winterlight Archives

November 30, 2020November 30, 2020

30 Minutes in the Life Blog Circle | November 2020

Ceri-Herd-Photographer-Fleet-Hampshire-Canal-Walk-Family-in-Autumn

It’s been a few months since I’ve been able to join in with the 30 Minutes in the Life blog circle. Life kept getting in the way. I’m so glad to be back!

For this month’s 30 Minutes in the Life, I’m sharing a Sunday morning stroll along the Basingstoke Canal. This beautiful waterway is just a few minutes from home, and sometimes, just sometimes, the light is absolutely perfect.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed seeing a little piece of our world. Up next in the blog circle is the incredibleJanet Crouch. Please click here to visit Janet’s blog.

Until next time,

~Ceri

February 3, 2020January 30, 2020

30 Minutes in the Life – January 2020 | A New Year’s Walk

Hey, hey!

For this month’s 30 Minutes I’m sharing some images from a trip we took to West Wittering beach with my parents right back at the beginning of the year. It seems like a age ago, not a mere 30 days. Was this not the longest January on record?!

You could say it was typical British weather for January. It was bitterly cold and grey, but thankfully the rain stayed away. The dogs (and boys) had fun paddling in the sea, and I used the flat light as an excuse to experiment with techniques, lenses, and a new toy. You’re going to see images using my Lensbaby Edge 35, intentional camera movement and Lensbaby Omni Filters (attached to my 100mm 2.8L).

Up next in the blog circle is the incredible Stacey Markel Photography. Please click here to visit Stacey’s blog.

Hope you enjoy my images this month! Sorry for the long scroll……..!

Ceri-Herd-Photography-West-Wittering-01

Thank you for joining me again this month, especially if you made it all the way down here! Up next in the blog circle is the incredible Stacey Markel Photography. Please click here to visit Stacey’s blog. 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!

Until next time,

~Ceri

January 6, 2020January 6, 2020

Share Six Blog Circle – January 2020 | Macro

It’s 2020! Thanks for joining me as we kick off another journey around the sun.

This month Share Six is focusing on all things {macro}!

It’s no great secret that I’ve been struggling creatively these past few months (ummmm, all of 2019…), but I’m hopeful that my most favourite Christmas gift, as well as forcing myself into a new 366 project, is going to turn the tide and refocus my energy.

That Christmas gift was a set of Lensbaby Omni Filters. If you haven’t come across these before, they are a set of prisms/wands that, with the use of magnetic arms, enable you to play with light and reflections right in front of your lens. As with any Lensbaby (or indeed any new equipment…yes, I’m talking to you, new Wacom tablet, that I’m attempting to use for the first time today too, humph), there is a learning curve. With these filters learning comes with experimentation, both in terms of using the different wand attachments, but also using different lighting. It turns out different lighting scenarios change what you thought you already knew about them!

These images were taken on Boxing Day (that’s December 26th to those who don’t know). Which means, yes, it took over 24 hours for me to get the chance to play. What madness?! These were my very first attempts with the Omni filters, so ixnay on the judgement, ok, thanks 🙂

I’m adding in an extra one here, whilst not strictly macro, it shows how the omni prism creates beautiful reflections:

Thanks for joining us again this month. If you have any questions about how I created specific effects or Lensbaby Omni in general, fire away! Add you comments or questions below. And don’t forget, post your {macro} images on our Facebook page SHARE SIX or to our Instagram gallery by using #sharesix_macro. A new theme will be posted on 6th February.

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,

Ceri xx

January 10, 2018January 10, 2018

10 on 10 Blog Circle | January 2018 – Massachusetts Photographer

Massachusetts Photographer | 10 on 10 Frozen Bubbles | ©CeriHerdPhotography

I’m so excited to join a new group of talented photographers to share with you 10 images on the 10th of each month.

Over the past few months I’ve been busy sharing pictures of our new life in Massachusetts, lots of my more creative work and most recently, images with my new Lensbaby Edge 80 (you can keep up-to-date with that project HERE). But I wanted my first share with this new group to be something a little different. A lot of what I do is an experiment in-camera; this was more of an experiment outside of camera, a little bit of a science experiment!

I first saw images of frozen bubbles about a year ago. From the warmth of our AZ winter it seemed like something only photographers living in galacticly cold climates could ever do and of course that would never be me so I didn’t give it too much thought. But fast forward a year and here we are! New England has had (what I consider to be) a really cold cold snap this past week, temperatures well into the minus Fs, a wind chill of -23F and over a foot of snow on the ground. If I was going to try frozen bubbles now was surely the time!

I was just going to use my children’s bubble juice, but unfortunately it turns out bubble juice becomes completely frozen if you leave it in the garage in winter in MA! So if you’d like to try making frozen bubbles for yourself and find your bubble juice is already frozen too, here’s the recipe that worked for me:

1 cup water
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp dish soap / washing-up liquid
2 tbsp corn syrup

Mix it up!

I used a regular bubble wand and a wand with lots of holes to get a variety of different bubble sizes and combos. I’ve heard paper straws work well too.

Getting the bubbles to land where I wanted and not pop (remember that wind chill of -23F? It was blowing!) was far from easy! I wouldn’t mind trying again so I can focus more on the photography and less on the bubble production. I definitely recommend you giving it a go too; you don’t have to be a photographer to enjoy watching the patterns form in the ice!

Up next in the 10 on 10 Blog Circle is the immensely talented Christine Wright of Greenscapes Photography. Click Here to see her 10 images for this month.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Ceri

January 6, 2018February 2, 2018

Share Six Blog Circle | January 2018 – Winter Light

Massachusetts Photographer | ©CeriHerdPhotography

Happy New Year everyone! This is my first blog post of 2018 so I want to take a second to say thank you for following me into another year. I wish you all a year that brings both great happiness and good health.

As I sit here on New Year’s Day under a cosy blanket, looking out the window at a blue sky and a blanket of snow, I cannot help but reflect on how far we have come this year. From the blistering heat of the Sonoran Desert to the Winter wonderland of New England, 2017 was a year of great change and climate extremes (a swing of 131F in fact).

This month at Share Six we’re looking at {Winter Light}. Let me tell you, this winter looks decidedly different to our winters in Arizona! I am completely and utterly in love with the soft golden tones of a cold northern winter in the forest:

My look at {winter light} wouldn’t be complete without my favourite image of our Christmas tree:

Thank you for joining us for another month at Share Six. Please continue around the circle by clicking HERE. I can’t wait to see how the lovely Kim of Kim Sidwell Photography interpreted this month’s theme.

Join us for this month’s theme by posting your {wonderland} images on our Facebook page at SHARE SIX and to our Instagram gallery, by tagging #sharesix and #sharesix_wonderland. A new theme will be posted on 6th January.