In the Loch!

Well, that was certainly different!

I was asked to get some photos of a young lad swimming in the loch with his dog, fair enough, and I was delighted when I turned up to find his older sister was also along for the shoot.

What I didn't expect though, was that the guys would be fully dressed, and there would also be an old child's scooter along as well.

It was quite late when we got to the loch and the light was very flat, but it was still very warm and the water, apparently, was lovely!!

It all contributed to the complete bizarreness of the evening, and we've come home with some totally bonkers photos!!

Not the usual family portrait shots, but what a laugh!

I love location shoots with families as much as with models. This will stick with me as one of the oddest, but, professional as ever, I kept to the brief and the family are delighted. I love this job!!

Have a look at my website to see how I can help you get the shots you want,

http://www.rtphotographics.co.uk/

or contact me by e-mail rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Rebecca,x.

Glamorous!

The further happy tales of a portrait photographer...



A model, a make up artist, and a whole apartment all to ourselves...




Last Saturday saw myself and Hannah heading across to Dundee for a glamour shoot with Irena. We knew it would be a busy day and were armed with bean bag, flowers, a shedload of lights, stepladders, reflectors.... all the usual gear.



Hannah was along for her first shoot as a make-up artist, and this was my third shoot with Irena so I was confident we were going to have a pretty good girly fun kind of day! I wasn't wrong!! It was fab.



Irena had some amazing gem-studded false eyelashes, and a very good idea of how she wanted to look...



One of the things I love about Irena is that she puts so much into the shoot. She has ideas and we try them out and discuss them - real teamwork



With a whole apartment to ourselves there was no shortage of corners to shoot in, and we tried most of them!




We used the rooms upstairs to get some different angles and styles, and Irena had a set of outfits ready to try on that evoked a feel of more sophisticated glamour.




This inspired a series of shots to capture that atmosphere,



even on the stairs...



and into the bathroom, where Hannah pushed in some bubbles to create a fun but classic set.
Five costume changes, four hours, three girls, two lenses, one camera... job done!





One very happy photographer!! Thanks Irena and Hannah for your hard work that day,xx.






Contact me by e-mail if you'd like to book a shoot or if you'd like any help with your ideas... rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk






Intimate Portraits, Family Portraits and Actors Headshots...

http://www.rtphotographics.co.uk/

Bubbles and the Beach... I love photography!

How much better does it get than last Sunday? I don't know that it can!

I was at Kenmore on the shore of Loch Tay in the Scottish Highlands. The sun was shining but softly diffused through the cloud, perfect for portraits and a stunning location for an outdoor family shoot.

The girls are absolutely stunning... fun, relaxed in front of the camera and so beautiful, they are amazing and it was such a joy to photograph them. Add their gorgeous wee baby brother, a couple of bottles of bubbles and a fluffy blanket, and the afternoon was officially perfect!

Perhaps a little alarmed when we met in the car park at Kenmore beach, the girls soon accepted the fact that I was clearly bonkers but obviously ok, and happily helped carry my stepladder, hula hoop and dog's bed down to the shore!

First stop was going to be at the famous dead tree on the end of the rocky jetty, but nooooooo, it was gone!! Never mind, the rocks are big enough and flat enough to sit on and the backdrop of the mountains, the loch and the crannog more than makes up for any missing tree stump!

The trees along the head of the beach have wonderful twisted trunks that lend a kind of stately and organic contrast to the hard rocks and driftwood along the shore. Ashley and Emily settled easily into a nook at the base of an old tree and the soft green leaves of the trees behind completed the frame. Gorgeous!!

Surrounded by soft grasses and wild flowers, Brodie was thrilled to be allowed to stand up against an huge old tree root. I seriously think that given food, drink and his family, the wee man would have happily stayed there all day! His facial expressions were fantastic and I still chuckle now to think of him...

Further along the beach we played around with a tyre swing and got some shots with the island crannog and the Scottish Crannog Centre in the background, before heading round the mouth of the loch to Dalerb.

More trees, this time dripping with lichens, and the soft dappled shade provided excellent photo opportunities and an excuse for climbing trees... I don't need any encouragement and the girls bravely followed!!!

Finally, the blanket and the bubbles! Brodie was settled on the blanket as Ashley and Emily fired bubbles from a battery-powered bubble gun (who knew there were such things?), and all I had to do was watch and wait as the delight and wonderment took turns across the baby's face... I truly do love photography!!

A stunning location, beautiful family, fun, sunshine and bubbles... does it really get better than that? Thank you so much; you made a middle-aged lady smile and she's still smiling now!

Rebecca,x.
http://www.rtphtographics.co.uk/

p.s. we never did use the hula hoop!!!

The Birks of Aberfeldy

Sunday was another bright and beautiful day, perfect for a trip to the Birks of Aberfeldy!

Now, I'm not a Rabbie Burns nut, and if I'm honest I haven't a clue what half his poems and songs are about! But, if ever there was a song that summed up the gorgeous light that filters down through the trees and sparkles on the water, 'the Birks of Aberfeldy' is it!!

What a beautiful little spot and one that I shall revisit many times through the year. The autumn colours are going to be amazing and I shall certainly be back for that!

I can also see a model draped across these rocks in my imagination, so if you fancy that and want to do some modelling, send me an e-mail rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk and we'll definitely sort something out. Don't worry, I take great care of my models and will make sure there's plenty of coffee, hot chocolate, and anything else you need to be comfortable and warm!!

You can check out my website http://rtphotographics.co.uk/ and if you like what I do, get in touch and we'll have some fun!

So bonnie lassies (and laddies!) will ye go, will ye go to the birks of Aberfeldy?

Rebecca,x.

Across the Sea to The Isle of May

Friday was another day out for the East of Scotland branch of the prophotoinsights forum http://prophotoinsights.net/forum/index.php and what a corker it was too!

Blue skies, calm seas, hot rolls and coffee / tea / hot chocolate... perfect conditions for setting sail on a day of adventure. Cap'n Walter, First Mate Susan, Bos'un Sid and Bos'un's Mate Pips (er, that's me) climbed aboard the 'May Princess' at Anstruther for the 6 mile sea crossing to the Isle of May.

Home to literally millions of sea birds, this island has been reclaimed by nature from human occupation. The former monastic settlement, established in the ninth century, is still evident in the ruins of the 12th century chapel on the island, and the two lighthouses on the island were officially de-manned in 1989. It is possible to stay on the island in a bothy, and researchers and wildlife wardens obviously stay on occasions, but the vast majority of human visitors are day trippers such as ourselves.

The journey across was very much a part of the pleasures of the day. The crew of the 'May Princess' obligingly throw bread into the sea to attract gulls and gannets for the photographers on board.... which was pretty much everyone on board. There were more zoom lenses on that boat than a branch of Jessops on delivery day (probably not the best analogy in the current economic climate and the fact that Jessops doesn't seem to hold much stock these days, but you get the drift anyway!). One tourist with a compact camera was heard complaining that it was more like a day out with the paparazzi than a bird watching trip, but we weren't bothered and joined the throng in the gannet gallery.

The sea was almost dead calm, the horizon hazy but Berwick Law and Bass Rock clearly evident on the southern side. We were overtaken by a RIB, also from Anstruther and also heading out to the Isle of May, but from a photographers point of view, the 'May Princess' is definitely the way to go... though the kid in me would love to go by RIB one day as well.

As we got closer to the island, we spotted our first puffins in the water along with numerous other seabirds and seals.


No dolphins or whales unfortunately, but they are about and you may be lucky if you go on a visit one day too.

Three hours is not long enough to really see this lovely Scottish island, which just means we'll have to go back again!

The cliffs and crags are stunning. 150ft sheer drops and decked out with tufts of sea campion, pink thrift, sedges and grasses and all sorts of lichens and mosses, the island is a naturalist's paradise!!

There's so much more than puffins - we also saw fulmar, kittiwakes, shag, guillemots, terns, eider ducks, oystercatchers, even a rock pipit. I also need to go back and get some landscape shots with the lighthouses, fog horns and the chapel ruins. My dream would be to spend a few days in the bothy to get some sunrise and sunset pics and to have the island to myself for a while as well. That'd be awesome!!

So, eventually we returned to Anstruther. The day was still delightful and we spent an hour wandering around the harbour and popping into one of the local restaurants for a well earned brew and some grub.

I had to get back home to cook tea (with the obligatory trip to tesco, pah, I hate shopping... get's in the way of all that's good about a day), but Walter, Susan and Sid had a few hours still to spare so they followed me back across Fife where I showed them a little place I'd discovered in Wormit that offers views across the Tay to Dundee. Leaving them under the arches of the Tay Rail Bridge, I crossed the Tay Road Bridge leaving my day in paradise behind, but bringing home happy memories of a beautiful day on a stunning island in fantastic company.

Everyclick Counts for Charity!

Raising cash at the click of a button!

This is taken from one of my hubs on the hub pages http://hubpages.com/hub/Everyclick-for-Charity and it's not about photography, but is still something that interested me so I hope it interests a few other people too!

I'd never heard of http://www.everyclick.com/ but I've checked it out and I don't see how it can be wrong, so I'm in! Have a read of my blog post here, and if you think it sounds interesting, have a look at everyclick and see if you want to get involved too.

How it all started

I was cleaning the bathroom at home yesterday, and it got me thinking. I'm not wealthy by UK standards, far from it, but... I am rich beyond words compared to those many millions of people who are living on the very edge of existence in developing regions all around the world!

As I turned on the taps to rinse the cleaning agent from the bath and the sink, I thought about what I was doing. I actually have taps, with fresh, clean water running from them whenever I choose. Hot or cold, heck, I can even mix it and get warm water if I want!

I have a toilet that flushes into a sewerage system to carry all that harmful waste away from my home, away from my family, away from the place I live, and where I eat and drink and sleep.

I don't have to walk five miles to get water and then have to carry it five miles back home, while all the time it's warming up and providing breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes, or any other number of disease-causing organisms.

I don't have to wonder if it will be someone in my family that dies today of dehydration, or through lack of sanitation, or because of disease, starvation or poverty-driven civil war, or if will it be the family next to us that dies today.

To give or not to give

There is an argument for both sides. I have had many conversations over the years with many different people and opinions appear to be pretty much polarised.

"Why should we give to charity when our governments are wasting so much money and feathering their own nests?" An argument that is more poignant in the UK at the moment than perhaps it has been for quite a number of years. How many pumps for safe, fresh water could have been installed in rural communities across the developing world with the money our own politicians have fiddled out of the taxpayer over the years? How many childrens lives could have been saved?

"Why should we give to charity when the governments of the very countries we are trying to help are so corrupt. How do we know the money ever gets to the people we want to help?"

"Why should we give to charity when there is poverty and abuse and a need for charity in our own countries?"

My own thoughts have always been that I can't change corruption; I can't change the minds of the protagonists of war; I can't save everyone and I can't feed the world. But I might, just might be able to save one persons life. Or maybe two, or three... who knows?

It may not be much, but it's pretty much everything to that person, and to their family... and to the child they may have who can grow up healthy and free of disease because there is fresh water and sanitisation in their village, and access to primary healthcare and education.

A sort of ripple effect that started with a tiny drop of cash and a life that was saved.

Rose-tinted spectacles? Maybe.

Does that worry me? No!

Am I doing this and writing about this to make me a wonderful person and to salve my conscience for having the luxury of a bathroom to clean? Maybe.

Does it matter to the person whose life I may save? Probably not!

There are so many complexities to life and existence within this world. We are here for such a short time, why should I worry that people disagree with me?

People will always disagree and I will disagree with an equal number of people in turn. I can only do what is right for me and my beliefs. So long as I respect your opinions I hope that mine may be respected in turn.

To disagree is not to disrespect.

So what is Everyclick then?

Well, when I had finished cleaning the bathroom, I came in to search online for a charity called WaterAid. I found it, but also found a link there for something called 'Everyclick'.

It's a relatively new idea (I believe it started in 2005), and is a way of raising money online without actually doing anything except register and use their search engines. Every time you search for something, a donation is made to charity. Simple.

The money isn't taken from you. You give no bank details or private details.

I only found it yesterday so I don't have a great deal of knowledge about it, but I registered and I've used the search facility already and it all works fine. Hurrah.

What about WaterAid?

With Everyclick, I can choose to donate to any of the registered charities there, including WaterAid, or I can organise fundraising events, or I can simply raise money for the charity just by clicking the mouse!

I have done many things for charities before and I shall continue to do so as long as I live, but this is something that I can do without even thinking about it. Something I do several times every single day so that it will become habitual.

Even if it is only a fraction of a penny that is donated each time, so what? It will all add up and it is one more fraction of a penny than they had this morning!

Who knew cleaning the bathroom could lead to all this... maybe even save a child's life? By 'eck!

http://www.wateraid.org/uk/
http://www.endwaterpoverty.org/

All Good Plans...

You may recall that I mentioned a beach shoot with Irena that was planned for last Friday. Well, this is Scotland... need I say more?

It had been beautiful all week, so warm and sunny and gorgeous sunsets, it should have been perfect! Oh well.

Friday dawned wet, grey and windier than my other half after a chicken dhansak!!

The rain fell heavier & the wind grew stronger as the day wore on and all hopes of a beach shoot were well and truly dashed... as we would have been against the rocks if we'd tried to venture out in that weather!

But, Irena is a real star and before I could even finish saying "what about doing..." she was agreeing to a studio shoot in Dundee.

All thoughts of shorts, bikinis and fine art nude portraits at the coast were put aside and instead, we embarked on a three hour shoot indoors.

Irena is fantastic. She always works with me, never against me, and contributes all she has to the session. It's hard work looking effortlessly beautiful, but Irena can do it and then some! So many people wonder "how hard can it be getting your picture taken?", believe me... it's hard! So many poses that look natural and effortless are the most ridiculous positions to hold. You use muscles you never knew you had, and all the time trying to look gorgeous and relaxed.

Thank you Irena, you're amazing and I am so looking forward to working with you again... and we will get that beach shoot done!

rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk