Halloween Dress Up for Crumlin 2015

Our fourth Annual Halloween Dress Up for Crumlin is on this Friday. 23rd October.

We’ll be here from 10:30 to 4pm with the Den all set up for anyone who wants to call in for a Free Photo.

So bring the kids in their Halloween Fancy Dress.  We can take some photos with the pumpkins and our cuddly pet spider and they’ll all get a print.  There’s no charge for the photos or the prints but we’ll be collecting for Crumlin Children’s Hospital and the Ronald McDonald House.

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Where to go in Cork

In the last article I looked in a general way at where to go for your location session.  If nothing comes to you yet then here are a few more specific ideas for where to go in Cork:RLU_3917

Currabinny Woods (51.812170, -8.304958) is an excellent location for family photos.  It has everything: it’s compact, good parking and not too far away.  It has plenty of options for kids of all ages in most weather conditions.

Fitzgerald’s Park (51.8962438,-8.4958268) is another good location and very handy from the city.  We normally start at the Museum end and work our way through the park.  Lots of options here including the trees, stumps, sculptures, benches etc.  They new playground is a lot more photogenic but because there are usually so many other kids there we leave that to the end after the session (sometimes it can be used as an incentive if you’re careful with it – more on incentives later)RLF_2006

The Japanese Gardens, Ballinlough (51.8863896,-8.4489809) may not be the most selubrious location but it’s very handy for the office and the lower part of the park offers enough options for a good family photo shoot.  There’s a nice bit of cover there, benches, trees and the quarry as backdrop so it has worked very well for me on many occassions.

The Lough (51.885795, -8.488243) is more limited in terms of stuff to sit, stand or lean on but there’s enough there to work with and the Lough itself looks nice as a background.  The far end is probably nicer than the Hawthorn end but we usually stroll around and see what works best.  The playground is very bright and can be busy for photos.

Ballincollig Regional Park (51.890118,-8.61589) is a bit further out of town and quite a large area.  The area closest to the car park is pretty open but there are areas near the river and down the far end that could be used.  It’s probably more suitable to older kids who don’t mind walking further.

Faran Woods (51.8888995,-8.75678) is even further out.  It’s a good location but there are a some of things to watch out for (apart from having to pay for the Car Park!).  The playground is on the way in so you can get a bit stuck there if you don’t manage things properly.  It’s a nice wooden playground but there’s more opportunities to be had in the woods themselves.RLJ_0384

Rostellen Woods (51.8446453,-8.1904122) is out the other side of the city but handy for Midleton or East Cork in general.  It’s a nice compact woods with options for views of the harbour is your kids can walk that far.  The ruins on the shore also offer some nice options for posing and backgrounds to add to the forest pictures.

Killeagh Woods (51.9427735,-7.9922103) is even further out East of the City but is a really nice compact woods with lots going on there to work with: a stream, bridges, woods, benches, all that.  Take the left behind the Thatched Cottage and left again to go up along the river.

Fota Gardens (51.8927924,-8.3058249) is a great location for photos with plenty of options for playing and forming informal groups: house steps, carved seats, fernery, rose gardens, orangery etc  Technically you may need permission to shoot in the grounds but I’ve never had a problem there.  Much of the Arboretum is evergreen so it works well all year round but if you’re looking for Autumn colour, it’s not your location of choice.

Thinking of an Autumn Family Photo Session?

This has to be my favourite time of year to get out into the woods and take pictures of the kids.  In this series of blog posts I’m going to take you through the what happens in a family photo session.

We’ll start with the hardest part of all: actually booking it.

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It’s a great time for family photos

We get a lot of interest in family sessions and the pictures we have on the wall of the office, on the web galleries, facebook etc all ‘wow’ people who would otherwise be alergic to having a professional family photo session.  The pictures show families of young kids freely enjoying the woods and countryside.  Kids being kids: playing, smiling, laughing, enjoying themselves.

They are memories created of your family just the way you want to remember them.

The overwhelming feedback is that all the family enjoy the session.  Many Mom’s come in after the session saying their kids want to know when I can come and play again!

It’s also something that’s too easy to put off.  Unlike a communion or a birthday or another key date it could happen this week or next – and the reality of busy family life is that we are short of time at the weekends between clubs and matches and all that stuff.

But all it takes is an hour.

I try to be as flexible as possible: for many younger kids mornings are normally better for their routine but I’m generally available to suit your schedule.  I can do a Sunday session if that’s what it takes and I’m generally available on the October Long Weekend.

The school Mid-term is a great time to get a session done.

The weather is always going to be a factor but you’d be surprised how few sessions I’ve actually had to cancel due to rain.  The kids need to be warm and comfortable whatever the weather so as long as it’s not tipping down we normally go ahead with the session (I have done some great sessions in between showers too!).

So just go ahead and call.  Find the next weekend you’re all around and book the session. 

If you’re not sure where to go then I can come up with plenty of suggestions (more on that later) so don’t let that stop you either.

I’ll look ahead a couple of days before the booking to see what to expect and if it’s definitely going to be terrible then we’ll re-schedule.  No problem – just pick up the phone and book the session – 021 429 3714

Quick Thinking

Hours of Practice

It’s in the nature of what I do that many assignments come at short notice.  Yesterday lunchtime I was asked to photography my daughters for a promotional image for the dance company they work so hard for.  My pleasure.  But what to do?

What do we have to work with: it’s sunny, we are blessed with a large garden but it’s a bit cluttered (trampolines, sheds, swings, nets etc), we also have access to our neighbour’s garden which is a lot greener (but quite narrow).  Thankfully it’s half-day at Secondary school and the girls are in fine form and have matching dresses.

So we’ll work out the garden thing but the sun is the first challenge.  Nice and bright but we need to make sure we deal with the contrast between the direct sun and the shadows.  There’s no real shade at this time of the year so we need to plan to shoot in full sun.  Personally I generally shoot into the sun or at a slight angle so that my subject is in reasonably even shadow and we might get a bright rim light.

Fine but now there’s a stop (or more) between my subject and the background.  You have two options: expose for the shadow and blow the background by overexposing it; or get some additional light into the subject using a reflector or an artificial light source.  I want my background so it’s going to be the second option.  I’m a big fan of the reflector but I don’t have one big enough to light a full length shot and no time to find something to improvise.  On site I’d normally use on-camera flash to fill in here but I have a little more time and enough kit at home to try something else: off camera flash to one side.  This gives me the option to get more dramatic lighting (since it’s a dance pose).

When we get to the bottom of the garden there’s actually some lovely dappled shade at the bottom of the garden from the bare trees.  Two bonuses here: the back-lighting is now way more interesting and textured; it’s also somewhat diffused so there’s slightly less contrast between the sun and the shade.  Result.

As it happens my first few test shots show that the camera’s exposure is pretty much bang on so we work away.

Some lovely stuff in there and hopefully we’ll be seeing them around Cork very soon ahead of the show in May.

Daughter Number One has been on at me since Christmas for some nice shots of her dancing to balance out the swimming pics on her wall.  So as well as the duets for Tina we do a few of her on her own.  I’m sure Other Daughter will want some now too when she sees these…

Hard at it

Still lots going on here at Rob Lamb Photography. Media-savy followers may have noticed that I started a regular gig with the Cork News in October with is keeping me busy meeting a lot of interesting personalities and local businesses throughout the city on a weekly basis.

It’s not all pounding the streets for a scoop, photo calls, press deadlines and the smell of hot presses (that’s printing presses, not storage for your towels).

Cork News list a number of the city’s finest restaurants amongst their clients. Normally most food isn’t that disgestable by the time you’ve finished photographing it but if the chef is kind and you work quickly enough, life can be good…

Huguenot French Bistro & Wine Bar

https://www.facebook.com/huguenotcork

Busy Weekend: Belle of Ballinlough

Well done to Nathalie and all the other constants in the Belle of Ballinlough over the weekend.

We were very proud to have Nathalie represent us on stage but unfortunately this wasn’t her year.

Congrats to Eimear representing the Orchard Bar who is the 2014 Belle.

Nathalie has a natural presence and was certainly very comfortable in front of the camera when we did a quick photo session in the Japanese Gardens last week.   Here are a few more pics from the session and you can follow her Street Style blog at https://www.facebook.com/Streetstyleandsmile

Belle of Ballinlough 2014: Go Nathalie!!

We’re delighted to be supporting Nathalie Tobin in this year’s Belle of Ballinlough.

Good Luck at the Judging night tomorrow at the Silver Key and we’ll see everyone on Saturday at the Youth Club Summer Festival.

We’ve been to the Festival most years since the kids were young (and even got roped into the acts last year) but this is the first time we’ve had our act together enough to get involved in the Belle.  I hope all the girls and their escorts have a great night and fingers crossed for Nathalie.

Confirmations 2014

Confirmation Photographer Cork
Photo Sessions at Home or in the Studio

Confirmations started a couple of weeks ago and we’ve had a number of sessions for families since then.

As in previous years we can do more formal studio sessions or sessions at home for Confirmations.  For many families the Confirmation is a much more low-key occassion compared to First Holy Communion.

However it marks an important transition: from primary school to secondary; from child to young adult; from tween to teen.  This are set to change for these kids.  Big Time.  It’s a great opportunity to get pictures of everyone together before all this comes upon ye.

We are available on the day of the Confirmation but we’ve also had sessions booked on other days.

Sessions on the day are more convienient and allow you to get pictures done while everyone is together.

Confirmation Photographs Cork
Photographs for your Confirmation

Home sessions afterwards allow you to take more time over the pictures and maybe show-off that outfit one more time.

As with previous years we have special print packages for Confirmation Sessions – see https://roblambphoto.com/?page_id=796

Call us now on 021 4293714 or drop in next time you’re passing to enquire about availability for your day

Maybe Summer is Back?

Photographer in Cork
Just like being Under the Dome

As we did the return leg along the road back to the Car Park in Currabinny on Saturday, I suddenly became aware of being surrounded by these remarkable butterflies.

Hang on, it’s October.

But there are loads of them flitting across the road.

Then I got home and the same butterflies were crowding around the little daisy-bush-thing that flowers in late summer (they could be Michealmas Daisies).  Loads of them, all visiting the flowers and drinking nectar.  So me and The Boy watched them and I managed to take a few snaps (no macro lens at home, no opportunity to do anything with the lighting, just full sun and the closest, longest setting of the ‘chasing kids around the woods’ lens).

This would be unusual enough if I hadn’t seen the latest episode of Under the Dome which also features butterflies appearing en-mass at an unusual time of year.  So if the Dome coming to Cork?

First Holy Communions 2013

I’m pretty much up to date with the communion pictures at this stage so anyone who has had communion pictures taken should have either a proof sheet (for Gallery Sessions) or a booking for a viewing session.

For anyone who can’t make it in we can provide on-line viewing of your images but it’s better if you can come in and see them in their full glory for the first time.  I can also answer your questions about sizing, framing and how the communion packages work.

There’s a lot going on this time of year but some lovely pictures come out of First Communions whether it’s a Gallery session, a session with the family at home or some of the less formal pictures – like those from the Our Lady of Lourdes Communion last weekend.

It’s a lovely time for the kids and a great time to capture all the excitement and innocence of the day.