Week 40 -Millie, 1 Week Old

This is Millie, a beautiful newborn baby girl. Just 7 days old and very sleepy.

 Millie made this photo session so easy, co-operating with every costume change and pose and having such soft and creamy clear skin.

 I am hoping to be able to photograph Millie throughout her first year so you may see more of her in the coming weeks.

Week 41 - The Orton Effect

This week I haven’t had the opportunity to get out of the house as my husband has had a knee op and needed a bit of help.

 I used the time indoors to research a photography effect I have been unsuccessfully trying to achieve for some time.

 I discovered this is the Orton effect and thanks to great YouTube videos from Anthony Morganti and Mark Denney I have been editing some older photos trying to attain the dreamy glow for which this technique is used.

 This effect was first developed by Michael Orton, a landscape photographer in the 1980’s using film and the darkroom. Thankfully with Photoshop (and to some degree Lightroom) this is much easier to achieve nowadays.

 So far I have only attempted it on these landscapes but am going to trying it on portraits, baby pics and flowers.

 I have a long way to go to become accomplished at using this technique but I enjoy the images it creates and will be applying it and practising with it often in the future.

Week 42 - Winkworth Arboretum

Winkworth Arboretum is a National Trust property in Busbridge (near Godalming), Surrey.

It was created by Dr Wilfred Fox in the first half of the 20th century and expertly planted to display the most magnificent array of autumn colour.

Unfortunately our visit was a tad too early in the year to witness this colourful autumnal splendour.

This week there is only the slightest hint of the colours to come.

However, it is still a beautiful place to visit at any time and the weather was particularly kind to us.

I would recommend a visit in perhaps a couple of weeks to see it at its majestic best.

Week 43 - Autumn Leaves

As seen in the Winkworth Arboretum panel last week, autumn is a little later than usual this year.

I’ve been waiting for the trees to turn from greens to beautiful reds, golds, yellows and browns to create some beautiful Surrey landscapes. Still waiting – impatiently!

So while I’m waiting (impatiently!)  I went foraging around the park and collected up some of the first autumn leaves to fall (probably due to the high winds we had this week).

These leaves are rich and vibrant in colour with amazing detail when you get close-up with the macro lens.

Hopefully a taster of a beautiful autumn display to come.

Week 44 - Amberley Village, W Sussex

This is Amberley Village, West Sussex. About 4 miles outside Arundel and a charmingly quintessentially English village.

It is made up mostly of 16th & 17th century stone-built cottages and houses, many of them with beautifully ornate and decorated thatched roofs.

Flowers flow out of stone walls and apparently in the Spring / early Summer many of the buildings are covered in Wisteria (I will definitely go back next year to photograph this).

For a small village there is a lot here.

In the village there is Amberley Castle, now used as an hotel but with the grounds open to the public, and nearby you can find the Amberley Working Museum, a 36 acre museum housed in a former chalkpit showing the industrial development of the area.

The oldest building in the village is St Stephen’s church dating back to the 12th century. Amberley Pottery is an interesting place and The Black Horse is an inviting local pub.

However, the village shop is a thing of beauty to a tidy freak like me. I have never seen such aesthetically pleasing and orderly stacked shelves, stocked with locally supplied and ethically produced foods.

And the tomato rack is the most organised display imaginable. Every tomato is stacked according to size and colour. Impressive.