space issues indoors especially highlighted during the wedding) and my new 18-200mm. I was so pleased that I exchanged my kit lens and zoom lens for the 18-200mm. It gave me far more scope during the day for shots where previously I may have not bothered due to the changing of lenses back and forth. The shutterspeed where possible, was kept as high as possible and the ISO kept at 400 or below where I could. My D90 isn’t too fussed on ISO of 800 or above, so apart from the ceremony shots where I was forced to bump it up, I avoided it at all costs. Fortunately, the snow outside, projected some lovely light inside which meant that my favourite shot of the day, in my opinion, where I was able to take a shot in the style that I think I do best; just the most loveliest of lighting was available, it’s this one:

It was a fantastic opportunity for me, to shoot Simon and Becky’s wedding and I cannot thank them enough for putting their trust into me. I think following this experience I would definitely be open to more offers for wedding photography, but I won’t be venturing past parties bigger than say, 50 or so for now. Unless I second shoot for a more experienced Photographer, which I really hope I can do one day.

The biggest challenge for me, was to get to grips with Photoshop once and for all, and to get into a steady swing of editing. It took me a long time to get all the images sorted, edited and tweaked until they were at a standard I was happy enough with to post out. I know as time goes by I will get quicker and I will get more competent and confident with what I’m doing. I don’t feel I was particularly consistent with my editing throughout the final images, I much prefer the softer shots and am not a fan of the sharpening tool. However this will get better with experience, and I’ll find my feet soon enough I’m sure.

I will finish with the e-mail that I received from Becky when I got home this evening. It made my absolute day. I am so thrilled to hear that they were pleased with their images, and I’d like to take this opportunity to wish them a very happy future together;

“Hi Bryony,

CD has arrived safe and well – the photos are amazing, more than we hoped for!

Thank you so much for doing our photography, they really are pictures that captured the day and that we can treasure forever.

Becky and Simon”

… and THAT is why photographers do it. They go through the preparation, the pre-visit, the shoot, the organisation, the editing and the sending off, all for that end result. It makes it worth it to know that your clients are happy and you’ve provided them with images they will treasure forever.