River

Last pieces of summer to go.
It was rolling slowly under the hot summer sun, serene and calm, surrounded by green meadows and endless blue sky.

The walk to the small river beach, refreshing coolness of water, the heat, the infecting lazy summer mood - it's all there.

Piú letti

3 reasons to have your family photos in Villa Giulia park

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Villa Giulia is a park in historic center of Palermo. It has its origins in 18th century and is remarkable for its perfect square shape with diagonal alleys dividing the park in different sections. Marble statues and fountains, a sundial, shady alleys and open spaces, and wide variety of trees and shrubbery make it a popular spot both with locals and tourists.  If you'd like your family photos to have lush green background with a touch of special Sicilian atmosphere, this park definitely should be considered. It ticks all the boxes - plenty of space, nice surroundings, easy access, lots of options for things to do during your photo shoot to get natural and emotional images (anyway we don't do posed photos on the benches or next to flowering shrubs!).  Here are my top 3 reasons why villa Giulia is a great location for family photo sessions. Reason 1  Lots of space and diversity. The park has an alley with Ficus trees, a little bamboo forest, a hill with cacti and succulen...
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Picnic, races and shenanigans

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It has started with family picnic at St Andrews Cathedral (we already had one photo shoot here). Then some random seagull wanted to join. Then we did some flower picking, crawling, running, and kissing. Then came races, and shenanigans. Some participants did not take the start command seriously. And some daddy moment :-)
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9 essential tips for taking great photos of your kids on the beach

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A lot of Sicilian summer is about the sea - it's a place to escape the heat, to relax and have fun on the beach with your kids, be it splashing, swimming, collecting shells or digging in the sand, reading or even napping! As parents, we often find ourselves reaching for our cameras or smartphones, eager to capture these moments and memories of the summer.  However, there are quite some challenges when it comes to getting beautiful photos on the beach - the biggest are strong sunlight, crowded space, kids moving all the time. During my 7+ years as a family photographer, I took hundreds of photos of clients and my own kids on the beaches in both Scotland and in Sicily. I've learnt and discovered a lot, what to do, and what not to do, to get beautiful kids' photos on the beach. Here are my top 9 tips and tricks, that will help you to elevate your beach snapshots to beautiful photographs. It's about essentials, nothing technical, and will work both for your phone and camera...
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Sand castles on East Sands

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First barefoot beach day (we do not really count those short runs on the sand in February, right :-) Really and seriously, with feet dipping and running on the water - this one is the first. First sand castle of the season. First sand fight of the season and first hand full of sand - this, and sand in the pockets, will stay with us well till November. And I truly do not mind, I love my barefoot beach days as much as these two. Matteo is building a bunker - tunnel covered with sticks and sea-weed, then with sand. Good camouflage, it was hardly different from the rest of the surface around the castle. He tested it after completing the construction - the structure resisted his weight and survived. One very proud engineer. We tried to build the moat too - it did not really work, water was too far. So it was abandoned after a short while. Maya was collecting small rocks and shells to decorate the walls and the big tower. They both carried big rocks to reinforce the wall...
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100 moments of summer

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Farewell spring! Our photography adventure for spring, the 20 stories, has come to its end as well.  Here's what our 20 stories were about. We made walks - to the Botanical Gardens, Lade Braes and East Sands beach . We baked cakes . Produced art in paintings and sculpture . Played with lego , dinosaurs , rabbits and all the stripy creatures . Tidied up the garden and tried on the summer dresses . We made music and theater . Read books and made picnics . Did gymnastics and ran races , with real medals to win. We also had lazy mornings and healthy naps . Some stories did not work, some just did not happen. Some are being postponed. Some just happened to be random snapshots - hence the mosaics above. It was interesting. Definitely creative and differently creative. Mostly enjoyable, sometimes frustrating (who's to blame for closed eyes, full memory card, not running fast enough or squinting against the sun :-) So, the summer photo challenge is on - 100 mo...
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At home

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She was reading to me. The problem is, I could not understand a word. I got some uti-puti and kalam-balam, and we are still trying to figure out what it might mean.  She was trying real hard, and her reading was also very emotional. She clearly feels for Goldilocks. Again, if I could just understand :-) Then there are naps. She still needs two of them, and she is still not very good at sleeping on her own. Working as her pillow provided me with a lot of reading time though :-)
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Seriously pink rock-n-roll

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Pink guitar, we have it bad - but matches well with a little girl in pink. The rock-n-roll issue is a big question, at least for now. But we tried - the strings, the taste and the feel of it :-)
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Forest walks

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Forest walks with a toddler are quite an exercise. Especially with an added bonus of a camera :-) What's involved? Jumping in the mud and trying to jump in the river. Collecting sticks. Collecting leaves. Walking in a wrong direction. Falling. Standing up. Stopping. Turning around. Then there is possible game of peekaboo. And of course trying to escape, especially when mom is taking pictures of some flowers and escape involves jump in the river :-)
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Garden project

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This project has been planned, postponed, amended - and finally implemented. Lots of serious work - weeding, cleaning some winter leftover mess, planting new flowers, as well as rake dancing and broom-guitar playing.
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Low tide on East Sands

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Suddenly the beach gets bigger. Muuuuuch bigger. And suddenly there is so much more to do, treasures to hunt, rocks to climb, sea weed to slide on, water to jump in. And other imaginable games and shenanigans.
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