Muddy Puddles

Whats your favourite TV show?

When asked, our youngest son Angus will tell you his favorite is Peppa Pig, ”I Love muddy puddles” is one of the tag lines… And lets face it, who doesn’t like muddy puddles?

Now when the opportunity arises for some muddy puddle action, its hard to hold any of our kids back, even if its blowing a gale and pour with rain, muddy puddles are just that good. So on a recent trip to visit my Parents, the kids took it apon themselves to make sure no puddle was left un-jumped and I slipped on a pair of Gum-boots, picked up a Camera and joined them.

I have photographed the kids enjoying muddy puddles many times before, so felt I needed to take a fresh approach. Keep it simple I thought, capture the moment, and make sure you get wet and muddy. Sounds easy enough, I shot a few frames to loosen up, and then things got dirty.

In the shot below, Emma’s feet are off the ground, hidden by a nice loud SPLASH as she jumps again. Jumping in muddy puddles, its just that much fun.

On a day like this there is only one thing to rival Jumping in muddy puddles, and thats running through them, especially when the puddle is large enough to really get moving. I dropped my shutterspeed just low enough to produce some blur and still hold sharpness in her face as she raced back and forth as fast as she could run. Awesome fun !!

Next came the “Run and Jump” as I dropped my shutter speed a little lower, timing each frame with as much care as I would use during a wedding.

I will be honest and say I did shoot around 120 images in 15 minutes, but when you are shooting moving subjects, especially at low shutter speeds, you have to play the averages game. I walked away dripping water and mud, with a 50% success rate, and 3 happy kids. Thats more than enough to keep me satisfied.

The above image, is it a Child’s Portrait? Certainly not in the classic sense. Is it technically perfect? No, not even close. Do I like it? Yes, its being printed as I write this so I can hang it on the wall.