Bella, the first year

As regular viewers of my work will know, I rarely take portrait photo’s. Not because I don’t enjoy it, but because I’m usually far too busy hiding out in the countryside with the 600mm when I do get a chance to pick the camera up. But, if you take a look at my portfolio site, you will notice one person in particular pops up several times. Well…let me introduce you all to Bella. The beautiful little girl of some dear friends of mine who, despite being so young, is already developing a crazy little personality all of her own. I’ve been photographing her on and off over the last 16 months and below are some of my favourites from her first year…

D3, 70-200 VR, 110mm, 1/125, f4, SB800 flash

The majority of these shots are taken with the Nikon 70-200 VR which I find a great lens for this type of work, it’s fast and accurate to focus and the large aperture when combined with the Nikon D3 make for a very versatile combination if the light levels drop. My first time shooting Bella was actually before she was officially here as mum and dad to be wanted photo’s from the pregnancy onwards. Those shots were taken with the D2x, which I still rate as a good camera as long as you don’t need to go much above base ISO! We got some great results on the first shoot – although as I am sure you can appreciate most of the photo’s are quite private in nature so I can only share two of them here with you.

D2x with 70-200 VR

D2x, 70-200 VR, 78mm, 1/3200, f5.6

That was followed up with a quick photo shoot a couple of months after Bella was born, and it was lovely to see such a strong bond had already grown between mum, dad and daughter.

D3, 70-200 VR, 200mm, 1/400, f8

D3, 28-70, 70mm, 1/80, f5.6, SB800 flash

D3, 70-200 VR, 160mm, 1/500, f8

D3, 70-200 VR, 70mm, 1/100, f5.6

Although I don’t get over to see Jo and Pete very often, whenever I do go the camera comes with me just in case there is a shot to be had. One thing I quickly learned…babies don’t sit still long, and for even less time when you are looking at them through a viewfinder! But it was great to see she was already getting used to having a camera pointed in her direction, as I photographed her around the home.

D3, 70-200 VR, 82mm, 1/80, f4

Jo asked for some classic shots too so we opted for some ‘baby on bed sheets’ photos. I’m not a huge fan of using flash but the natural light coming in from the windows was a little harsh so I decided to dust off the flash gun and use it to balance the natural light. Although I prefer more natural photo’s, I was pleased with the results from shooting Bella on crisp white sheets. They do have an almost studio feel to them which I don’t usually go for but I think it’s ok to have a couple shots like that in your portfolio – and most importantly Jo and Pete loved them, and that was the most important thing. The shot below they have printed up on a large canvas and it looks fantastic.

D3, 70-200 VR, 130mm, 1/80, f5, SB800 flash

D3, 70-200 VR, 125mm, 1/80, f5, SB800 flash

And there we have it, some of my favourite photo’s from Bella’s first year. I apologise for not going in to too much detail about them but the most recent photo here was taken over 6 months ago, so a) I’m a little hazy on the details and b) I take them when I’m socialising with my friends so I don’t feel like I’m ‘on the job’. But if nothing else I hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures and it made a change from the usual wildlife ones you see me publishing!