50/52 Star lights

These new star-shaped Christmas lights reminded me of a phrase from a children's story, No Matter What by Debbie Gliori, that we had read out at our stillborn daughter's funeral in 2001: Love, like starlight, never dies.  A mother fox explains to her little focub how she'll always love him no matter how grumpy he is, even after she's died, and points out the stars in the night sky, that they died a long time ago, but the starlight still shines.

Love, like starlight, never dies.

Its one of a small number of Oliver's childhood books, since read with and enjoyed by Jodie, that I'll probably never part with.

46/52 1-2-3-Whoosh!

We have this thing, when I have my studio lights up for a session, Jodie comes and has a load of pictures taken, we mess around and have some fun. Here she's throwing her head to spread out her hair after a 1-2-3 count. She's been growing it for almost 2 years. It had been plaited whilst damp the night before so had lovely texture to it. I love this shot.
Collage necessary ;0)

Jodie doesn't need glasses - she wants to wear some though, and a friend gave her these frames, so we popped the lenses out. The eyes are cropped from the shot top right and show my silhouette in the catch-light from the Rotalux Octabox, such detail - and such beautiful eyes...
I've been learning a lot of new skills - Scott Kelby is teaching me how to do more creative things in Lr and he's a great teacher. Its not perfect, but for a first go, with much book reading (The Adobe Lightroom3 Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby) I'm pleased with it. (Well hey he's a big Ps and Lr cheese, having his books is almost like having him right here showing me what to do!)
 

41/52 He's taller than me!

At Croots Farm on a beautiful sunny autumn afternoon, with not a cloud in the endless blue sky, I captured our shadows, Mark's and mine. We had just watched Jodie walk further down the track to see the foals and I was struck by our long shadows. A current phrase in our household mainly from Oliver is "I'm taller than you!" because he recently grew taller than me and is obviously very pleased about the fact! So I showed Mark the image on the lcd screen, and he said "I'm taller than you!"

30/52 A new life

How wondrous is the creation of a new life? A friend of mine recently became an Aunty and asked if I'd come round with my lights - I can't resist any invitation to photograph a new baby, especially a baby girl - my only complaint was that I didn't get enough of a cuddle, though it was long enough to make my arm ache, lol! I want to thank C & D for welcoming me into their home to photograph their beautiful new daughter :0)

28/52 I like to ride my bicycle...

Jodie has learnt to ride her bike without stabilisers this week! Her balance is excellent and she's learnt how to set off on her own, now she needs to practice riding in a large circle - been doing straight lines to start with. This time last year it was Oliver learning and now Jodie's got the knack too :0)

25/52 Jodie (Octabox trial)

This is my angel Jodie, lit by my latest aquisition on the lighting front, a huge octabox. We had a play to see what it could do :0)

22/52 Croots Farm Cup Cake Treat

Jodie and I visited Croots Farm to take alook at the new Shire horse foals and have a treat. We also sampled some of the delights in the farm shop and we shall be making it a regular thing - delicious.