Pollys Photo Blog

I can not believe February is over already but then I suppose it is the shortest month of the year! The 28 days of February flew by with such speed I have had to take a good look through my archive to remember everything I photographed. Again the weather has proved difficult I have never known such fluctuating temperatures and because of this the build up of blanket of cloud has been regular, with the light very flat most days. Although we have enjoyed some blue sky mornings rarely have these lasted all day, again making my work challenging!

I’ve had some luck though, the day I photographed the Powder White 1850 staff in Courchevel was stunning. To thank the chalet hosts for doing a good job selling my Bespoke Lifestyle Shoots to their clients I treated them to a shoot of their own! It was a fun two hours and we achieved some fantastic shots, not without the odd fall though and some scary moments! We were joined at the end of the session by a few random seasonaires all desperate to get shots for Facebook. Here are a couple of my favorites.You can view the rest here.

The Roc Merlet Chair & beyond towards the Petit Mont Blanc, Taking this photo I nearly lost my fingers thank you to the pistures for the tea and sympathy!!!

In mid February I took a trip into Les Avals with some friends, staying over night in the ‘Refuge de Grand Plan’ (Altitude: 2300m Lat: 45.3615, Lon: 6.66025). This is a trip Lee and I normally take with clients for Dynamic Ski Adventures, so it was fun to do it with friends for a change.
We were all meeting at the top of the Chanrossa chair lift after work at 4.30pm. The light was stunning so I headed up slightly early to take some photographs of Roc Merlet in the evening sun. This was to be a decision I soon regretted, it was so so cold I lost the use of my fingers 20 seconds after taking my gloves off,  not great preparation for the hike we were about to do over the  ‘Pas du Roc Merlet’ ridge. Fortunately the securitè des piste invited me into their hut for a cup of tea while I waited for everyone. I recovered by the time the others arrived and got everyone back for being late when they had to wait at the top, as I struggled with the steepness of the ascent. The snow was so soft  it fell away from under my feet as I tried to climb, it was hard going, at -17ºc . If only we had decided to use our skins it would have been easier, it is always a mistake to judge distances as short at altitude! The ski down to the refuge was wonderful fresh tracks in thigh deep powder, it was fantastic snow.

The view at dawn ' Mont Blanc ' and the ski out

After a hearty meal, several Vin chaud’s and a sing-song by the fire I retired to a surprisingly warm comfortable bed for a well deserved sleep.
I had to work at 9 am, so a hike up ‘Le Petit Mont Blanc’ in the morning was out of the question. We made the most of the ski out however, enjoying fresh tracks at dawn (7am) in knee-deep powder as light as icing sugar as the sun came up!  It was an awe-inspiring experience that helped me remember why I spend my winters here! I had the biggest smile on my face all day.  You can view my gallery of the ski here. I didn’t take many shots as I was too busy soaking up the atmosphere for myself!

Cubbie... dog or wolf?

I have started training for ‘Val to Val’, I am skinning up the mountain two or three times a week and I have a companion who joins me some times. ‘Cubbie’ the resident dog at ‘Le Boulotte’ in Courchevel 1650. Cubbie is very good company and really knows how to cheer a person up, I can’t help but laugh out loud watching him chase me down the off piste to the side of the Chapelets chair. However the punters on the piste are not as amused, he could easily be mistaken for a wolf as this photo shows…’il est très gentil!’ I shout as we slide past at speed, I love it!! See more photos of Cubbie here. Apologies to all those unsuspecting skiers on Chapelets that are not sure if he is a dog or a wolf.

I’m hoping for lots of snow and blue sky days in March so I don’t have to disappoint anyone at Easter…Fingers crossed. I am also heading back to Sheffield for a few days to sort out my studio opening in May and catch up with 2010’s wedding clients…..

Take Care & Ski Safely!!!!!!
Polly

Courchevel 1650 Lee Townend Snoworks Image for sponsors

This month snow arrived by the bucket load here in The French Alps and everyone wanted powder shots!!

'early morning lesson on the magic carpet'

I’ve had some fantastic days on the mountain with a diverse range of clientele from ski instructors needing shots for their sponsors, corporate groups and families with amazingly good 3.5 year old skiers!! (Christian). I have made some fantastic images, It’s been an exciting month. Here are a couple of my favorites! to see more go to recent events at www.dynamicskipictures.com

'homemade cake for 300 guests'

Things to look forward to in 2010
I am working on a cook book with my parents it is going to be a celebration of their long careers in the banqueting industry. It will show the development of cooking through the last few decades and it is full of all sorts of images and recipe’s. It’s been an absolute pleasure working with them and it has made me appreciate  how hard they have worked. They are well-known in the industry as been among the best mass caterers in the UK and I hope the book and my images do them justice!!

It has been such an experience collating images for a publication I have loved the work so I am looking forward to doing much more book illustration work for other publishers in the very near future! Check out The Baldwin’s Omega Sheffield web site for more details on my parents restaurant. The book launch is in September. I can’t wait to see the finished article there will be more on this later in the year but here is a taster of an image from the book it will be accompanied by a recipe for very tasty cake!

2010′s Epic Charity Challenge
I have spent a long time during January organising an epic challenge for 2010. I am organising a sponsored event in April with a group of friends. We have set the challenge of VAL THORENS to VAL D’ISÈRE. An off piste ski tour over two days (usually a three-day trip) we will have to go hard to reach are target but I am sure the thought of benefiting our two chosen charities, Disability Snowsports UK and Raleigh International, will keep us all going; although I had my first serious training session today and I have just realised the size of the task we have set ourselves!! More about this coming in a special blog soon….

February has got off to a fantastic start can’t wait t tell you all about it already!!! Have a good month!!

Polly

Kaluma Travels fab Chalet Courchevel 1850

December what a hectic month!! The start of the ski season is always so busy. Dynamic ski pictures is in full swing, although the weather has not been kind. I had a lot of chalets to photograph and the start off the month saw a distinct lack of snow and the end of the month a lack of blue sky days so It’s been a struggle but I got there in the end and all my clients are happy so that’s all that matters!!! January is looking more promising!!

This is just one of the chalets its a fantastic ski in ski out chalet in Courchevel 1850 ran by Kaluma Travel. To learn more about my commercial chalet photography service follow this link Chalet Photography By Polly A Baldwin.

It’s a strange time for me at Christmas as I am already working on producing images for 2010’s Christmas cards for clients. So I am thinking a year ahead all the time. I spent Christmas and New year at home in Bozel with close friends it was great to take some time out to relax! Unfortunately the bad weather has forced me to postpone all the lifestyle shoots I had booked but my clients have rebooked for later on in the season so all is not lost!!

2010 promises to be exciting so watch this space for my January blog that will have more detail on what’s to come…..

Another busy photographic month. I have been getting together all the images for a cook book I am working on. I am really excited about the work but unfortunately I can’t tell you all about it until next year, it is due to be published next September so keep checking back for updates.

My Parents at My Dads 70th

My dad was 70 In November and celebrated with a couple of parties over the space of a week. I obviously photographed at these do’s, one was a special lunch at his restaurant Baldwin’s Omega Sheffield, you can follow the link to see the slide show of the day

David’ s Cocoa and Horlicks Lunch or click here to view and purchase prints.

His second and main bash was a gig night again at Baldwin’s staring Paul Carrick (anyone over 40 will know him from Mike and the Mechanics). Although I did take some photographs at this do, there were so many old friends attending I was so busy chatting I handed the main job over to Chuffed Productions my brothers TV production company. I did take a few though this one of my parents and the rest can be viewed here.

Piggy In The Woods

I have to say I have photographed everything from slaughter houses, alive and dead Turkeys to flaming Christmas puddings this month but my favourite image is this one of Dave Sheppard’s Rare Breed Pig.

A word of warning when photographing pigs always keep an eye on the biggest one! It’s a little scary when you end up knocked to the ground with a large pig standing on you nibbling your boots. Particularly if you have recently watched ‘Snatch’ the movie. I came out unscathed to tell the tale and got some fab pictures you can see the rest here.

I am off to France now for a couple of months, The snow has arrived and it’s time to head out and finish off some commissions and start on some new ones. You can keep up to date with me on Twitter or Face book, and you can keep checking the recent events on my website to view any public events I cover. www.dynamicpictures.co.uk

October was a busy month a week at the ski show in London in the middle of the month working for Snow and Rock always makes October go quickly. A trip to France to shoot some chalets was also interesting work however there are two photographic highlights of October for me:

Alex’s 40th Birthday Party. 80’s school disco theme was brilliant I have never been at a party when as the music started every single person in the room got up to dance. Although I am a little young to appreciate the 80’s fully I remember my brothers record collection very well!! Here is the dvd slideshow from that evening of some of the shots.

Alex’s 40th slide show

The second highlight was pet portrait session with Lilo the cat, she is very sweet difficult to stop her licking the camera though!! I will never forget the delight on the owners face when I unveiled this life sized print beautifully framed. What a fantastic Birthday surprise!!

Lilo chillaxing!

Watch this space for Novembers news…… pig portraits, Big Un’s 70th and preview of the book I’ve been working on not to mention my new look website launch!!

The big moment...

It’s been a fabulously long summer full of exciting trips and events to photograph. Although recession is hitting everybody hard it is becoming more important to spend your budget on quality advertising and quality photographs are key to attracting new business this is keeping me busy during the week and fortunately for me people are still falling in love and getting married, I have photographed some lovely weddings for some lovely people.

I can’t possibly write something personal to all the bride and grooms I have had the pleasure to work with this summer and I can’t single anyone out so here are a couple of my favorite images from just a couple of the weddings I have photographed this summer. Thank you to all of you for some brilliant days.

If you would like to view more of my wedding images go to www.dynamicpictures.co.uk

The wedding Party

Welcome to my blog,  My work as a photographer is very varied and my clients are always asking me what I have been working on so this blog is a great way to show you all. To learn more about my services check out my website www.dynamicpictures.co.uk