18th Birthday Party Pics

Having been lucky enough to have had the chance to try and capture some quite large, public events with the camera, I wanted to  also try my hand a photographing a smaller, more personal 'event' . Thanks to good friends, Hazel and Jo, I was given the chance of attending the 18th Birthday party of Ffion, Jo's nice, in Llay Miners, a couple of weeks ago.  Because of family commitments, I could only be there for an hour or so, and though there wasn't a 'brief' as such, I knew that Ffion and her Mum, Heather, would like photographs of Ffion with her brother and cousin, informal portrait style, a few general shots of the guests, and shots of the band who were due to play at the party.

I arrived at the party after it had been going for around half an hour, and had a brief chat with Ffion and her Mum, during which I suggested that it would be nice to get some shots of Ffion, Heather and Heathers' Mum, the 3 generations together too.  Jo asked if I could get some shots of her, her husband and little girl too, and I said I was quite happy to take photographs of any group or individuals at the part who wanted me too - Ffion and Heather seemed to like the idea, so it was out with the camera and off I went.

First on the list was to get the group portraits shots involving Ffion - before the party got too hectic, and so she could concentrate on just enjoying herself.  We headed just outside, as I knew the light would be particularly good, and I started snapping away.

 Then they were joined by another cousin,

 And I couldn't resist this picture ...     















And then the shots of Ffion, with her Mum and GrandMother

Once these were done, I then just 'wandered', grabbing photographs whenthe opportunity presented, but trying to include as many guests as I could - in between, Jo and her family, and a couple of other groups asked me to take more portraits outside.

The the band took to the stage - they are called 'How Monsters Function' - and I walked into a cracking rendition of 'Teenage Kicks', after the last set of photographs outside.  I'd spoken to the band in advance, asked their permission to take photographs, and agreed to send them copies, so I set to work . . . they had a got the guests up dancing, so I took some shots of the guests, as well as the band .

I delivered the photographs about a day later - Jo was able to tell me that both Ffion and her Mum were very happy with what I had done.  How Monsters Function liked the pictures that I had taken so much, that they used a lot of them on their website gallery.

How Monsters Function Website

It was a fun experience, and again, lots learnt - not least that I need a really good flash gun, asap!