Ben

Rest in peace buddy.  You were a sometimes-awful cat, but you were our sometimes-awful cat and we loved you all the same.  We will miss you and your peculiar ways.

Ben K-K, March 2005 - 17 October 2010

.

.

Rachel and Calvin's wedding

Wedding photography scares the bejeebus out of me.  I helped Philip out with a wedding once, but it's not really my thing to be honest.  That said, I've always been a little curious about shooting a wedding solo, and when Rachel (not my Rachel) asked if I'd take a few photos on their wedding day, I decided to have a crack at it (and was rewarded with some rather brilliant dessert wine and a dinner containing some of the best sweet and sour pork I have ever tasted).

But in the end I had a great time, and this was certainly helped by how chilled out Rachel and Calvin were about the whole thing. Their family and friends were extremely helpful and accommodating, and I have to admit that when asked by a few guests how long I'd been a wedding photographer for, I took much pleasure in saying "Since around 2:30 this afternoon."

.

Apologies for the missing comment box - the amount of spam I was getting was slowing things down, so I've killed the comment form for the time being. Anyway, here is the little man enjoying a quiet moment on the balcony step:

New toy

.

.

...courtesy of this lovely lady and her mummy:

.

.

Highlight of the weekend was when 2.5 year old C managed to lock 9 month old E in a bedroom about twenty minutes before they were due to head to the airport.  We all laughed about it afterwards (sort of).

.

.

Because the morning light comes from the wrong side of our apartment, most of the photos I take of George in the mornings have a touch of flash thrown in.  Our lounge is actually not the best for taking photos in during the day - although late afternoons are lovely. Anyway, I usually bounce the flash off something (a wall, the ceiling, a couch, a cat) in order to diffuse the light a bit and make it a little less harsh - it makes the world of difference.  Direct flash is generally considered to be a big no no - yuk shadows and yuk bright white patches of flash all over the place.

But after reading a book by this most helpful chap, I learned a way to use direct flash without making it look like there was any flash at all.  It's quite simple, but extremely clever - notice that there are no shadows on George's face, and particularly  around his eyes.

So this photo only exists because I wanted to play with the flash and test out this cunning new technique.  It's pretty cool, I must say (the technique, not the photo - although George is pretty cute in his little onesie).

.