This weekend, Greg and his family visited the studio for a family portrait shoot. Greg told me that he’s currently got a portrait of his wife, his son and himself hanging on the wall and that he wanted to replace it with one that also includes their lovely daughter! Greg had previously bought his bride a photo shoot voucher which was now being used for this wonderful keepsake.
Here are some photos from the session:
A while ago Jane called me to arrange an extended family shoot. On the day of the shoot, her family, her brothers family and her mum and dad arrived, in all 10 people. It was Jane’s mum’s birthday! There was the shoot today and a big party planned for the weekend (I hope it went well and that your mum enjoyed her birthday weekend)
Here are a few shots from the shoot:
20 Years of bliss!
A lovely couple from Watford visited the studio, M. decided to buy his wife a portrait as a 20th Wedding Anniversary present and I was lucky enough to be chosen as the photographer for the job. They wanted a large framed picture to hang on their wall M’s wife told me that she liked the white background pictures with natural poses that she had seen on my portraiture website and so that’s was the brief.
We started with the white background and some full length shots, then to 3/4 and on to head and shoulders. I tried to keep some variation, standing up, sitting down etc and we even managed to get M. to kneel on one knee for a couple of shots.
Once the high key shots were all completed and with my clients wearing black tops, I suggested that we might try using a black background and some directional lighting. They were ready to give it a try and 5 minutes later, with the backdrop replaced, the lights adjusted and a few test shots, we were all set. A short sequence of shots and the shoot was over.
M and his wife seemed to enjoy the shoot, there were lots of smiles and laughter (especially when we tried to get M to kneel down!). They were a joy to work with, very decisive, easy to direct and open to try different things.
Wonderful smiles 
A shift of mood
Greg and Adam
Opening hours at the Studio are pretty flexible, usually 9am – 6pm, 7 days a week. Last evening I had a late shoot , an 8pm start. If you are interested in a shoot and need an early or late shoot, just let me know.
Mum, dad and their two boys, Adam and Greg, arrived from Watford. For mum’s birthday, Adam and Greg had agreed to pose for portraits, they were in their early twenties and it had been many many years since they last visited a studio!
We started with the group shot, with the two young men taking direction very well and not seeming to mind too much. After a change of shirts we then moved on to individual poses by which point both Greg and Adam had mastered posing and quickly titled their heads positioned there arms and shoulders for each set of shots. Mum and dad watched intently and glanced over at the monitor to see the shots appear on the screen (I shoot tethered where images are downloaded from the camera straight onto a computer – this allows me to accurately and quickly check exposure, lighting etc).
A great smile!
This is fun!
It was a pleasure to meet the family, and work with Adam and Greg. (I look forward to seeing you again at the viewing!)
Edlesbrough Church
Today is the last day of half term for our eldest son and I’m looking after him and his younger brother, so the question was should we:
As you might guess, Mead Open Farm was the winner. So off we went via Edlesbrough (stopping for a quick picture of the church) and on to the object of the children’s desire! I’m new to this 1/2 term thing, I should have expected it, yes, every other parent from miles around decided that’s the place to take the kids today. I’ve never seen it so busy, the car park was full, as was the overflow. I decided that we wouldn’t brave the crowds, we headed back towards Berkhamsted and stopped at the Common. Both the boys were wearing their wellies and so they went for a walk and I followed them armed with my Canon EOS 5D. The youngest is still a toddler at 20 months old and isn’t too experienced at running through fields or the woods, he ended up on his bottom quite a lot but at least he was enjoying exploring all around him (even what was on the bottom of his boot!).
What's on my boot
I'll help you up!
What's this muddy stuff?
I love to pose for the camera!
Now it’s time to go and feed the ducks down by the canal and no doubt William will want to go for a Bambinocino at one of the coffee shops after.
Newborn baby
This weekend I had the pleasure to meet a wonderful young couple with their new, new baby. They arrived from Watford on Saturday morning proudly carrying their 3 week old beautiful baby girl. After a chat and having reviewed some example newborn pictures, the shoot commenced, little M didn’t seem to mind, she was still asleep and so I took advantage of this creating compositions with her lying down on her own, still and peaceful.
A beautiful moment
After a while, M woke, a little hungry; I remember those days, newborns asleep apart from when they are feeding … after a feed, we continued and mum, whose valentines surprise this was, joined her daughter on the stage. It was a pleasure to be working, seeing mum and daughter enjoying each other’s presence, seeing the happiness in a new mother’s eyes; who can call this work?
A proud father
As the studio session progressed, dad, who arranged the shoot as a Valentines present, joined the rest of his family on the stage, there were some wonderful intimate moments the emotion of which I hope I have done justice in the images I captured.
Another feed, a change of tops and another backdrop – I set up the studio with a black backdrop and a different lighting configuration, gone were the soft boxes and out with the brollies and a snoot. This section of the shoot followed a similar shooting plan as the first half (oops, yes I usually like to have a plan for a shoot), but the compositions were a little different to make the most of the directional, moody lighting.
A proud mum to be showing off her pregnant tummy!
Once upon a time, pregnant women covered their bumps in large frumpy maternity clothes but that’s all transformed. Ladies now show their pregnant tummies with pride; even celebrities, concious of their public image, show off their bumps for all to see. With such changes, maternity or pregnancy portrait shoots have become a popular event for mothers to be.
I’ve put together a maternity / pregnancy portrait page for the website. I hope you will find the information contained useful should you be considering having a pre-birth portrait now or in the future. The page details what you might expect if you were to visit my studio for a shoot, provides some food for thought regarding clothing options and displays some recent examples of pregnancy portraits I’ve produced.
