Our Week in Cornwall

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – EF 24-70mm f2.8 – f10 ISO 100 – Merge of 3 exposure – Starting with the picture of the week, an HDR montage of Watergate bay to compensate for the very cloudy and grey sky. The grass was not so green and the sea not so blue – but I promise the sky was as bad.

Very English holidays this Easter for the four of us – a family week in Cornwall. Our base camp was top class – the Bedruthan Step family hotel near Newquay. The hotel was great in all respect, we went to the indoor pool once a day – plenty of activities for the kids, more than decent food, a very clever baby monitoring system – and a stunning room with a view.

Chiara and Olivier had a blast – and both wanted to stay longer.

Not everything went perfectly though – so on the downside highlights here are a few –

  1. The Cornwall micro-climate is a myth. Seriously. It was wet and very variable, with a minimum of two showers per day. And the see temperature is 11.
  2. We had to listen to the “Frozen” soundtrack on average 2,2 times per day. And we were forced to sing at times. I’m having nightmares…
  3. Privately run parking are a pain. £100 for being 10mins late on a beach parking (costing already £1 per hour) – that’s not fair !

Given we don’t have many pictures, they will be organised per theme. As usual – you can click on any of them for a larger version – enjoy !

 

 

Jamie Olivier’s Fifteen Restaurant

Very good food – decent prices, stunning view and one of the most beautiful beaches around – really a dream spot – we had fantastic time for a few hours there.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – EF 24-70mm f2.8 (from top left to bottom right) – 1- The menu. 2- Olivier is the artist of the family, drawing while waiting his meal. 3- Mozzarella revisited (starter). 4- The restaurant and the beach. 5- Chiara with her (not a restaurant again…) face. 6- Fish feast. 7- Same beach from the top … another way a bit more sunny, it makes all the difference.

 

Tintagel Castle

Tintagel castle is a medieval fortification located on the peninsula of Tintagel. Plenty of walks/steps. We managed to make Chiara climb all the way for more than an hour while pretending we were searching for ghosts. Once she realised we wouldn’t find any – she suddenly got tired and we had to carry her. Stunning views – bad weather.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – EF 24-70mm f2.8 (from top left to bottom right) – 1- The view from the top – worth the climb. 2- Chiara climbing, steps as high as her legs. 3- Chiara resting, starting to realise we have to walk down now. 4- Olivier having a very difficult walk up. 5-Dramatic landscape on the way to the castle. 6- Resting after the final walk up the hill.

 

 

Bedruthan Steps Hotel

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – EF 24-70mm f2.8 (from top left to bottom right) – 1- The view from our room. 2- Chiara jumping. 3- Olivier eating. 4- Chiara applying for a falconry position.

 

 

Beaches

Obviously the highlight of the trip was beaches. It was cold so you will notice children (and us) wearing full winter gear when doing sand castles. Also water was very cold – I foolishly expected Chiara to have enough with her feet – but unfortunately she still managed to go all-in ! Olivier was as usual, much more cautious.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – EF 24-70mm f2.8 (from top left to bottom right) – 1- Digging in the sand winter mode – with the wellies. 2- Escaping death but freezing. 3- Chiara gaining confidence with her wetsuit. 4- Kids castle defeated by the tide. 5- Chiara, down after putting her head in the water. 6- The builder. 7- Pretty but cold, see you soon Cornwall.

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Photo Studio – The 2014 Take

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Olivier working on his Charlie Winston look. It will take a few more years for the final unshaved look – so plenty of time to learn how to handle a guitar properly.

18 months ago, we were at the Light Studio for our second shoot (http://lightstudios.org/) – two blog articles and a few pictures, this was our result at the time.

We were back in studio last week on the invitation from Pierre and Tatiana. For our third visit we were all pumped up to do better. So here we go with props and plenty of clothes ready for an extremely tiring morning ….

We used a standard setup, white backdrop and two lights. One main light coming from the left, with a very large softbox lower down at child-height – and a secondary light on the right hand-side to limit the shadows and simplify post-processing work.

 

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Something we learned with the years – if you want 3 (or more) people smiling at the same time, then you need to either hire a clown (which we didn’t have) – or try to create dynamic poses. Picture from Pierre.

 

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We went all the way with this princess setup. Obviously the model was more than pleased to comply with our wishes. Only the natural smile was tricked into Chiara.

 

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Father and son vs. mother and daughter series. Same thing here – we had dozens of takes to be able to find a handful with both models smiling at the same time. The guys are winning this time ?

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One which will probably end up framed in our house. We have hundred of pictures of them smiling separately but having them together this is a rare moment captured perfectly . Photo attributed to Sabrina 😉

Spring is here

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – EF 70-200mm f2.8 – 1/1600s f/2.8 ISO 100 – Crocus are out – spring is here.

We had two very sunny and surprisingly warm WEs in March – perfect time to visit the gardens, remove some dust from the camera and walk around the spring flowers. A big bowl of fresh air after some strenuous weeks at work. Chiara is is great form, Olivier in the middle of his terrible twos – but we’ve been here before …

 

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – EF 70-200mm f2.8 – 1/500s f/3.5 ISO 100 – Olivier in the middle of flowers. Obviously not posing, he was just wondering where to go next.

 

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – EF 70-200mm f2.8 – 1/640s f/3.2 ISO 100 – Chiara’s natural smile, while not looking at the camera. She was standing high in a tree – wondering who will come and get her down.

 

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – EF 70-200mm f2.8 – 1/3200s f/3.2 ISO 100 – Some spring pictures – otherwise we would only have kids and it would be boring. It’s always interesting to take “close-up” with this lens, the bokeh almost feel like the image is turning.

 

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – EF 70-200mm f2.8 – 1/320s f/3.2 ISO 100 – Olivier in the split second after turning back – without yet realising I was waking a picture. And yes that was just before his recent haircut !