So…not too long ago I posted a tutorial on how to backlight; in it I professed my undying love for that golden hue.  So, imagine my happiness when this month’s blog circle topic was backlighting.  Yippeee!!!  So I set about the task of choosing my favourite images from recent weeks and I came to a conclusion and that conclusion is as follows:  I have a serious problem.  I don’t love backlighting.  I am obsessed with it.  Truly.  In fact I would be  hard pressed to pull out images that were not backlit.  Of course I have SOME as I also dearly love soft directional light…like the kind that comes from a window but man oh man I am a backlighting maniac.  But before you all stage an intervention let me say this, if backlighting is wrong I don’t want to be right, man.

So this first image is my new favourite of Miss Isla.  She was in a bit of a solemn kind of mood when we shot this…she might’ve been a wee bit tired but it seemed like more than that; a sadness that is not normally present in my over the top vivacious living life out loud little girl.  I think because of that this image fills me with emotion and makes me want to reach through the screen to love her up.  Excuse me while I shed tears all over my keypad.  Sigh.

See what I mean?  I didn’t ask her to pose like this, she did it on her own and although that sadness is palpable I love the vulnerability of this image.  It’s a wonderful reminder that these wee ones have needs that must be met and feelings that must be acknowledged, encouraged, and nurtured.  Why is my keypad so wet?  Did somebody spill some water?  Blubber McGee over here.

Now, this is more like my girl.  She is fearless.  What’s that mum?  Sit on a rock in the middle of a stream?  No problem.  Have I mentioned she’s three?  I swear, zero fear.  ZERO.  Her lack of fear is more than compensated by mine as I nearly have a heart attack 47 times a day over her shenanigans.  Disclaimer:  my mama was just outside the frame camera left spotting my girl in case she should slip off her perch…into the 2 inch deep water.

Here’s a little snippet of what you might hear in our house from the moment little feet hit the ground running “Isla, please don’t hug your sister quite so hard, that might be enough kisses, where are your pants?  I swear I put pants on you this morning.  Mummy is in charge of feeding the baby but thank you so much for helping the baby shampoo her hair with yogourt.  Where are your pants?”  Needless to say as a mama to these two crazy girls I die over this image.  The light here is stronger than I normally use but I really wanted to shoot in this private orchard and this was the only time of day we were allowed in so as the great Tim Gunn would say you just “make it work people”.  I love this interaction because it’s a glimpse of the stronger than oak sisterhood bond that is slowly but surely forming between the two of them.  I swear there is something wrong with my keypad…there is water all over it.

I am marginally better at updating my Facebook page than I am at updating this blog so if you want to see the latest don’t forget to like my page HERE.

And please please please do yourselves a favour and keeping hopping down this blog circle path….next up is Laura Morita from Laura Morita Photography.  Yes, THE Laura Morita so you know you have to go…go now…right HERE