Mornings can be some of the most trying times with my little Ted.
Often I’m tired, Alex is rushing to get out the door and the babe is refusing to eat his breakfast.
These snaps probably make mornings look a lot more fun than usual. They were an assignment for a new online photography course I’ve started with Life:Captured, Inc. Billed as the modern school of memory keeping, their whole philosophy centres on the importance of documenting and, I suppose, appreciating the everyday.
So far, husband and wife team Trish Lee and Joel Chong of Sydney-based Tealily Photography have explained how to use our cameras in manual mode, the art of focusing and a little on composition. This week we’ve been asked to take a series of photographs to tell the story about some of our daily routines, and I chose to document a morning.
It took me a day, I reckon, to sort of get the hang of using the manual settings on my camera. When I say, sort of get the hang, I mean take a photo which wasn’t totally white or totally black.
I’ve binned a lot of pictures to get a handful to submit to Trish and Joel for some feedback. The focus is a bit iffy on lots of these snaps, but I love the emotions in them and Ted’s little face grinning at Alex. He is so cheeky.
If you couldn’t tell, Ted loves his Daddy and he also loves pulling all the saucepans out of the cupboards.
He could take or leave toast, however. He’s trying to give it back to me in that first picture.
Do you ever stop to take photos of the ordinary moments? And have you got any tips for me on improving my focusing in these photographs? Â I need to glue Ted to the sofa, I think.
(If you are a serial phototaker do sneak a peak at Life:Captured, Inc. The other half of the team Ronnie Mason, of The Shoemaker’s Daughter, is teaching classes on memory keeping and photo organisation as well as writing a wonderful blog sharing her thoughts on photography, memories and life in general. It’s a great read.)
Really sweet pictures! I love capturing everyday moments (I’ve taken a photo a day for 4 years this coming March! ) and I think that capturing the moment beats technical perfection hands down in terms of importance. Little ones will always move about! That said, I’d recommend using a faster shutter speed to capture squirming and wriggling subjects (so put your iso up to compensate or open your aperture up a little more – though not too much as a deeper depth of field – higher f stop number – will mean more is in focus. Second tip is to choose a single focus point on your camera. By default it’ll choose to use them all which can slow focus down. By selecting just one – the central point is usually strongest – your camera will focus faster and lock on to your subject. When in doubt try to get the face in focus and everything else will look sharper as a result. I hope you enjoy your course, I look forward to seeing more of your photos!
Thank you so much for that fantastic advice, Stephanie!
I’m going to try to practise more today. It’s a lovely day here in Sydney.
I will definitely try using the single focus point and picking the middle one 🙂
But you are so right, capturing the moment is more important than getting the ‘perfect’ picture!
I love your photographs. You have a really distinctive, and beautiful, style!
xxx
Also a photo a day for four years! Bravo!
I love the moments you captured, Bex! I especially like the one with Teddy and Alex together – I can tell Teddy adores his daddy. The course you’re taking sounds great. I can really use a photography class or two, so I don’t have to rely completely on Photoshop. Looking forward to more photos 🙂 xx
Thank you so much, Yuko. Your pictures are great! But if you are interested in learning more then you can’t beat a good course, right?!
All these courses appeal to the inner geek in me. I love being a student 🙂
You’ll have to teach me a few things about Photoshop – it’s on to-learn list! Xxx
Hello Bex,
I love reading your adventures of daily life with your sweet Teddy and your willing of learning new skills. In fact the manual mode of my camera was a big question for me, even after the makelight course, maybe for me the technical stuff written in english was a little to much to understand it fully.
So I decided to take a short online course through http://shootflyshoot.com and this was really a breakthrough , yeah! It was short enough to not become overwhelmed with all the learning of new things but understand my camera setting really. They break it down in small parts so that you can totally understand the settings and how they play together. Best decision for me.
To the memory making I can totally relate, as sometimes I wish I would have been more patient and enjoying with the ongoing chaos of two little ones and capturing the time when my boys were toddlers. Now they are teenagers (14 and 15) and no more sweet cheeks to kiss, but I noticed that every given time with your loved ones is a gift and even when today they help me cleaning the kitchen instead of making mess it is really great to spend time together and talk and laugh.
So I just wanted to say I enjoy your blog and look forward to your photography journey :0))
Xx Silke
I just checked out that site, Silke. It looks great! It’s gone on my list!
Ha ha! Alex is despairing of me and my courses 🙂
I do love to learn, but while I am home with Teddy, I do feel the need to keep my brain engaged a bit and keep up with everything happening in the outside world. It changes so quickly.
I love how you described spending times with your boys. I am sure they are absolute superstars. It’s hard to appreciate the chaos, at the time, I think. It’s only afterwards we realise how precious those times were.
Thank you so much for reading and sharing!
Bex xxxx
Nice pics Bex! I love the mornings. Mornings & the eve’s – my favourite times of the day with a little one. With often a bit of hard slog in the middle 😉
It’s great to do a bit of learning around being a full time mummy. I think I too could benefit from brushing up on my technical ability with my camera. I am considering doing some study next year. Think it would be a great way to meet people over here in Helsinki too.
And success I am finally getting your blog via email! 🙂
Thank you for commenting, lovely girl!
I’ve just done a 14-hour solo shift with the bear and I was hanging out for the evening! Love them when they’re all clean after their bath and happy to snuggle before bedtime 🙂
I don’t think you need much help in the photo department! But I do think a course is a great way to meet like-minded people. I’m surprised at how many sweet friends I’ve discovered through the online classes I’ve done in the last couple of months. It would be even better doing it in-person.
I have a little snail mail package on my desk for you… will it ever reach the postbox, I wonder!
xxxxx
Oh no, don’t send me a PACKAGE as your card is just that – a card! haha 😀 ok, you have outdone me. A package I shall send too. Yeah, I think it would be great to meet some other peps and would actually be good for my career too when I get back to it! Hopefully I can find something not too expensive in English!
My little bear is just waking so better run for the PM shift xx
Good for you taking all these courses! You learn something new out of every one. I love the pictures you have taken of your morning ritual, especially the first one with the toast. It’s absolutely adorable, and the depth of field is wonderful.
And yes, you do stop taking pictures of everyday moments. At least, I have. My boys are now in the ages of 11 to 15. I do take lots of photo’s of them on holiday though!
Kids are so fast, I don’t think there is anything wrong with putting your camera on auto from time to time 😉
Kids are so fast, Pauline!! I was trying to get some of him at the fair on a carousel the other day and I just couldn’t get the settings right so I switched to auto or at least aperture priority and it was fine!
Thanks for your kind words about that photo. I love how it turned out but it was a total happy accident!!