lifestylephotography Archives

November 6, 2020November 6, 2020

Share Six Blog Circle – November 2020 | Traditions

Traditions.

It is two years to the day since we left the USA for good. Last year it was an anniversary that came and went with a small recognition of the whirlwind of a year it had been. This year however, I’m not ashamed to say that I’m struggling, in no small part due to the pandemic and the US election.

As we begin our second national lockdown and face the prospect of Christmas without all the usual bells and whistles, I find myself feeling overly nostalgic and overwhelmingly sad at the state of the world.

Looking forward, I find myself focusing on the impact lockdown will have on our annual festive traditions. Last year we went to see the Christmas lights at Longleat, in the US we took annual trips on the Grand Canyon Polar Express and to the Phoenix Zoo Zoolights. In a mad panic to maintain normality, last week I booked us tickets to see the Christmas lights at Blenheim Palace. Who knows if we’ll get there with the ever-changing government guidelines, but it is definitely something to look forward to!

I’ve been looking through old images for this post. Now I’m deep in a hole reminiscing about the places we’ve been over the past five years and the traditions we made, and weeping at the thought of those traditions being on-hold this year.

Having a good ol’ sing song on the Polar Express in 2016!

This next one is a throwback to our first trip on the Polar Express in 2014. They were so small!

Searching back through the archives, one thing seems to tie every year together, and clearly it’s one tradition that we’ll be able to hold on to this year after all. There is always hot chocolate!

Thanks for joining us again this month. Don’t forget, post your {traditions} images on our Facebook page SHARE SIX or to our Instagram gallery by using #sharesix_traditions. A new theme will be posted on 6th December.

Up next in our blog circle is my lovely friend and extremely talented photographer, Lynne Grant. Click here to see her images and be sure to leave her some love!

Until next time, stay safe,

Ceri xx

March 26, 2019March 25, 2019

30 Minutes in the Life – March 2019 | Relief

ceri-herd-photography-hampshire-photographer-01

Four months back living in the UK and four months feeling disconnected from my camera.

You could say I’ve been in a photographic rut. Life took over and I couldn’t make it stop. ⁣It’s hardly surprising, I suppose, that when life feels unsettled your focus shifts to finding stability, and the ups and downs of being creative certainly don’t go hand-in-hand that!

But just like the change in seasons, life is turning a corner and soon we’re going to start the next chapter. I am forcing myself to pick up my camera, forcing myself to edit and forcing myself to share. I want to document our lives when the tide changes and I need to be back up to speed when it does.

And so, this weekend I forced the family to take a trip to the beach. My excuse was a new gadget – a neutral density filter – to test, but my reason was to stretch my creative wings. It was such a relief to feel connected again.

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Thank you for joining me again this month. Up next in the blog circle is the fabulous Sharleen Stuart Photography. Please click here to visit Sharleen’s page. Want some more amazing inspiration? Keep following the circle to see what other photographers from around the world have shared this month – and don’t forget to leave a little love on their pages!

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August 2, 2017

Share Six Blog Circle – Artificial Light | July 2017

Massachusetts Photographer | Share Six Artificial Light | ©CeriHerdPhotography

This month’s Share Six theme, {Artificial Light}, was my choice! OOohhhh….! Does that surprise you? I’m certainly not known for using artificial light in my images and it’s probably the area of photography where I feel least confident. I use studio lighting for my newborn work but that is always the same, a predictable, reliable and simple set up. That said, I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t pushing myself to learn something new or to broaden my horizons. So here I am stepping outside my comfort zone, sharing images I wouldn’t normally pull from my files and dragging the rest of you along for the ride!

There are a few other reasons I chose {artificial light} for our latest theme. It might seem contrary to normal documentary shooting of the summer months, but I was living with the prospect of 120°F heat and being confined to the house during daylight hours for the summer months. That is perhaps fairly superficial reasoning, but in truth {artificial light} gives us so many options: to document in our homes, in places we visit, on the street after dark, in studio, on camera flash, off camera flash…the possibilities are endless!

This is the image that sparked the idea for the theme. I adore him:

And then I found that I had a similar image of his brother! There are hi-tech kids, that’s for sure!

This image was taken at the Reunion Tower in Dallas, TX. He could’ve played with the light show and “About Dallas” touch screens all night!

These next two images were taken at the same place on the same night: ‘the Dallas Skyline with the reflection of sunset’ and ‘light painting’ (which uses a slow shutter speed and intentional camera movement).

For my last two images for this month’s theme I chose a couple of recent unshared favourites. There is something haunting about each of these for me. I wonder if you see it too?

I hope you have taken this theme as a chance to learn or experiment, to try something new or step outside your comfort zone. I’m posting this blog almost a month late, right at the end of the theme’s cycle, because personal life things got in the way. There are just a couple of days to post your {artificial light} images to the Share Six facebook wall or use #sharesix_artificiallight on Instagram. I’m really impressed with all the submissions I’ve seen so far. You have until August 5th, 2017. Keep them coming!

~Ceri

March 21, 2017March 21, 2017

White Sands National Monument | Documentary Photography

White Sands Photography | Scottsdale Photographer | ©CeriHerdPhotography

Spring Break has a wonderful habit of coinciding with my birthday, so lucky me has a habit of making celebratory road trip plans. This year, somewhat selfishly, I decided we should visit Texas. I’d be lying if I didn’t say the entire purpose of the trip was to go to Waco, the home of Chip and Joanna Gaines of Magnolia Market and of Fixer Upper fame. BUT that also meant I searched out all the places to visit on along the route that we might never have otherwise seen. I’d also be lying if I didn’t say that many of our destinations, regardless of the trip, are chosen on their photographic merits. Oh boy, did I have had high hopes for our first port of call!

The first day of our Texas Road Trip 2017 didn’t actually get us to Texas however; it was nonetheless a long day of driving, from Arizona to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. When I mentioned this plan to my dad he said, “oh, they test missiles there!” (yes, White Sands Missile Range is nearby) but there is more to it than that! Here’s how the National Park Service website describes White Sands:

“Rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin is one of the world’s great natural wonders – the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert, creating the world’s largest gypsum dunefield. White Sands National Monument preserves a major portion of this unique dunefield, along with the plants and animals that live here.”

We arrived shortly before sunset, just in time to play on the dunes and watch the sun dip below the distant Organ Mountains.

Taekwondo on the dunes

We spent the night in Alamogordo and returned the following morning to do some sledging. The Park Service sell used sledges and buy them back from you once you’re done; you have no time restriction and can keep them if you have so much fun you can’t bear to part with it. There is no restrictions about where you can go on the dunes so we had plenty of space and our choice of dune despite the other visitors in the park. Although there is no photographic evidence that I joined in, I assure you I did! Despite my reservations about the height and acute angle of the slope, it was so much fun!

We had such a great time and we were still picking sand out of deep dark “places” a week later!

After the sledging we took a walk along a boardwalk to see more of the ecosystem. I imagine the area looks quite astounding when the wildflowers are in bloom and is unbearable in the heat of the summer.

Understandably, the kids were exhausted after all the sledging. Walking up sand dunes is a tiring business, let me tell you!

If you’re ever in New Mexico I would definitely recommend a visit to White Sands. Whether you’re a photographer or there just to have fun, there is so much beauty to be seen and enjoyed.

After our morning at the dunes we visited the Space Museum in Alamogordo (just the outside of the museum actually, but even that was worth it) and then hit the road again. The next stop on our trip was Carlsbad Caverns; a place worthy of it’s own blog post!

~Ceri

March 10, 2017March 10, 2017

Life {Unscripted} Blog Circle | February 2017

Unscripted Photographer Scottsdale | ©CeriHerdPhotography

Whether you’ve come straight here or you’re working your way around the Life Unscripted Blog Circle, thank you so much for stopping by.

I am beyond thrilled to have recently joined the Life {Unscripted} team. Seriously! LU was the first photographic community that I found on Facebook, or any other place for that matter. The support that the team showed me from that initial contact 2 years ago, as well as the amazing array of talent that they showcase each month, shapes the photographer that I aspire to be now. It really is an honour to have been welcomed into the team. I feel like I have circled back around to where I began.

The past few months have been a bit of a blur. With germ infestations on a seemingly weekly basis for the smaller people in our family and my own camera fatigue, I have barely picked up my camera, so for this post I want to focus on getting back to normal. A “normal” day: not trying to do fancy things in-camera, not stressing about capturing every part of every day in magic light. Just a normal, balanced and relaxing day – a dog walk that is more about the children running than the dog walking (hence why you will barely see her here) and some boy time in the garden on our new-to-us hammock. This may be just “normal” but for me it was a breath of fresh air. Enjoy!

Next up is our wonderful LU Mama, Crystal Raynard of Crystal Raynard Photography. Please click HERE to keep following the circle.