A Week with Dogs and Kids in Aberdeen

A week in Aberdeen with Finlay and dogs various...

Based as we are in north east England, it's a fairly easy drive either north or south to visit friends and relatives.  What's more, the scenery tends to get better the further we go in any direction.  This last week saw us tootling up the road to Aberdeen to visit Finlay's grandparents.  We also stopped off near Edinburgh on the way home to visit my Dad.  All of the above have dogs too, so plenty opportunities to practise kids' / dog photography.

It's many years since I grew up in Aberdeen, where much of my time was spent cycling and walking in Royal Deeside.  I had honestly forgotten how jaw-droppingly, achingly beautiful the local countryside could look with a splash of sunshine on the Autumn colours.  Needless to say, I hadn't taken so much as a tripod, let alone the filter kit, so landscapes are sadly lacking in the following set of photos.  Family stuff also tends not to mix well with landscape photography but I will be back!

Anyway, as mentioned above, there were plenty other subjects worthy of attention from the camera so as always, it came everywhere.  Having a two year old in need of constant entertainment means you do tend to get out and about more than you might otherwise.  We visited the beach, various parks, went on long dog walks, had lots of sessions at the swings and spent a fair bit of time at tearooms and even a petting zoo.

All these places and situations are lots of fun in themselves but they're also photo opportunities in my mind at least.  Working with a really minimal kit (one camera, one lens, one flashgun) is obviously a bit limiting but it's the only practical way to work when out on toddler-focussed expeditions.  All these photos were taken using a D600 and 35mm lens - some involved a spot of flash from my venerable SB-800.