Kirsty Larmour Photography - Abu Dhabi Lifestyle Photography » Abu Dhabi

Earth Day | Abu Dhabi Photographer

Kirsty — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 14:57:44 +0000

Today is Earth Day. I totally forgot – until I saw this post over on the Bloom Forum – this explains why it’s environment week at the girls school too!! Which got the girls and I to chatting about what we do to help protect Mother Earth. And here are just a few of their own ideas on what we do in our family….

It’s tough to be eco conscious in Abu Dhabi – a city where not much grows and so much is imported, with such a heavy reliance on oil, and with such dramatic shortages of water… but we do reasonably well in our family – possibly because I worked in the environmental field for so long pre-kids!

My kids are pretty eco aware and these are just a small number of things off the top of their heads of what we do to care for Mother Earth – they love to hear me tell stories about her and about how they can help look after her…

In the spirit of the day I decided to update my own company Eco-Statement and post it here under the “Details” tab for all to see. It may not be much, but it’s my own little baby steps to reduce my own footprint and that of my work…..

What are you doing for Earth Day? I’d love to hear… Kirsty x

Rain | Abu Dhabi children’s Photographer

Kirsty — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:02:42 +0000

The weather is Abu Dhabi this winter has been crazy! Loads of sandstorms, and despite me getting my first session rained out in 4 years, we’ve actually not had our usual 2 days of rain….. so when there was a major downpour the other night the girls grabbed their wellies and not being bothered that it was dancing class day they headed out to jump in puddles….

Puddle jumping is something of an annual tradition for us now (see here and here!) and I’ve really been making an effort recently to capture the small things, the every day details, and the big celebrations… so much as puddle jumping in other parts of the world is no big deal I’m so happy I have this record of that one day each year when we get to do it here

I guess that’s it until next year now!! Kirsty xx

The Desert | Abu Dhabi Commercial Photographer

Kirsty — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 15:30:10 +0000

We love living right on the edge of the desert. Our winters are taken up with trips out for BBQs and the occasional camp out, and Saffy even asked for her birthday party out there this year… it’s just the most stunning scenery….

I’d been wanting to do a shoot out there with my girls for ages – but getting them to cooperate together doesn’t always work!!! So one afternoon when we were out Indy and I left Saffy and T and headed off across the dunes on our own…. just to explore and do our own thing as the sun went down..

I live for moments like this with my girls – a bit of alone time – time to let their own personalities shine (yes, she chose the hat herself!) and a chance to capture photos of not only this little soul that I love, but a place that we love too….

Thanks to the ever fabulous Courtneycourtney for this dress that just worked so perfectly in this amazing scenery….

I LOVE the fringing, absolutely love it… and the strawberry screen print is just the perfect icing on a set of pictures that just melt me….

So welcome, I hope you enjoyed seeing a little tiny corner of the world we live in…. Kirsty x

Kirsty Larmour Photography – A review of 2011

Kirsty — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:53:06 +0000

2011 – what a year!!!! I totally intended to post this remotely on New Years Eve while I was away but it turns our my hubby had picked a holiday destination with no cell phone signal or internet – oh it was bliss – but really I digress… what I need to talk about is 2011…… I have been so truly blessed by the amazing people this year has brought into my life. It’s been a year of smiles – a year of friendships – a year where I saw families grow – babies enter this world – love blossom – children develop. It’s been a year where I got to photograph weddings, engagements, births, babies and families – so many beautiful families.

It’s been a year where I’ve been able to spread my creative wings and take on more editorial and commercial work – and more charity work to help causes important to me. I’ve worked with truly incredible vendors who have trusted me to showcase their beautiful work.

It was a year where I’ve marvelled at the incredible importance of what I’m blessed enough to do, with photographs, in holding memories for families who have lost loved ones, seeing babies I photographed go off to school and I’ve felt humbled watching the strength of one of my families who are battling cancer with amazing grace.

I get to capture connections, I get to capture emotion, I get to capture precious moments in time, I get to capture realness…. I’ve shed tears, lost hair, lost sleep, not to mention lost my marbles a few times – but I’ve had so many smiles and so much laughter too – I pour my heart and soul into what I do and I can’t thank you all enough for your incredible support, and for opening up your homes and lives to me…

Enjoy some of my favourite moments….

Thank you for an incredible year – I can’t wait to see what 2012 brings….

with love, thanks and blessings and peace for 2012, Kirsty xxxx

Merry Christmas!

Kirsty — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:11:03 +0000

Merry Christmas from us all….

Yet again I had to resort to doing our Christmas cards on the self timer – but we had a lot of fun doing them… here are just a few of the results and a pretty amusing video showing the making of it all….

Hope you enjoyed – have a wonderful holiday season – and see you all in 2012,

Kirsty xxxx

Project 10 December | Abu Dhabi Lifestyle Photographer

Kirsty — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:26:52 +0000

It’s December! It’s December – oh my goodness, how can it be December??? To say the end of the year coming around this fast makes me feel old – that’s something Grannies say isn’t it??? But it’s hit me like a tornado in the middle of busy season here and suddenly it was the 9th and I hadn’t done my Project 10 (I feel like I’m at school making up excuses for sloppy homework!!) Soooooo, here we go (if you want to read about how this got started go here) I shot it fast and furiously on a hotchpotch of a day, and broke all the rules – I didn’t do one shot an hour; I didn’t narrow it down to 10 shots; and I didn’t get myself in a shot at all…. but given the craziness of the month maybe that’s for the best!!!!

The day started with an early morning photo shoot and I took a few moments to capture these on the way…..

I got home to find that Ivor, our Elf had not only toilet papered the tree which was sitting waiting for us to decorate – but he’d also gagged a nutcracker – my crossness at Ivor melted when the girls told me they thought he was probably just trying to help us decorate and didn’t know what to use – love how they see good in everything

Once we cleared up Ivor’s mess we started our own decorating..

She loves nutcrackers – her Nainai gave her this one last Christmas and she took more care with this one decoration than all the others put together….

And in the afternoon Indy went to a pony party at the stables – she was so proud to ride a horse….

See, told you it was hotchpotch – but some days are just like that – and December seems to be a hotchpotch month this year – I live in hope that life will calm down once school breaks for the holidays next week – maybe I’ll exude more calm for my January Project 10…

In the meantime, pop over and see Val Spring of the Red Balloon Photography – she left hers to the last minute too but hers is a million times less crazy and chaotic than mine…. I’ll see you in 2012 for another installment, Kirsty xx

Happy National Day – 40 years of the UAE

Kirsty — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:53:20 +0000

Today is the 40th anniversary of the UAE – it’s a day (a week even) filled with celebrations of the many things this country has achieved in it’s 40 years. It’s been through an evolution that’s pretty hard to comprehend, from desert living to a true 21st century country, and I’m lucky enough to live in the capital city, Abu Dhabi, an amazing modern metropolis.

If you’ve followed this blog you’ll have seen something of the UAE and the celebrations of National Day before here and here.

This week has been filled with parties, fly pasts, concerts, singing, dancing, competitions, fireworks and the whole city has taken on an air of celebration.

If you’re on my Facebook page you’ll have seen my girls all dressed up for their school party and getting into the fun of the celebrations.

For us it’s more than a 1 day party – this is the country where one of my children was born and she’s incredibly proud of it – and just as we celebrate Chinese New Year for Saffy who was born in China, we are thrilled to be part of the celebrations for National Day here in the UAE for Indy.

She may not be Emirati, but UAE will always be part of her identity.

The girls indulged me a little photo shoot for 5 minutes after school while they were still dressed up in their kandora’s and with some of the gifts they’d been given by their Emirati class mates.

These are just outside our flat – we live slap bang in the middle of the most congested area of town – it’s not the prettiest part but we love it here

So, to all my fabulous friends – Happy National Day – hope you’re getting into the spirit of the celebrations (yes, we even have flags on our car!) and enjoying the long weekend… until next time, Kirsty x

These three were gorgeous | Abu Dhabi Family Photographer

Kirsty — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:38:26 +0000

I’m a bad blogger – a really bad blogger – especially when it comes to posting my gorgeous clients – you see, over the last year my focus has been on actually getting pictures to clients – getting them in their hands, on their walls and on their coffee tables… and one of the sad facts of Abu Dhabi life is that people leave here, and move on to other places or head back home… like these three little cuties – who had a shoot to remember their time in Abu Dhabi before they left, and it was more important that they had their pictures before the movers arrived, and so I never got round to blogging them…

when I was looking back through this years clients I could hardly believe I’d not shared them..

are they just adorable or what??

I hope you’ve all settled back into life in England and have happy memories of Abu Dhabi hanging on your walls

I could have shared all the pictures from their shoot I loved them so much but I’ll be back to share some more client gorgeousness soon, Kirsty x

Project 10 November | Abu Dhabi Lifestyle Photographer

Kirsty — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:00:14 +0000

My goodness how can we be a 3rd of the way into this project already??? If you’ve not seen the Project 10 before you can read how we got started here. I usually do the project over a day the first week of the month – this month that fell on the week of the Eid holiday here in UAE. Much of the celebrating happens in peoples homes, but people also use it as an excuse to get out and about – we used it as an opportunity to go up to Dubai and do some things on our Dubai wish list!

The day started off gently with some lounging around…

before we set off on the journey… (yes they are the worlds biggest chapatis from the bakery by our home!)

When we got there things didn’t work out as we hoped – some things we wanted to do we couldn’t, but we did manage to get to Ras Al Khor, a wetland site in the middle of Dubai, to see the flamingos (and to check out how crazy big the Burj Khalifa looks compared to the rest of Dubai!).I worked on a Ramsar site back in Hong Kong so I was really excited to see another big city Ramsar site – I have to say, I was a little disappointed – but the kids loved playing with the binoculars and seeing all the birds

And then we headed down towards the creek to explore some galleries and have a rest and a drink

These girls will take any space and turn it into a dancing stage!!!

We rounded the day off with a trip to the Dubai Mall (the worlds biggest mall no less, and believe me it felt like half the world were in there!!) and dinner at the rainforest cafe, before heading to see the fountains, which we couldn’t see through the crowds!! Ah well, something for us to do another time… and here’s proof that even photographer Mummies break out their pop up flash sometimes, and take the cheesy tourist shot!!!

Now head on over to see what Hope has been up to this November,

Kirsty x

Project 10-October | Abu Dhabi Lifestyle Photographer

Kirsty — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:00:53 +0000

Wow, is it really already October??? I have so much to blog, so much to edit, so much to do in general… but it also means it’s time for another Project 10 with my fabulous group of fellow photographers from around the world (read about how we got started here)

I did my shooting for the project on Saturday – hubby works Saturdays so we always have a bit of a girlie day but usually along pretty similar lines each week – it starts with a long lie in before breakfast and getting ready for the girls various dancing classes….

After class we often head to the mall to do some errands – sometimes the girls twist my arm to have Starbucks for lunch, or maybe ice cream – this week Starbucks won… and there was a giveaway of Roald Dahl books at our favourite bookshop… Saturdays usually include some afternoon quiet time reading stories together so we headed home with their new books – yes, I persuaded them to get George’s Marvellous Medicine – it was my favourite as a kid!!

Afternoons are often spent making something healthy to go in the girls lunchboxes for the week… this week banana loaf…

And then we tackle homework, if there’s any left to be done, and before we know it the day’s over and Daddy’s home

And all too quickly Saturday is over and we’re getting ready for school again on Sunday….. now head on over to see what Jennifer over in sunny Santa Barbara, California has been up to….

Until next month, Kirsty x