Like I said in the last post I was sure I would be up taking photos of Tom straight away but I had completely forgotten just how flattened a person feels after giving birth. Newborn photoshoots are more physical than you might think so it was 10 days before I finally managed to put together the shoot that I wanted to do rather than just snatching a couple of random ones.

Tom’s nursery is a work in progress because he’s still sleeping in with me but right now that means I have a lovely empty room with wood floors and white walls and a very groovy rocking chair. I’d had some of these shots in my head for awhile so it was a lot of fun being able to try a few things out (and Tom slept for ages bless him).

OK, enough blabbing. I am just going to start putting photos up as I get to them in between photo processing and album designing. This is probably a first but I didn’t actually take most of these, Matt did. My waters broke at exactly 7:30pm on that Saturday evening (right as the credits to Dr. Who were rolling so hopefully that means he’s a sci fi fan like the rest of the family) and we were in the car heading to the hospital by 8pm when I realised I didn’t have my camera. Cue big U-Turn to go back and lots of laughter from all the neighbours out enjoying the evening sunshine and who had just waved us off a few minutes before. I couldn’t go without my camera though, I was so sure I’d be up photographing the new baby straight away. Strangely enough, when Tom arrived I wasn’t in much of a photographing frame of mind…who’d a thunk? Thankfully Matt was on the ball and I did manage to pick a lens and fumble with the settings so the shots weren’t completely dark. I think he did a good job and I’m very glad he took some because the whole thing is already becoming a blur to me.

to be continued…

…well, for anyone who doesn’t know yet, Eve is going to be a big sister

From yesterday, brand new baby brother to Oscar. More over on my newborn blog. Along with some of my new nephew Sam at just 1 day old )

I was really tired by now and my card was getting full. I put my head down a bit and started to head for home clicking randomly as I walked.

There was so much more that I wanted to see, I’m definitely hooked now, I have to go back. But I was all clicked out and I still had a wedding to photograph!

This is what I loved so much about New York, that you just never knew what was going to be around the next bend. I walked a few streets west and started to head back uptown again. I heard some music and followed it down a street where I found myself in the middle of a Ukrainian festival. The colours and the dancing were amazing.

By now it was noon and getting pretty hot. I was glad to get to the leafy streets of Greenwich Village. I wandered through Washington Square Park and stayed for awhile to watch these guys doing some swing dancing:

I didn’t stay in Times Square for long, I turned south and headed back downtown. One thing that struck me is how much greenery there is in Manhattan, all in little pockets. The first oasis I found myself in was Bryant Park, the building you can see through the trees is the New York Public Library.

I continued south towards one touristy building that I was making an exception for by searching out. The Flat Iron Building has been on my “must-see” list for so very long that I just had to spend some time just staring at it.