Skip to main content

A Most Wonderful Portrait Session with 3 Lovely Ladies


This was a dream session for me. Not only did I have 3 beautiful young ladies, but they also brought with them a fantastic wardrobe and their very own hair stylist too (mum owns her own salon). So all the elements for beautiful portraits were there. And I was thrilled to get this opportunity.


Its easy to think of having portraits when you have a new baby or when you get married or have a special family occasion where you get the entire family portrait done. But its less often that people think of having their growing children photographed. After all I suppose, they are photographed at school. I even do some of those school photographs. However, those portraits are made in less than a minute per child and they are assembly line style portraits while they are wearing their school uniform. They are never going to be as special as what can be created with unlimited time and outfit changes in the comfort of a private studio.


Its in this environment that I can take the time to talk to the children, get to know them a little and work with them in a way that brings out something special. Children are not at their most comfortable with strangers. Why would they be when we spend their lives telling them to be wary of strangers. So in here I can take my time with them. Not only that but they are invited in along with the parents for a consultation prior to their session where we have a chat and discuss clothing and prop choices so that the session can be planned in advance in order so that I can create images my clients will love.


In this case this client had already lots of beautiful clothes. I have plenty available also but I felt theirs worked better. I only contributed one dress this time (the one above). Since this shoot I have managed to acquire some of my own black dresses also as I loved them so much. I had never imagined putting young girls in black but it really does work so beautifully.


In the end we had so many to choose from. The older child was such a natural in front of the camera. I could have worked with her all day. I suspect the younger one will be too when she gets older. In those moments we got the wee one to co-operate her connection with the camera was quite strong too.


I can only imagine what these portraits are going to mean to this family over the coming years. When these girls are their mother's age looking back at this time in their lives is going to be incredible. I think its easy to forget that our parents were ever as young as we are and hopefully this will give them a wonderful reminder of what it was like growing up and a reminder of just how young and beautiful Mum was when they were little. I really wish I had something like this of me with my daughter. But I was always too afraid of the camera, something I will forever regret.

So if you, like me are putting this off just because you are afraid, please don't wait any longer. You will be so thankful once you get it done and its something your children will cherish for years to come.

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...

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. 

Family Portraits - With the Entire Family

  I recently had the pleasure of photographing Mum and Dad, their Son and Daughter and their Son and Daughter's families.  It made for a portrait of 10 people altogether which of course comes with its challenges.  But we got their in the end and I'm thrilled with the results.  The hardest part of course is getting everyone looking their best in the same photo.  It rarely works out in such a large group but I managed to get several with only a couple of Photoshopping, head swapping requirements.  But my skills are up to that challenge quite well these days so I'm almost always quite confident that everyone will be happy with themselves in the final family portrait chosen.  And I have to admit I love the challenge of taking a great face from one image and making it fit so no one notices in another image.  As is usually the case, I also photograph the large group in smaller subsections as its a good opportunity, while everyone is d...

More Workshops for 2011!!

This year we've decided to launch a schedule of 5 training events.  Our training is designed as an introduction to lighting and workflow or a confidence builder for those who feel they've lost their way or never really got it straight in the first place.  The day is split in two with the first half looking at lighting.  We cover high key, mid key and low key set ups explaining each light required in detail with time allowed for each attendee to have a play with the studio lights themselves.  After lunch we then look at workflow.  We take your through importing and sorting images in Lightroom, making adjustments and enhancements in Lightroom followed by exporting to Photoshop.  We then take a closer look at the imges in Photoshop, going over the ways in which we treat all our images.  This includes the use of Kubota Actions.   These workshops are running on the following dates: Wednesday February 16th Tuesday March 8th Wed...