Tony Estcourt

Mae in the lounge - 1998.  This image is of my oldest daughter Mae when she was 9 months old in 1998. It was taken at my brother in-law's house in Suffolk which was being refurbished.

I used my trusty roll-film camera (a Bronica ETRS with 40mm lens), Fuji Velvia transparency film and natural window light. I remember setting up the shot as a kind of still-life, then at some point Mae walked in and climbed on the sofa.

22 years later I am very pleased with how the image has scanned, it looks so clean and sharp. In some ways better than the original Cibachrome print which was on pearl-finish paper that Ilford did for a while.

Ruby 2021 - The farm we stayed at in Cholderton had a few opportunities for night-time photography. This avenue of trees formed a great background. My original idea was to get Ruby to run through the tunnel with the phone on...creating a moving line. As we continued it turned more into a portrait session. The idea is that the phone lights the face and some of the tree-tunnel as well. Technically the whole thing was tricky, especially after a few beers. The tree was lit with my LED bike light and Ruby was lit with off-camera flash and also from the screen on her phone. Not quite technically perfect as her eyelids are slightly blurred but overall I'm happy with it. Interesting how one idea ends up developing into something completely different. Fuji XT-3, 10-24 lens.

Daisy - 2023. Daisy kindly agreed to sit as a model at the camera club. We were also joined by Cole Watkins who is way better than me at setting things up. He had a bag of props and a ring-light which really made a big difference. Really pleased with the result.