Searching for Autumn #countrykids

Weird post title right?

Well this weeks outdoor adventure had a bit of another purpose. I know the parks round here reasonably well but i wanted to check some of them for autumn colours…sometimes when i go with the family there isnt enough time to take things in. But i have a couple of shoots this weekend and so i wanted to scope out a couple of spots. So the me, the littlest one and the dog went on a quick jaunt around a few parks in search of autumn colours (that are suitable for being in a shot as well) By that i mean, a tree with all of its pretty leaves super high up and twigs below isnt going to look good in a shot. I want the trees that act like a beautiful backdrop of autumn lushness.

Managed to get in a few candid little girl shots as well. Aren’t little girls awesome. 🙂

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

Follow:

#silentsunday #365 #socialpix


OneDad3GirlsTheBoyandMe's 365 LinkyWeekly Top Shot #94

Follow:

Re-discovering the park. #countrykids

A couple of weeks ago a couple of the members of apartyofseven suffered a pretty mean stomach bug, myself included. One of those that knocks you sideways and looses days and hours to the bathroom and the faithful bucket. Yuk.

About 72 hours after i had stopped being ill i decided that it was time to try and have a little run, up till this point my legs were still pretty wobbly. So one saturday morning i decided to wander off to a local ‘runners’ park after the ballet run drop off.

I sort of shuffled around the park, feeling wobbly at places but it was a slow and steady run and it gave me time to have a look at the park at the changing leaves. The park has a LOT of trees so the impact was pretty impressive. I even noticed a HUGE conker tree and thought there and then that I would suggest coming back later with the kids to do some conker picking. Which we did, although i did forget where the tree actually was and dragged everyone all the way round the park saying excitedly to them…’oh wait till we find this tree, wait till you see it!’

To be fair when we got there they did try and get enthused about it but i think to be honest they were all thinking i had kind of lost it. 😉 But we did get a very impressive conker haul!

The park has a famous victorian palm house and a fairy glen that i have walked past thousands of times but never read the info on it, isn’t it funny how sometimes you have no idea about the stuff that is under your nose. My son and i read the story about the fairy glen and the bridge and the iron bridge. Gave me a little bit of shiver down my spine to be honest! My son though, every the pragmatist told me that it was ridiculous and couldn’t possibly be true because Ghosts down exist!!

Walking back to the car we noticed the biggest mushroom i think i have ever seen. It had some amazing colours and was standing proudly by the side of the path. I have no idea what makes a mushroom grow somewhere, do they have spores that are blown by the wind? are they planted? I haven’t a clue. 😉

I do know though, that lots of them are very dangerous so i wouldn’t let the kids touch this one, so we looked at it a while. I took some pictures and we wondered about what type it was. Annoyingly it has a bit of grass on the top which was really spoiling it but im such a chicken that i wouldn’t even touch it to remove that for the shot! ha!!

 

 

 

 

Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

Follow:

A-MAZE-ING! #countrykids #flashbackfriday

One of our favourite places to go that is local but good for a few hours of getting the kids outdoors is the National Trust property. It really is one of those places that we know inside out, its like a local park. But we love it. It has little hidden gems and is a perfect way of spending an ordinary weekend afternoon or a place to go with a group of friends and a large picnic for a special time.

I have to confess that we have only ever once ventured into the house. A lovely lady said that we could have a little handy hip shelf thing to pop our youngest on instead of using the buggy (there isn’t room). Which i did use, probably incorrectly as it was really uncomfortable and then we spent about 30 minutes running after lively toddlers and telling them not to touch anything. So i can’t really vouch for the house. Im sure its lovely. 😉

But we know the grounds really really well. Recently they have added a Maze. They have planted smallish trees and so at the moment the maze is actually quite handy as the kids run off and yet we can still see them and not spend hours trying to work out which corner they have gone round.

By the time the trees are going to be big enough for us to actually loose our kids in the maze, the kids will be old enough to not be bothered by it. I think its a fabulous addition to the grounds and the kids love it. Especially the bit where they get to the last bridge.

Our other favourite bit of Speke Hall is the fact that it basically backs on to the airport and we have, since my son was young, walked round the perimeter and watched a few planes land and take off. Lately they have added another walk which means that you can walk along side the works access to the runways and then sit on a disused part of the runway.

The new walk means that we can get down to the estuary, which was fun until we pretty much got stuck in a load of mud and had to make a swift about turn and get back to the track!

I love the new walk though. It feels a little unkempt and wild, which doesn’t really fit the house and the grounds that we know…but i think it really adds a new dimension to the place.

We still love it there and no doubt we will be back soon!

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwallmummy mishapswww.mummydaddyandmemakesthree.co.uk.jpg

Follow:

is that Bokeh season #mamarazzi

Before you think i have gone mad. Bokeh is a technical term. yes it is.

Bokeh :

In photography, bokeh (Originally /ˈboʊkɛ/,[1] /ˈboʊkeɪ/ boh-kay — also sometimes heard as /ˈboʊkə/ boh-kə,[2] Japanese: [boke]) is the blur,[3][4] or the aesthetic quality of the blur,[5][6][7] in out-of-focus areas of an image. 

Bokeh is a portrait photographers dream. Yes it is. Bokeh means that I can take a photograph of my gorgeous daughter on a park bench when there is a herd of people doing a welly walk in the background (yes there is) and all you will see is a blur of colour…

So thats what Bokeh is, that blurry buttery background that we all know and love. Now this season coming up… *whispers* the christmasy one is the PERFECT time for using a bit of bokeh. Those lovely christmas lights make great bokeh backdrops for your festive images.

Here is how you go about it.

SO..

essentially your basic bit of equipment is a FAST lens…what does that mean?  You can find out here or here a bit about aperture…You need wide, open, (low numbers) FAST aperture settings.

You can make the little balls of light bigger by increasing the distance between your in focus subject and the out of focus lights in the background.

Helps to have your subject in the foreground and set your AF point on them. You can half depress the shutter and re-compose as well to get that extra dimension and composition to your shot.

KA-POW!

Christmas in a neat little JPG package.

All done.

 

Here are a fabulous selection from the wonder that is pinterest!

this is a partnered post

Follow: