Skip to main content

Class and Team Photos

I've not been posting much lately as I've actually been quite busy traveling to the various schools I do taking their class and team photos.  Unfortunately that means even though I am busy, I have very little to share.  I love sharing my work but with so many children in each photo its just not possible to obtain permission from all the parents in order for me to share them. 


But last year I created a photograph of the Hinckley Running Club Juniors which is a local athletics club founded by my husband, Andy.  This photograph is very representative of the style I use with all my classes and teams so I thought I would share it, as I did manage to gain permission from the parents for the use of this photograph.  I like to make my group photos more fun and where possible will incorporate items that represent the group to make it even more memorable for those involved. 

I love that we have a keepsake of such an image that will be invaluable to those in it, and indeed for my husband who runs the group, in years to come.  We love looking back on the class and team photos we have and seeing just how much all the children change over the years and in some cases realising that there are people who've been in our lives much longer than we ever knew. 

I still have all my class photos from when I was a child.  In fact I have every class photo from Kindergarten (age 4) to year 6 (age 11) and then a yearbook from Year 7-Year 13 and a yearbook for the year I graduated from University (where I was the Photo Editor).  For those who don't know me, I'm Canadian but been living in England for nearly 16 years now.

While I'm here I thought I might include my very first class photo.  Which incidentally has brought me back in contact with several people on this photo after I posted it to Facebook a number of years ago.  So for me, it is well and truly priceless.    I'm the one in the lovely (and clearly in fashion) red and white checked outfit sitting just behind the black sign. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I am Still Me: A Story about a Transgender Boy

  Meet Leo. Leo is 15 and currently going through an epic transformation that has momentarily turned the lives of himself and those around him upside down. A mum who once had the daughter she always longed for is now coping with the realisation that she will be living the rest of her life with a son instead. When your child is born you have certain expectations of the typical life they will lead but most of us know and accept that it won't necessarily end up the way we imagine. Not every person wants to marry, have kids or be involved with the opposite sex. Most of us have come to accept this and can adjust to whatever comes our way relatively easily. But few of us have expected to have to deal with a change in sex. Its not that we've hoped it won't happen, but just that it never occurred to us that it might. This is a new adjustment that we as a society are being presented with today, just like so many others that have come before. When I first heard that Phoebe ...

Winner of the Master Photographers Association's UK Family Portrait Award

This year for the first time I decided to join the MPA (Master Photographers Association). As a qualified member this entitled me to compete amongst other professionals throughout the UK. Last night the awards ceremony was held at the Hinckley Island Hotel (amazingly close to home for a change) where I received the news that my family portrait won its category. I am over the moon that it was a unanimous decision from all judges who felt it stood out against all others in the category making it the clear winner. And to have John Stoddart, a man who has photographed a great number of A list celebrities, present the award telling me this is a fantastic image was the icing on the cake. I'll admit that I have never really regarded family groups as my strong suit. They are hard work and not always the most challenging creatively. Until now that is. This project which I consider to be a joint effort along with my clients involved much planning and creativity. Together we came up...

Playing Dress-ups and Creating Fine Art Portraits with These Lovely Young Ladies

Now this is exactly what I like to do. This was not only a fun and creative session but it was also quite relaxed and low stress as each of these girls were old enough to both be patient with me and follow instructions. This allowed me to use my skills to pose and direct as needed, rather than what can happen with very young children who either don't understand the instructions or who really just want to do their own thing. Although the very young bring their own magic to a shoot, like a cuteness factor that can't be beat, being able to take my time and direct my subjects means I can create the vision that is in my head. Probably what is most frustrating about the very young is that I can often see exactly what I want to create but without a little help from the child its not always possible. In this case all four girls worked very well and I think they all enjoyed themselves too, even the youngest performed beautifully and I couldn't be happier with all their portra...

My Associate Panel

As I mentioned in my last blog, I achieved my Associateship in Portraiture with the SWPP (Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers).  I just thought I would share with you the panel I submitted.  Having sat through the assessment I see that there are a couple of images that I wish I hadn't chosen, more so due to not having enough variety rather than the lack of quality.  but overall I am pleased with my submission. I always thought that once I achieved my Associateship I would be done with qualifications.  Working towards a Fellowship just seems so unattainable.  I don't think I can just sit here not striving towards a goal though.  Besides, my husband has already set 5 year plan.  So I guess I've not seen the end of qualifications just yet.  But don't be expecting any news on this front for quite some time though.  A fellowship is on an entirely new level and its going to take a lot of work. 

The Convention: A Near Winner, a New Letter Beside My Name and a Really Great Time!

Once again I attended a fantastic event run by the Societies for photographers from around the world.  The Societies Convention is held in the Hammersmith area of London each year at the start of year.  For me its like Christmas and New Year all over again.  This year my husband and I were apart of the event from the very beginning to the very end.  We saw the set up, he saw the taking down (thankfully I was resting at that point).  For the first time I was able to attend the business school, see some of the print judging and sit in on some of the Qualification Panel judging.  More specifically, I got to see my own panel being judged.  It has been some time since I applied for my Licentiateship with the SWPP and though I had been meaning to take the qualifications further one thing lead to another which meant this took a back seat.  Until this year when something told me to just go for it.  What do I have to lose?  At worst I get some ...