Capturing Moments and Making Memories

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I really love photography in the winter. Sometimes, there are moments when the light is dreamy and soft (the likes of which you’d need to get up at 4am to see in the Summer) and sometimes you get a lovely frost or fog – natures finest filters. But let’s face it when that sometimes doesn’t happen the landscape is is dominated by mud and green, green grass. That green which I try so hard to avoid in my pictures! A heavy, oppressive, saturated green. Give me sun kissed summer grass, or fresh spring leaves any day, but the colour of winter grass I go to great lengths to avoid.

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This means the outdoor photo opportunities are few and far between, and especially ones with my kids. Oscar is at school, and Max is at the childminder’s three days a week. There has been little time to go gallivanting. However, scrolling back through my Instagram they are always dotted through my gallery, all throughout last winter and indeed through the Autumn and early part of this Winter. Yet they have just all but vanished in 2016 and this makes me really sad. The damp and miserable winter we’ve had is one factor, the lack of time is another, but I have definitely made less effort than I used to to create photo opportunities with them both. I’m not really sure why to be honest, maybe the low likes on pictures of my children has finally got to me. Faces are rarely well received on Instagram, people tend to favour still lifes.

Half term came and went, and still no photo opportunities. My husband is working away for three weeks, so the kids and I spent a lovely few days with my parents. However everyone was full of cold and there was certainly no  opportunities to take the kids anywhere particularly photogenic. When we came home I decided I needed badly to fulfil this desire to take some photos of them. It had become a personal challenge, an itch that seriously needed a scratch. A day out was needed, whatever the weather, and however green the grass, I was going to take some portraits of my kids.

As I’m sure many of you can appreciate, days out with the kids are potentially hard work without the backup of another adult, but I run a tight ship when my husband is away and I refuse to sit around at home moping. So we got packed up and took the dog to a nearby country house I’d heard about, the gardens looked amazing on the website and I was really excited about having a good old day out. However when we arrived it was blinking shut due to adverse weather conditions! Oh so annoying! I wasn’t prepared to turn around and do nothing so we parked up at the gate, got the dog out and went for a walk along a lane where we found some lovely piles of logs. We hunted for the snake from the Gruffalo in the “log pile house” (this is a common theme, we never pass a forest without looking out for the big guy himself. We also had a good look for the fox’s underground house). Much to my delight a little further on we found a whole field of dead seed heads and long grass. Nicely faded grass I should add. The strong wind had blown away the clouds and the sun lit up the field like it was mid summer.

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Searching for the snake from the Gruffalo

blog-2The boys were very contented, they sat down in a sheltered patch in the grass and pulled up the seed heads and studied them. I just adore how natural and easy they are together. They chose to sit very close together, and several times they leant their heads together seemingly without realising what they were doing. Just happy in their closeness. I love their little frowns of concentration and the conversations and giggles between them. I positioned myself so they were backlit and the sunshine kissed their hair and formed a gorgeous halo around them.

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I love pictures of them, I love taking pictures of them, they are the sole reason I am a photographer. Instagram has always been about challenging myself to be a better photographer, to take the photos that are more difficult, and crafting a beautiful and technically sound portrait is certainly far more of a challenge than snapping some flowers with my iPhone.

I have always used Instagram (perhaps in fact relied upon Instagram) as a daily source of inspiration, I constantly want to improve as I admire other photographer’s images there. I have also always used Instagram as a personal diary to an extent, and as I’ve said before the result is a record of our lives that I really cherish. These are the reasons that it’s important that I keep doing this and set this time aside. These pictures will always be very special to me, and they put a huge smile on my face.

I’m going to aim to do this at least once a month, take both the boys out together somewhere to take some pictures of them. I had the snow day with them in January and luckily I have just squeaked this into February. I love that I can capture them this way. These brothers, these boys, the essence of them and their friendship. Just doing what they do, being brothers, being boys. I think Dorothea Lange put it perfectly when she said

“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.”

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I shot these images RAW with my Nikon D610 in manual mode and my Nikon 70-200mm 2.8 lens. My ISO was on 400 and my aperture between 3.2 and 4.0. I altered the shutter speed as necessary to expose the shot. They were edited in Lightroom and Photoshop.

As always, thank you for reading,

Hannah x

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26 Comments

  • Reply Julia February 23, 2016 at 7:42 am

    Lovely light as always, gorgeous captures x

    • Reply Hannah Argyle February 23, 2016 at 10:36 am

      Thanks so much Julia, so happy the sun came out! xx

  • Reply Kim Young February 23, 2016 at 12:28 pm

    Beautiful photos as always Hannah – they really highlight how close your boys are. I really love the one of Max and Sally the dog too! Gorgeous post xx

    • Reply Hannah Argyle February 23, 2016 at 12:30 pm

      Ah thank you Kim! I like that one too, she’s such a faithful friend 😉 Thanks so much for reading xx

  • Reply Susan (@_susandrea_) February 23, 2016 at 1:18 pm

    So true what you said, photos showing people’s faces tend to not be as well received on ig as others (unless it’s a portrait page), that’s the reason why I tend to avoid showing my face there. But you know, while that it’s true, once I care about someone on ig it changes at least for me I kind of treasure seen faces in those peoples feeds. So thank you for not giving up on sharing photos here and there of your boys. I enjoyed reading more about your thoughts 🙂

    • Reply Hannah Argyle February 23, 2016 at 2:39 pm

      It’s a funny thing isn’t it? I think you’re right though and I had come to the same conclusion, that the less I post my kids the less people will engage with them. I think people like what they are used to seeing from a photographer. Thanks so much for your lovely feedback xx

  • Reply Paul February 23, 2016 at 1:58 pm

    Amazing photos Hannah, you have a great eye for light!! How much of what we see is natural atmosphere and how much would you say has been enhanced by editing?

    • Reply Hannah Argyle February 23, 2016 at 2:37 pm

      Thank you so much I’m glad you like them! In these pictures the light is completely natural and not edited in, however I was very aware when editing to try and balance the shadows/highlights/whites/contrast etc to preserve this beautiful light rim as much as possible. Thanks for your question 😉 Maybe another blog post for another day?

  • Reply Daniela (Wunderblumen) February 23, 2016 at 6:37 pm

    Wonderful light…wonderful moment. You give me so much inspiration and motivation to be more professionel in making photos…love yours.
    Greetings Daniela💕

    • Reply Hannah Argyle February 23, 2016 at 7:01 pm

      Thank you so much Daniela, you’re very kind to say so xx

  • Reply Sonia Hastings February 23, 2016 at 9:18 pm

    I always love the photos of your boys the best. They’re my favourite shots of yours.

    • Reply Hannah Argyle February 24, 2016 at 7:08 am

      Thanks Sonia I’m really glad you like them xx

  • Reply Kath Caley February 23, 2016 at 11:17 pm

    Gorgeous pics Hannah! You always capture that little bit of magic! I struggle to get the time to take pics of Tom as well. Great goal to try and get out at least once a month! My favourite pics in your feed are of your kids. x

    • Reply Hannah Argyle February 24, 2016 at 7:07 am

      Thanks so much Kath! I think once a month is a good goal to have, to go somewhere really nice and take lots. It’s hard when they are at school isn’t it? xx

  • Reply Gina (_hello_g_) February 24, 2016 at 2:42 am

    Hi Hannah~ these photos of your adorable boys are wonderful! So glad you didn’t turn your car around and went back home. You have such a talent in capturing them, I love the soft light and a dreamy halo on them at the grass.

    • Reply Hannah Argyle February 24, 2016 at 7:07 am

      Thank you so much Gina, you’re very kind! I’m glad I didn’t too, I really am going to make more time to do this xx

  • Reply Elaine Taylor February 24, 2016 at 4:24 pm

    Always so beautiful Hannah. I adore your images of those two boys.

    As you know, most of my images feature my two, but it’s the random floral & textured shots that get the most likes. Oh well!

    Thanks for sharing this lovely blog.

    • Reply Hannah Argyle February 24, 2016 at 8:02 pm

      Ah thank you so much, I appreciate that. It’s a funny one isn’t it, it’s not like it should be a shock to people that we have kids! Thanks so much for reading x

  • Reply Olena February 24, 2016 at 6:37 pm

    I am so happy to read this Hannah and to see that you are as determined as ever to capture the memories of your boys’ tender love and friendship.. Such gorheous light and lovely goal!

    • Reply Hannah Argyle February 24, 2016 at 8:01 pm

      Aw thanks Olena, yes indeed very determined and looking forward to the next shoot with them! I honestly didn’t really realise I wasn’t posting them and then I felt so sad about it! xx

  • Reply Jules February 25, 2016 at 12:41 pm

    They are the sweetest duo! Those photos in grass are stunning – their lovely little characters shine through in them xx

    • Reply Hannah Argyle February 25, 2016 at 12:48 pm

      Thanks so much Jules! They are a funny pair, bless them xx

  • Reply Diana February 26, 2016 at 6:25 pm

    I can’t believe that these pictures were taken on a miserable February day, it looks like an autumn day, there is so much gentle colour going on. Beautiful boys, lovely record of the half term. Xx

    • Reply Hannah Argyle February 26, 2016 at 6:52 pm

      Thank you 🙂
      It’s amazing how the sun lit up the grass in that field, it was lovely sitting there out of the wind! xx

  • Reply Michelle March 2, 2016 at 4:56 pm

    These are just gorgeous Hannah, the light, the sweet relationship of your precious boys, everything is just perfect. I am happy to read you are not going to let IG dictate if you are going to share photos of your boys or not because of likes. Thank you for being an inspiration to all of us xx

    • Reply Hannah Argyle March 2, 2016 at 8:01 pm

      Ah thank you so much Michelle, these pictures are really special to me, and I’m so glad i went out and took them! I’m already looking forward to next time out with the boys and the camera xxx

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