I have been told off for not blogging often enough so I have about five minutes to post something here before putting the kids in the bath.

Getting Married in Northern Ireland Magazine is nearing deadline (Yeah!) so its been all hands on deck. As always I’ve been taking pictures of all sorts this week for the purposes of the magazine – rings, buttonholes, limousines, tiaras and on exhausting weeks like this I tend to leave the camera in the bag when I get home.
Of course I’m looking forward to the portrait shoots happening next week. They’re great to get back to after the madness of magazine production!

Its been seriously freezing this week. We are still feeling winter here in February. Right now its about -3 outside. Its a double-hotwater bottle night. The only sign of Spring coming was the little plant on my window which decided to flower. I find it wonderfully therapeutic to photograph flowers and definitely brightened my Saturday morning.

Thank-you Sarah for the little surprise bulb in a pot.
What a beauty she turned out to be.

I was very excited to receive a big box from the postman containing my new 40d.
The only thing is in the same week I think I’ve lost my phojo!

Using the new camera worried me a bit. I didn’t want the results to be disappointing so I held off and just kept taking it out of the box and looking at it.
I even took some pictures of it and flicked through the manual. Its alot bigger than my little camera and more masculine. It eyed me from the shelf challenging me to do my worst.

The thing is I loved my 400d and was quite sad to take the card and batteries out of it and place it snugly in the bottom of my shootsac until such times as the 40d lets me down. Without the 400d I never would have realised that photos can look much better with the flash turned off. It has served me well and us photographers do get kind of attached to our gear.

Anyway I decided to take a picture with the new guy. And you know what? Nothing earth-shattering happened. It is a better camera for various reasons but I’m still the same photographer. I’ll still have to work on all the things that were important before – framing, focusing, creativity, light and so on.

Here is a simple shot of Niamh with the 40d. Just playing it safe for now.
She did look really cute though…

Also I was watching Senan this morning and realised just how hardworking three year olds are.
They love to be given jobs to do. Senan loves watching me cooking and helps wash the vegetables. Three years old love to get their hands dirty. Thats why playdoh is a really big hit. I’ve got to keep finding jobs for him. You don’t want to let them get bored at this age – then there is big trouble. For example, recently when bored my little helper decided it would be a good idea to colour in mum’s lovely, white computer keyboard black – with a permanent marker! He has also been helping me deliver frames to customers. This is great because he gets sweets from everyone we visit.

Anyway we’re really looking forward to planting seeds soon. Its starting to get lighter in the evening and Spring is on its way!

I also hope my phojo comes back soon. I miss it.