And when they're famous, I'll have ALL the (embarrassing) photos...

Have I ever blogged about the avenue I live in?  I feel like I have, but I'm not sure.  I think I've made Facebook albums and such about the antics we all get up to; water fights, barbecues, family days, evening drinks, day drinks, and all the other general goings on in our small, friendly avenue of 8 homes.

Over the years our children have grown - they mostly attend the same schools and spend after school evenings, weekends and school holiday doing as children should; getting outside in the fresh air, playing tag, chalk drawing the pavements and generally having a pretty fun childhood with a group of great kids.

In this gaggle of around 10-12 kidlings we have a fab foursome who have their hearts set on a career as the next big girl group!  They are 'Girls Next Door', and you guessed it - they're the neighbours at number 5 and 7 of our avenue.  Two of which are my own daughters.

Lilli, Poppi, Macy and Layla make up this gorgeous group and spend a lot of their time rehearsing songs and writing lyrics in their bedrooms.   They have made their debut performance already at our annual summer BBQ and they were amazingly confident and well rehearsed.  No doubt we'll be treated to many more concerts in the future!

On a warm evening at the end of June the girls were doing as they usually would.  I was working on something in the studio and they all popped in to say hello.  Before I knew it they had me clicking away at them as a group.  They didn't know they were actually helping me get used to the dimensions I have to work with in my studio and finding the best focal lengths for the space, but we had a blast.  They directed themselves on how to sit, what facial expressions to use and how they would like their portraits to look for their Instagram account!  It was hilariously good fun.

There were far more images than the ones included here in their blog and the girls were thrilled when I sent them all to them.  What was a fun half hour to them really helped me start to see the potential of my studio space.

So here you go...  Thanks for looking.

x Fleur x 

(as always, better quality version can be viewed by clicking into the images...)

What the Davies' do: Lilli, 10 years in the making.

There's too much to say right now.   I've started this blog at least 4 times.  I've typed and then hit the delete key over and over.  I can't find the right words to express how I feel about my first born getting to double digits.

10 years have gone in a flash.  We couldn't be more proud of the girl who first made us a family.  A whole decade of parenting has completely flown by.  And I feel like we've done OK.  There's been many a tough time, hundreds of arguments, plenty of tears and tantrums - not just from her.  Ha!  But the be all and end all of it is that this kid (along with her younger sister and brother) makes us the happiest parents ever.  I could carry on and on about how much I love her.  But I don't need to do that.  I'm certain many of you know exactly how I feel if you have children yourselves.  High tens all round for our amazing offspring!

The following images were taken a few weeks before she turned 10.  I had came across these fun sunglasses for a great price in Home Bargains and Lilli was excited to use them to create some new artwork for her bedroom wall.  There was no pressure here.  Just a Mum and daughter having fun.  The studio wasn't even fully ready at this point - it was literally just a wooden box.  But we didn't let that put us off.

As Lilli wanted these for her walls I opted for a variety of fun editing styles.  Which I love.  It was a bit of an epiphanic moment actually.  I spend so much time thinking my work 'should' look like this or that.  And it should stay looking like this or that.  But why?  I always describe myself as eclectic in my tastes.  It's going to start coming through more in my work from now on too.  Now that I'm officially old and wise! 😉  Or thats the plan anyway...

Thanks for looking,

Fleur x ~ https://fleurdavies.wixsite.com/fleurdaviesphoto

(As always, click into the images to see them at full resolution.  Cheers loves!)

A Mother's Dream: I will be in the frame too!

A Mother's Dream blog-circle:  I will be in the frame too!


And so here we are in May, at the second month of the lovely blog circle I joined at the start of April.  It's so lovely to see how us photographers who are also Mum's (or vice versa) like to document the time we spend with our kids.  Creating art, or (in my case mostly) just snapping away trying to document every tiny little moment and detail that I will no doubt forget at some point.  Lost to that part of the brain that only recollects with the help of an image on a a piece of glossy paper.

My last blog (not from A Mother's Dream cycle, the one immediately before this) documented my youngest turning 6.  I went for a different style than I'm usually used to shooting.  I would normally just go with real life.  Embracing the mess of our house or the surroundings of wherever we might be with my camera.  But for that moment.  Just after he'd got dressed and just before he opened his gifts, I had asked him for a few minutes of photos.  I wanted to simply capture him and his massive amount of character.  He did well considering he was probably daydreaming the whole time about the new HotWheels and Marvel goodies he had asked for.

So now we come to this month's dream cycle.  And the images that go with it.  They are much more me.  More us.  They are the unplanned.  The off the cuff.  The 'I must remember how cute he looked'. The mess of our home.  But what I loved most about these is that, as I was taking them, I at first was instinctively trying to not show my reflection in the mirrored wardrobes.  But what was I thinking?  I spend so much time behind my camera and never in front.  My kids obviously in years to come will know that it was Mummy who was taking the photo, but in this set I can be seen.  Baggy t shirt, grubby jeans and messy hair to boot.  But that's how they know me.  I'm the Mummy who will play silly games, sing in funny voices, speak in strange accents to make them laugh.  I can definitely make fun of myself.  I am the person that I meant to be because of my kids.  And I will from now make more effort to be in the frame.

Even if it is as a rule breaking reflection in a mirrored wardrobe.


Thanks for reading.  And after you've viewed the pics you can head yourself over to the next blog in this month's 'A Mother's Dream' circle here: "Easter holidays with my little ones." By the lovely Jenna.

Fleur x

(PS - It's best to click into the pics too see better quality versions...  Thanks Peeps.)

Birthday boy

It's criminal that I am now the mother of a 6 year old!  I know, I know - I'm also the mother of an (almost) 10 year old and an 8 year old...  What I should actually say is, it's criminal that my YOUNGEST is six years old!  Urrgghhhh!

He's a handful.  A ball of energy.  Funny.  More clever than he likes to let on.  Feisty.  And always has time for a cuddle with his Mummy (for now.)

So on the morning of his birthday I told him we MUST document the fact he's turned this grand age.  He said himself how he felt so much bigger and better now that he is 6.   He got himself dressed and I put him in his sister's room for a background where I could concentrate on just him and his character.  This is how that documenting went...

Thanks for looking.

Fleur x

(PS - It's best to click into the pics too see better quality versions...  Thanks Peeps.)

Movie night be like...

I was working on bouncing some flash in my bedroom.  I looked around and saw the bag full of goodies my Hubs had bought us and the kids for our movie night in the big bed, taking place later that evening.

I threw the crisps and cookies in a haphazard posed ish way onto the front of our bed.  My bedroom was only very dimly lit from a corner lamp over on the left (as I was looking) so I thought the set up was great to get a quick few mins of flash practice. - Every day is a school day!

So I began.  And little did I know that my kids (the youngest first) would photobomb my setup to create the most perfect Friday night pre Movie images.  Turning a little bit of a practice into a fun set of pics I will now be happy to print and display.  

Here they are...

Thanks for looking ~ Fleur x

(PS - the trick to seeing better quality versions of the images is to click on them... Cheers loves!)

The 365 struggle was real.... (a jesting post)

So my 365 completion date is upon me with under a week to go...  I'm not going to pretend I loved doing it every - single - day, but on the whole I am very happy with the result.  I'll blog monthly collages as soon as I get chance (so like in 2017...), but for now I just want to share with you a funny aspect for me of this photographic journal.

Some days I would get a shot early in the day - in fact for most of the first few weeks - maybe even a month, I would plan and have an idea of something I would shoot that day.  I'd get it done quickly and efficiently.  And of course, on long, bright days in the summer and on days out with family I'd have plenty of images to choose from.  I was never one to be too concerned with the *must-get-a-truly-artistic-shot-every-single-day*, but when I had chance to really plan that was great.  It didn't take me long to just accept and embrace the fact that I was documenting mine and my families lives for a full year!  And so much went on in this year...  But any who - I digress - I'll go into more detail over that with a full year blog...

*     *      *      *      *      *      *      *

So some days would be simple... And some days would not!  I work mostly in lifestyle photography.  Capturing moments - so naturally this sometimes means that time isn't on my side.  I have to get the shot and get it fairly quick (parents will know what I mean - these pesky (now) 8, 6 and 4 year olds can be rather unforgiving when it comes to waiting around for the camera...)  But I'm comfortable with that.

On the days where I had less daylight hours, no kids at home (alas this was the year my final baby started full time school) and dreary, typically dull British weather I would attempt still life photography.  Please don't chortle at my attempts!  I love all styles of photography, but because I don't practise it as much I struggle - always looking for a different angle or perspective...  So here is where my blog post is going:  Some days the 365 was a struggle - a real one.  What would seems like an epiphany of "Oh, yes, I'll use this moment now for today's entry..." (and in my head imagining it would only take me a matter of minutes to grab my camera and have the shot done) would turn into a reality of changing perspectives - click - alternate lighting - click - shooting specifically for a black and white conversion - click - changing perspectives again - click - trying an arty out of focus shot - click - going macro - click - shallow depth of field - click - realising my iso was way off - click again - pulling back - click again...  And this would go on and on, and before I knew it I'd spent the best part of an hour on the entry and had a compilation of shots of newspaper, a paintbrush and a picture frame!!

Ironically through (or fateful perhaps), the frame I was painting here is the one I will be displaying the final collages of this year long project within...  So here you go.  One day's "It'll take me two minutes" which actually took more than an hour from conception to completion! Ha!

Thanks for looking ~  Fleur x

www.fleurlouisephotography.co.uk