It's been an interesting but very busy year for the whole family and we all needed some fresh air, some salt water and time together without any pressure. We found all that at a rough, almost deserted stretch of Portuguese coast.
When surrounded by family, nature and friendly locals, it's surprising how little else you need. This was not just a vacation but a life lesson.
It's that time of year again, as I pen this, that I'm counting down the hours to my annual vacation.
I work hard throughout the year, and mostly I have one goal: a month off in August.
My wedding photography colleagues liken this to Santa Claus taking December off. But for me, it's always been tacit that August = summer & sun (something that we did have in the UK back in 1977 (apparently)).
I'm always very conscious of the fact that I'm "into photography" for a better way of life. As most of us are. I chose to leave the rat-race and become a wedding photographer because I wanted to explore photography, but, putting it very bluntly, I wanted to make the life I have with my family.....well, just better.
I adore creating long lasting memories for other people, like the ones above. I get a buzz when I'm looking back at pictures I've created and I'm pleased. And proud.
But I can't wait to start creating more summer memories of my own, for my family like these ones:
Until the Autumn folks.....
We’re not there yet: summer so far has mostly been work, work, work—with a few weekends and off days here and there to break up the frantic pace. The kids are still managing to be kids, to play with friends, to read and gaze at the clouds...but my mind is occupied by 10000 checkboxes. I’m eager to disconnect and revisit the wildlings, forge ahead through dark forests, blazing new trails.
These few images are from an impromptu family gathering.
There will be more...in time.
Every once in a while you might get to experience a day that is just a perfect day.
From beginning to end.
One that will stick with you through the darker days.
This was one of those days.
A perfect stream of life.
Fluidity of happiness.
I kinda see holidays as more of a personal assignment. A time to concentrate on photography and shoot pictures for me. We are there as a family and we do things for the kids, but I’m lucky that I get a good amount of me time too. One way I do this is by getting up at 6am and hitting the streets with my camera(s), catching the city or town coming alive on a typical working day. I love the subtle differences from one country to the next. New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong, they’re all the same in some way, but different in so many ways of course.
Music plays a huge part in any sort of travelling for me. I’m old enough to remember the life changing invention of the Sony Walkman many years ago, a device that changed travel and music forever. Even at that young age, I was aware of how big a deal it was and happy to be alive at that point in time.
I don’t take my iPhone and bluetooth EarPods any less for granted though, even if a mobile phone is something most of us in the western world own. Pop in the tiny headphones hit play and my world is transformed. It literally is the soundtrack to my life. And what better to listen to but some actual movie soundtracks by composers like Hans Zimmer (Inception, The Dark Knight …etc) or Angelo Milli (Seven Pounds). Or it might be some real daydreaming stuff from the likes of Ryuichi Sakamoto (check out Async or 1996) or violinist Daniel Hope (check out Spheres). Of course there are days that call for a bit of Snarky Puppy or John Coltrane. Whatever sets the mood to get the desired shots.
As a side project during a trip to Barcelona last year, I shot a few pictures on high speed bursts mode on my X-Pro2 and X100T (actually it was more like 1,500 than a few). I thought it would be a good idea to put them together in a short stop motion film for this piece. This is a very quick edit. To be honest, it’s the second edit as the first one crashed just as I was about to render it in DaVinci Resolve. Note to self - Remember to turn on auto-save when creating a new project.
I’ll be visiting Berlin later in the month, so who knows, maybe I’ll have something from that great city for your eyes next month??
Derek Clark | X100F, 1/125 sec at f2, ISO 250.
FUN IN THE SUN
Kevin Mullins | GFX 50S 63mm Lens 1/1,250 sec at f2.8, ISO 100
Bert Stephani | GFX50S 63mm, 1/200 sec at f2.8, ISO 400.
Patrick La Roque | X-Pro2, 1/2500 sec at f/1.4, ISO 200 (XF 35mm f/1.4 R)
Jonas Rask | 1/30 sec at f/2, ISO 400 (XF 35mm f/2 R WR)
