The PK Perspective

Carnoustie    Saturday 24th July

As my sister was up with her husband and twins we had arranged to go over to my uncles house to see the Kelman side of the family. As there were too many people for one car me hired a 2nd so each had a baby and 2 adults per car. We got to Kelman central just as my father was pacing a hole into the paving in anticipation of seeing the twins, which he had spent the day before with. I had the most important person (except the babies) with me as I had picked him up on the way. My grandad, who at 94 is the oldest Kelman, so as I also had the younger twin in the car I had the oldest and youngest Kelmans, (well technically Tabby is not a Kelman but close enough). Father forgot to say hello to myself, my sister and his father and was straight to grandchilden.

Oldest and youngest of the clan

After Uncle Alex had managed to feed the clan and ensure we all had something to drink we enjoyed the day out in his garden which thankfully is quite large as with 7 children and a host of adults we needed a lot of space. I got out the camera to capture the gathering, especially grandad with the twins as he had requested such a shot.  The day was hot but muggy and the light awful, but I managed to get some nice shots. I had to keep the aperture a bit higher then I’d like as when you work with children the problem is they keep moving and if the depth of field is too short they go out of focus as they have moved between the setting the focus and pressing the shutter (dam fast things children!). This however left the problem with background being too busy especially with all the people milling around. In the end it was down to a lot of photoshop work to get the best shots. I found myself using a lot of monotone to get a good depth and contrast to the shots and also added a bit of grain to a couple to give them that little something more. Unlike lots of people I like high contrast in portrait shots, like dark shadows even on the face, but The light was too flat for this and the flash was just a bit too much trouble as it just gave babies something else to eat or older kids something else to stand on.

Most of the shots were of the babies of the clans, Tabby, Georgie and my cousins little girl Lottie. They were happy around the camera and were quite eager to eat it and put little fingerprints on the lens. Some of the best shots were taken by using the auto focus and putting the camera down in front of them and relying on the wide angle to give a good shot, but of course this is how the little fingers got all over it. Guess that’s what lens wipes are for though. The older boys (my cousins’ children) were too busy running around and playing football to get their photos taken but we did get a shot of all the kids together at the end.  Most important is we did the photo of grandad and the twins, the meeting of 4 generations. Grandad was wonderful as always and adored being with the new generation, so much so when the adults retired inside he decided to stay outside claiming that he couldn’t hear what everyone was saying inside was just going to say outside. Us Kelmans are a stubborn lot. My cousins husband had a term for this kind of behaviour, a Kelmanism, which is when we say or do something with such certainty others will believe it is right, regardless of weather it is. My eldest sister definitely does this and once made myself and my other sister believe that the sun was the other side of the moon!

Clan children

All in all it was a good day and was great to be with family, even if my own parents forgot to speak to their own children and went straight to the grandchildren. We enjoyed introducing the twins to the clan and gave them some early warning of what is to come and how stubborn and argumentative their family can be, but also how loving and accepting. Us Kelmans don’t worry about what others may think as we know we are the best!!!! (a Kelmanism I believe!)

Location: London  Time: 3-6/03/10

As my lovely sister has not moved back home to Scotland yet I had to brave horrid, smelly London again to see her and her family. I made the decision to go alone and that way i could actually talk to my sister about the non baby subjects as well as actually get to spend time with the children without grandparents stealing them! I traveled the 6 hours by train from sunny but cold Perth, through beautiful snowy scenes which I wish I could of photographed and run across (something about virgin snow that makes you want to put silly footprints in!), and into flat farmyards and skies that got duller and more miserable until we hit the big smoke itself. It was a long journey with lots of reading done but fortunately I got a double seat by myself the whole way, of course the fact I was spread across both with my earphones in, wearing my hoody and giggling to myself may have helped with that. I blame the giggling my Shifting sands of the Universe Prophet of course as it was his texts about a never ending series of cheerleader movies that amused me so much!

Anyway I digress! Once in the City I had to make my way to Liverpool street Station to meet my big sis. I managed to find the right tube to take me there, surprisingly easy actually! I whizzed through the tunnels sensing the history lurking in the darkness and the mysteries they held, but made it safe to Liverpool Street. Now the thing is that London can be very beautiful if you look hard enough. Kings Cross, St Pancras and Liverpool street stations are lovely if you bother to stop and look, which most people don’t. Then there is my sis and her babies, obviously the most beautiful things in the whole city! And my saviours as they escorted me through the rest of the labyrinth that is the public transport system in London. And in east London I spent the next few days.

How big sis manages to cope with 2 babies all day everyday is a mystery to me as I was shattered after one day and there were 2 of us. She really is pretty amazing. Of course her Husband is very hands on and is brilliant with the twins but someone has to earn the money. The 1st night I helped with bath time and it was all splashing fun though a bit hard to amuse one while the other was being bathed, think an extra set of hands helped out there! As I am only auntie B (for Bero, don’t ask why!) I happily didn’t help with nighttime feeds and snuggled into my makeshift bed instead. Well some jobs are purely parents jobs!!!

Georgina and Tabitha at 3 months old

The city form Greenwich Park

The next day we went to Greenwich park and after being annoyed at the very small lift which the double buggie only just fit into (so much for being disability accessible, a wheelchair user would of really struggled) we walked into the Haven of the park. It is a pretty impressive park and has a random deer enclosure that you can only view from a rather small area, a duck pond that wasn’t dreamt, and of course the Greenwich observatory on the meridian line and the center of time!!! well ok maybe not the last bit, but it sounded good and it does have a time named after it. Once up the hill (which is pretty steep so somehow I ended up pushing) the view is pretty impressive, the city spreads out in front of you and you can see how it has built up over the years. London looks so urban beautiful and peaceful from up there, pity you can’t see that once in the dirt and grime of the streets. Us grown ups enjoyed the park but the babies slept through the whole thing! So much for educating them in the outside world. Once back home to east London it was onto feed time, then play time, tummy time, nap time and feed time again before bedtime. Pretty much non stop but the girls are so lovely with their little personalities starting to show through and smiles and tongue sticking out rewarding us it is worth every minute.

The 3rd day we went to the more local Westham park and fed the squirrels who came to take the nuts out of out hands, very cute. Again another little haven from the city and me and big sis had deep meaningful talks and some not so meaningful ones while again the twins slept through it all. Hard life being a baby and all. Then back home to feed and play times and a bit grumpy times for Georgie! But we had a new play mat to try out so that kept us all amused for a while. I helped Tabitha figure out how to co-ordinate her hands, which she was so intrigued by that she couldn’t help staring at them. Which I guess is ok when you’re 3 months old and only just found them! Amazing to watch them develop, you can almost see the thought process in their faces. It was bath night again so I was hands on Auntie B and found that 2 hands are not enough when there are 2 babies, but think I did ok and the girls didn’t seem too bothered if I made any little mistakes and big sis seemed impressed with my efforts. Phew!

So soon it was time to head home and although I was keen to get out of London I wasn’t so keen on leaving my sister and nieces behind. Must admit I’d got rather attached to them all again and as my sis guided me through the labyrinth again, which was even worse than normal as 3 lines were not running, I did feel a bit teary. Leaving sis at Bank so she could go to pallattes class as her other half was looking after the kids I wished i could stay longer or even better she could move closer to me, after all I know she would rather be in Scotland. But I had had a lovely few days and got lots and lots of photos of very cute babies, even though I had had a few flash issues. Had borrowed Ian’s remote for the flash gun so it didn’t have to be attached to the camera and it took a while to get the settings right and also if I moved the wrong way the sensor wouldn’t pick up the flash and of course the girls kept moving just as I was about to take the perfect shot! However I did get over 400 shots so got a good 50 that were usable. Now I’m back home safe and sound and in the right country I do really miss them all and may have to brave the big smoke again soon to see them all.

The girls enjoying the jungle gym

Father with his new Grandchildren

Well my sister was inconsiderate enough to have her lovely new twins in December which meant going down to London to see them at avery bad time of year with very little money. I traveled down with father (as he said he’d pay my fare!).  So it was a 6 hour train journey from Dundee and an early start to get to Dundee in time for the London train. 6 hours on a overly hot train with a father anxious to meet his 1st grandchildren. Then in to Kings cross station and my least favourite  place in the world….. Smelly London!. Thankfully my brother in law met us and took us through the maze of tubes and trains and people and ghosts and memories to their home in east London. Only then did I become worth it. 2 beautiful little girls greeted us with their very tired mother, who was only too happy to hand a child or 2 to someone else and sneak off for a sleep. I don’t think my father has ever been so happy, well at least not since I was born!!

Over the next 2 days we had lots of snuggles with the babies and hopefully helped my sister out a  lot and filled her in on what was happening outside of the world of babies. Lots of cute photos were taken and must admit I totally fell in love with those 2 little miracles. My main photo problem was getting my father and other sister to hand the babies back to their parents to get a family shot. Think grandchildren are a bit of an obsession and maybe nieces too. The light was sucky most the time as the weather was wintery to say the least. London really does panic a bit over a bit of snow, though they did manage to keep the undergrounds running this time. Why do they stop anyway, they are underground, so not like the snow gets on the tracks!

Tabitha and Georgina snuggled up

Did manage to brave central London at one point to check out the wildlife photographer of the year exhibition at the Natural History Museum, which was very impressive (both museum and photos). We also popped in to John Lewis food hall to get dinner (fools we are) and that was an experience just before 5 in the evening, the week before Christmas. However the museum was good and it was snowing that day and they had an ice rink and carousel outside and it all looked very Victorian Christmas. However  I had left the camera at my sisters flat as was a bit fretful of taking my beloved camera into horrid central London as it might get damaged on the busy tubes or it might get stolen.

Although I adored being with my sister and nieces I was very happy to be coming back home and away from the hell that we call England’s Capital. Even the snowy journey on a cold bumpy train and a 40 min wait in a very cold Dundee to get back to Perth couldn’t dampen my spirits of being back in the calm of central Scotland. Although must admit falling on my face at Perth station because I was so tired my feet wouldn’t raise enough step up the steps was a bit of an embarrassing low! But good to be home sweet home. Must admit though that I miss my sis and the girls and can’t wait until they move back home to bonny Scotland!