Vicki Knights Photography - Surrey family photographer, Surrey baby & child photographer

Business headshots of Robyn & Neal Hatley

2012-01-31T22:39:00.000Z

I had the pleasure of meeting Robyn for the first time last summer...she is full of energy and smiles and describes herself as a serial mumpreneur! Just hearing about all of her businesses and projects makes me feel quite exhausted! One of the businesses she runs is called Mums the Business which helps mumpreneurs to promote their businesses and attract the right clients. If you are a mum in business do check out her website. She booked 2 of my headshot sessions, 1 for herself and 1 for her husband.

Here are some of the headshots I took of Robyn at Harts Boat Yard in Surbiton. The b&w shot on the left is right at the end of the session as we were having a coffee and a chat. I love the fact it is exactly how she looks as she's chatting to you!

Robyn's husband Neal is a well-known rugby player who used to play for London Irish and now coaches their youth academy. Unfortunately it didn't mean much to me but Karl was very impressed when I told him who I had been photographing that day! Apparently he is the most capped player of the premiership ever...I don't know much about rugby but even I'm impressed with that statistic! Neal only had professional photos of himself in his rugby kit, and needed some headshots of himself looking a little more formal now he's a coach, but still relaxed and natural. I think these fit the brief!

And then, as couples never seem to have any photos of themselves together since their wedding day, I took a few shots of them together. We can't quite remember what I said to get such big giggles in the left hand shot!

What a lovely happy couple they are! The eagle-eyed amongst you might spot that Robyn was also on the photography workshop I ran a few days after her headshot session, she certainly overdosed on me that week!

Friday's 'Photography for Parents' workshop at the Medicine Garden, Cobham

2012-01-30T13:23:00.000Z

I had my 2nd 'Photography for Parents' workshop of the year on Friday and we had a beautiful sunny day for it and a lovely friendly group!

I was really touched by this comment from one of the feedback forms:

"Vicki, you made the workshop fun and informative. It is a real skill to be able to condense such a potentially complex topic into half a day. I am amazed that you managed it so well - it seemed an impossible task with all of the different cameras and personalities. Yet Vicki, you did it beautifully. Well done and thank you so much."

Feedback like that just make it all worthwhile! And I've already had emails from some of the group saying that they were practicing over the weekend and can already see a huge difference in the photos they are taking.

I announced a 'Photography for Parents - the next stage' workshop in May on my Facebook business page last week and it's already sold out! This workshop is for anyone who has previously attended my 'Photography for Parents' or 'Photography for Creative Business Owners' workshops. Please let me know if you are interested in attending this workshop in the future (I will probably be running another one in the autumn) and I'll email you before I announce the date so that you don't miss out. And please like my Facebook page to be one of the first to hear about future workshops and special offers.

And I'm very pleased to say that my new workshop website is nearly ready! It's taken a lot of hard work, but the design is now finished, and I'm writing the content in any spare minute I get. I'm hoping to have it live in March (and now I've said publicly, I have to stick to it!)

A family photo shoot in Richmond Park

2012-01-26T14:26:00.001Z

Do you think that the winter is a bad time for a family photo shoot outdoors? Well hopefully this session will change your mind! I really like shooting in the winter, and you already know how much I love spring and autumn shoots. The summer is actually one of my least favourite times to shoot, which you may think sounds a bit strange (especially as I LOVE the summer generally!). The reason is that to get this lovely low light in the summer, you really need to have the shoot at around 7-8am or after 7pm...and having kids myself I know that those times aren't exactly convenient! However, in the spring, autumn and winter, the sun is low in the sky for most of the day, so we can have the shoot during much more sociable hours!

This shoot took place in Richmond Park at about 10am one December morning.

What a gorgeous family they are! I delivered their order to them this week which included a stunning big canvas wrap of the black & white image on the top left.

The lovely couple are getting married later this year, so we took the opportunity to get some engagement shots of them.

I hope this shoot has demonstrated to you that it really is possible to get gorgeous images no matter what the season. I think I'm going to send future clients this link if they don't think the winter is a good time for a family shoot outside!

Headshot session with Rona Wheeldon from Flowerona

2012-01-23T21:34:00.001Z

I am going to be sharing with you a number of headshot sessions over the next month. I took the decision in April last year only to do headshots in Jan & Feb when the weather isn't as nice for outdoor family shoots. I found a wonderful location for the sessions which is around the lovely Harts Boat Yard Pub between Surbiton & Kingston; it's nice and private with some great backgrounds and light. I had a great morning last Wednesday photographing some very interesting business people; it made a refreshing change from chasing toddlers round parks!

My first session was with the lovely Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona. Rona is a very inspiring business lady; around a year ago she decided to follow her passion after many years in the corporate world. That passion being flowers. So she started a beautiful blog (designed by those clever guys at Flourish Studios) which has been incredibly successful, and she also now has a regular column in Wedding Flowers magazine. The headshot that she was using was about 4 years old so she thought it was about time to update it!

I am very envious of her glorious curls....makes my straight flat hair look very boring in comparison! Rona wanted the photos without a coat on as her brand is very summery and bright, and she was an absolute trooper doing the whole shoot with just a thin jumper on a cold January morning!

Rona has chosen her favourite images from our session and I can't wait to see them on her blog!

Three years on... {family photo shoot in Bushy Park}

2012-01-20T16:25:00.000Z

2011 for me was definitely the year of returning customers! And it was great to see this lovely family again 3 years on. Here they are with their 5 month old girl 3 years ago back in January 2009.

And now that gorgeous little blue eyed baby is a big sister! Here are some images from our photo shoot in Bushy Park on a rather grey November day.

I had lots of fun chasing them around the park and tickling them with my reflector (the kids not the parents, that would be slightly odd) It was so lovely to see them all again and to meet the new addition to the family!

Headshot session with Caroline Macleod-Smith from Style Bureau

2012-01-17T13:47:00.000Z

As my Jan/Feb headshot sessions start tomorrow (I have 12 of them over the next few weeks!) I thought today was a good day for me to share this headshot session I did just before Christmas.

Caroline has recently set up as a personal stylist and is loving it! She desperately needed some professional photos of herself for her new website, so I came to the rescue!

I possibly would have hated her for being so attractive and stylish if she wasn't so damn lovely to go with it!

I wish you lots of luck with your new business Caroline, although I don't think you will need it....

Learning, planning (and socialising!) at the SWPP convention

2012-01-15T20:10:00.001Z

I spent a fantastic few days at the SWPP (Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers) convention in London over this past week. On one of the days I attended a boudoir workshop by a fabulous US photographer Joe Cogliandro in a lovely hotel opposite Buckingham Palace. I don't currently offer this type of photography, but I think it's really good to do something different once in a while to keep you fresh and inspired! I really enjoyed it and I love the way Joe shoots boudoir. There is nothing tacky about it....it's all about capturing the woman how she really is and making the shoot (and therefore the images) as authentic as possible. No unnatural posing or heavy retouching. If I did offer boudoir, this is definitely how I would do it! Here are a few of the shots I took on the day. You can see more images that I took on the day here on my Facebook business page.

I spent the other couple of days attending talks, leafing through gorgeous albums at the trade show and socialising with all of the lovely photographers I have met through Twitter and Facebook over the past few years. I remember the first time I went to this convention 3 years ago, I just stood around on my own like Billy-no-mates wondering how everyone seemed to know each other! But now, thanks to social media, I didn't stop chatting to people which was lovely.

I've got a really busy month ahead with lots of headshot sessions which start this week and a couple of photography workshops. I also still have lots of family sessions to share from the end of last year so check back soon!

Three times the fun

2012-01-10T21:26:00.001Z

I did this mini shoot with a very good friend of mine just before Christmas. Alison was in my NCT group when I had Harrison, and after having our boys we quickly bonded by talking about our little bundles of joy who just refused to sleep through the night! Alison then went on to have Archie and I had Sam 8 months later. And now she has just had her third gorgeous little boy!

After a bit of a traumatic birth and a stressful time afterwards in hospital when Arlo developed an infection, he was finally home and I got to go round for a little cuddle. I wanted to capture Alison's 3 boys together at this special time and here are the results.

We quickly realised that trying to get a newborn, 2 year old and 3 year old to pose in the same photo was more of a challenge than we thought! But we did manage to get some lovely natural shots of the 2 older boys looking at their new baby brother. I've included one of the outtakes from the shoot at the bottom right, when Archie wasn't that keen on having his photo taken! I never delete photos like this, as in years to come, they are the ones that you will look back at and laugh at (and of course pull out of the album when he has his first girlfriend round!)

Congratulations Alison & Ant....your boys are just lovely and you should be very proud. I can't wait to see them all grow up!

My first workshop of the year

2012-01-09T14:19:00.001Z

On Saturday morning I held my first 'Photography for Parents' workshop of the year which was attended by 8 lovely mums.

You can see a little sneaky peek of my new workshops logo on the bottom left here; I love it! I decided to drop the 'Oh Snap!' name that I started with, as I think it was just confusing people. After chatting to some of my past students, they said that they just told their friends that they had been on a photography workshop with Vicki Knights....so I've made it really simple, and I'm calling the workshop side of my business 'Photography Workshops with Vicki Knights'. I hope you agree that it makes much more sense!

I'm really pleased I've added the short demonstration to the workshop where I show how I approach taking headshots. I think it really helps the group to get a deeper understanding of everything we go through in the workshop such as light, composition and of course the camera settings.

I have another 2 workshops in the next month, and I'm really looking forward to teaching lots more parents the joy that comes with being able to take great photos!

An autumn family photo session in Wandsworth Common

2012-01-03T14:01:00.000Z

Happy New Year to you all! Although, what a miserable morning it was to kick off the work year...I imagine there was lots of grumpy faces on the way to the train station this morning! I thought this sunny, happy session was the perfect way to cheer us all up, and a great shoot to share on my first blog post of 2012.

We held the session on Wandsworth Common in mid-November. It was the first time I had done a shoot in this location and it was the perfect morning for it; beautiful low sun and stunning autumnal colour everywhere. And of course a lovely, smiley family were the cherry on the cake!

The family have ordered a Storyboard Frame which is going to look stunning as well as a gallery canvas wrap, mini brag book and lots of gift prints. I can't wait to deliver everything to them in the next couple of weeks.

If only everyday were as sunny and colourful as this one....sigh.

Thank you to all of you who sent me get well messages after my New Year's Eve post. The antibiotics worked a treat so I'm now back on my feet again thank goodness! I haven't been that poorly since I was a teenager.....it made me realise just how much I take my health for granted. I'm stocking up on multi-vitamins now to build my immune system up so it doesn't happen again!

Goodbye 2011....

2011-12-31T07:32:00.000Z

Happy new year....I hope your 2012 is filled with lots of love and laughter. Here are just some of the smiley faces I had the pleasure of photographing in 2011.

Vickix

PS. I am currently laid up with a nasty bout of sinusitus and a chest infection. Great timing eh! Especially as we've had to cancel friends coming round for dinner tonight :( So please bear with me if I don't respond to your emails with the speed I usually do. I'm keeping everything crossed that I am back to myself for my first shoot of 2012 on Friday and my first workshop next Saturday. Thank goodness Karl is off work at the moment as he is doing everything for the boys so I can rest; I'm very lucky to have him!

Looking back at 2011

2011-12-19T14:09:00.002Z

I wrote a blog post at the same time last year, looking back at 2010 and wondered how 2011 was ever going to match up. But you know what? I think it has!

Those of you who work for yourself will know that it's sometimes it's tricky to push yourself forwards without a manager breathing down your neck. Although it sounds a bit odd, this blog is my virtual manager. It keeps me motivated as I know I need to constantly be thinking of new ideas for my business, and consistently producing great images because I'm going to be sharing them with everyone on here! It's only when I look back through all of my blog posts from the year, that I realise how much I've done. Here are some of my highlights from 2011, some business, some personal.....

The launch of my headshot sessions in Jan & Feb. I met so many wonderful business mums and built some great relationships just through doing this special offer. It's amazing to see where something simple can take you!
My big boy, Harrison, turned 3 in February and I did a special dinosaur-themed shoot with him to mark the occasion
I ran my first 'Photography for Parents' workshop in February, and then went on to run 4 more throughout the year
I wrote a personal post about how I needed to address the balance in my life back in April. And then from July onwards took on less shoots so I could get the balance back in my life. It's been good although I'm still struggling to turn down business! Here's to a more successful work/life balance in 2012!
I announced a new collaboration with a personal stylist
My baby boy Sam turned 1 in June
We had a couple of lovely family holidays in the UK, first to Corfe then to Whitstable....next year we're going a bit more exotic, but the UK is great for holidays when you have small kids!
I did some lifestyle nursery photography for the first time in July
One of my favourite shoots of the year was the commercial shoot for My Heart and Home at the Medicine Garden in Cobham
I ran two photography workshops for creative business people in September and taught 16 business owners how to take better photos of their lovely products
I did a special shoot with my own family for my parents' Ruby wedding anniversary
I was lucky to get some great editorial coverage in the Sunday Express, Essential Esher, an interview with West London Mum and some guest blogging for Flourish Studios.
Karl and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary in October and I shared some embarrassing photos of us as kids
I did mini sessions for the 1st time this autumn and they were a big success (and luckily the sun shined for us!)
And finally, we had our very own family photo shoot!

Phew, I feel quite exhausted just reading through these! None of this would have been possible without Karl patiently listening to me rant on about new ideas and allowing me to disappear off to shoots every Saturday morning, my Mum for doing a 130 mile round trip every week to help look after the boys, and my Dad for keeping my accounts in check!

It looks like 2012 is going to be just as exciting (& hectic!), with my headshot sessions in Jan/Feb, lots of sold out workshops in the diary, my spring mini sessions in March and I'm very excited about a workshop that I'm attending in May with one of my favourite photographers!

To all of my wonderful clients, family & friends; thank you so much for your support this year. I'm very lucky to have you all. And to all of you lovely families who I had the pleasure of photographing this year....thank you for choosing me as your photographer.

There is just one final thing to say and I'll leave that to my gorgeous boys.....

....and a very happy new year! I hope you all have a fantastic time with lots of mulled wine, mince pies and bad jokes out of the crackers.

Vickix

Toddler photo shoot in Richmond Park

2011-12-16T11:58:00.001Z

I really loved this shoot; gorgeous autumn colours, an adorable little girl & lovely parents make a winning combination!

I felt that this image deserved to be shown in it's full glory, hasn't this little lady got the most striking eyes?

The family ordered some big multi frames (which look so gorgeous I'm seriously considering not delivering them tomorrow just so I can hang them in my own house!) and lots of accordian albums to give to family members around the world.

Look out for my blog post next week which will have a review of my year and a the result of my Christmas card shoot with my boys.

Ruby wedding anniversary shoot in Bushy Park

2011-12-13T14:55:00.002Z

I had a great time with this lovely big family last month. Jodie attended one of my 'Photography for Parents' workshops in Cobham in the summer and then afterwards booked a photo shoot as a surprise for her parents for their Ruby wedding anniversary. They were such a relaxed family and lots of fun to photograph (as you can probably tell from all of the smiles!)

When future clients ask me how they should dress for big family shoots, I'm just going to send them this blog post! Their outfits look great together; co-ordinated without being too matchy (made up word I think!) The lovely anniversary couple have ordered a huge multi-aperture frame with 5 images from the shoot which is going to look stunning.

I've done a number of big family shoots this year for 60th birthdays and Ruby wedding anniversaries....you can see the others here, here and of course my parents Ruby anniversary shoot!

I have one or two more shoots to share with you before Christmas, then I'm going to make myself have a little break from blogging over the Christmas break (and yes I do have to make myself as I'm weirdly addicted to it!)

Family photo shoot in Bushy Park

2011-12-09T16:53:00.001Z

It was so lovely to see this family again and see how their little boy has grown. I first photographed him back in January last year when he was just a baby. Here is the lovely Oscar as a baby....

You can see the full blog post from that session here.

And here he is now....

He has turned into an adorable and rather cheeky little chap! The family have ordered a gorgeous storyboard frame, a session album and lots of prints for Christmas.

I have a few more sessions to post before Christmas and then I'm hoping to find time to write a review of the year like I did last year, although I'm not sure I'll have time to post all of my favourite images from the year... there are so many I don't think I could choose! This time of year is so hectic isn't it; along with processing lots of client orders, I've still got a couple more shoots to do before Christmas and lots of presents to wrap. At least we've ordered the turkey so I can't forget that!

A lovely family of five

2011-12-07T13:02:00.000Z

I met up with this lovely family on a rather grey Friday afternoon in Esher last month. Their smiles and laughter more than made up for the lack of sunshine!

We had a lovely time running around in the leaves and playing peekaboo behind trees. I was rather jealous of the little lady's tutu though, oh to be 3 years old again!

Announcing new spring mini sessions in Surrey

2011-12-05T15:11:00.001Z

I ran mini sessions for this first time this autumn and they were such a success that I'm going to do them again! I am going to wait until the Spring so that it's a little bit warmer (here's hoping anyway!) All of my sessions are now fully booked until May (I couldn't believe it but I've double checked and they're definitely all booked!) but I have kept one Saturday morning free in March so that I can offer mini photo shoots to 4 different families.

All of the images in the montage above were taken in March this year. Now I can't guarantee daffodils or cherry blossom (it's a challenge these days to guarantee what will be in bloom when) but I'm hoping we'll be lucky with the daffs! Here are all of the details.....

How are mini sessions different from a full custom session with you?
The mini sessions will last 25 minutes in length (my custom full sessions last from 1-2 hours). In my full sessions we normally take a walk and shoot in lots of different spots for variety, whereas the mini sessions will take place in one set spot. After a mini session, you will get around 15 fully edited images in an online gallery after your session, including family shots and individual shots of your child/ren. After a custom full session you receive around 40-50 fully edited images.

If you just want photos of your children and don't want to be in them yourself, that's absolutely fine as I will then spend the mini session photographing them (like this mini session).

What can we expect?
You will be greeted by my colleague and then directed to a special spot which I will carefully choose for the best light and scenery (hopefully a gorgeous display of daffodils!). I'll photograph you all having a lovely time together and I will also spend some time individually with your children and get lots of great shots of them on their own too.

A spring mini session is perfect for you if:
- you are looking to update your existing family photos
- you are wanting to try out lifestyle photography for the first time and see if it's for you
- you want to buy the session as a present for someone special (I have lovely gift vouchers available!)

A full custom session would be better for you if:
- you have more than 2 children. I need more than 25 mins to do your lovely big family justice!
- any of your children are particularly shy or wary of strangers. During a custom session there is no rush and I'll give them all the time they need to warm up to me.

- or the opposite, any of your children are a little hard to tame! If you don't think your child will sit still for a second then it's probably best to book a full session!

- You have a baby who isn't yet sitting up independently.

When are the mini sessions? The morning of Saturday, 10th March 2012. There are four 25 minute slots available at the following times: 9.15, 10.00, 10.45, 11.30

Where will they be? The mini sessions will take place in a carefully selected spot in Surrey which will be within a 20 minute drive of Esher/Kingston/Teddington. I can't give the exact location yet as I need to find a spot nearer the time which is looking lovely! There will be car parking within a 15 minute walk of the mini-session location so be prepared for a little stroll to get there. You will be sent exact location details in the week prior to your session.

Can I see the results of the last mini sessions you did?
Of course! You can see the results from them here, here and here. And here is a testimonial from one of the families....you can see their session here.
"The mini session was lots of fun and felt very natural, which came through in the photos. Vicki is a real talent, capturing not just wonderful photos but memories that will be treasured forever."

How much are the mini sessions? The price is £250 per family which includes the following:
- email questionnaire sent to you beforehand so that I can find out more about your family
- 'what to expect' guide giving tips on what to wear and how to brief the kids!
- 25 minute mini photo shoot in a gorgeous location in Surrey
- secure online gallery with 15 fully edited images live for 7 days
- a beautiful gift box delivered to your door containing four 8x6" gift prints of your chosen images and the same high resolution images on CD ready to print

The normal price for the above package would be over £500 so this offers considerable savings. You are welcome to order additional prints and products but you are under no obligation to do so.

How do I book? Please fill in this contact form and say which time slot you would like ideally, then I'll send you an invoice for the £100 deposit to reserve your session. Sessions will be allocated on a first come, first served basis and won't be confirmed until payment is received.

And what if the weather is bad?
If the skies are grey, then that's no problem and the mini sessions will go ahead. If it is raining then I don't have any availability to reschedule in the following weeks, so I will refund your deposit in full, or you can put it towards a custom session with me in the future.

Please do drop me an email if you have any questions at all.

Update on workshop availability

2011-12-04T07:47:00.000Z

There has been a flurry of workshop bookings over the past week, so I thought I would quickly update you on my availability for next year. I think a lot of the new interest has come from the recent review in Essential Esher which is great; the power of a good testimonial eh!

My first 4 Photography for Parents workshops are now fully booked, so the next available workshop date is Saturday 28th April. I also have a Photography for Creative Business Owners workshop on Friday 9th March and there is plenty of availability on that date at the moment.

I am still working on my new workshop website which will make life much easier for you as you will be able to see all of the information about the workshops, photos, testimonials and be able to book all in one place. Until that's ready, please continue to book your place here on MakeMe Workshops website.

I am also going to be announcing a follow on workshop for everyone how has already attended my Photography for Parents workshop and is itching to learn more....details to follow very soon!

So, how many of you are putting your decorations up this weekend? We put ours up yesterday and I just love having twinkly lights everywhere, it's made me feel very Christmassy! I thought I would just share with you this outtake from my Christmas Card shoot with the boys. Harrison couldn't look less merry if he tried! He was sulking because he wanted to be holding the 'Christmas' board that Sam had. This was just a test shot, but then when I looked at the photo on my computer when I got home I loved it!

Toddler photography in Bushy Park

2011-12-02T11:33:00.001Z

This shoot certainly gave me my exercise for the day! This gorgeous little lady just wanted to run and explore so I had a great time chasing her around with my camera. We occasionally got her to stay still in her Mum's arms, but only with lots of tickling!

The family ordered a couple of lovely big frames including this gorgeous storyboard frame.

Melanie and Martha moved to Malta this week (try saying that after a glass of wine!) and I want to wish them all of the luck in the world with their new life out there. It was a real pleasure to meet you both.

Autumn mini session in Esher Woods - part 4

2011-11-30T15:56:00.000Z

Here are the results of the 4th and final mini session that I held in Esher Woods in October. It was with this yummy mummy and her 2 gorgeous boys. These boys were like a like comedy duo, I had such a giggle with them!

At the end of the session we were chatting, and we realised the boys had gone very quiet. I looked behind us and saw the boys were sitting in the wigwam and were getting stuck into the contents of the goody bags which I'd hidden in the woods. I sprinted over to get these shots of them. So cute!

If you missed the other mini sessions, you can see the results here, here and here.

As these mini sessions were such a success, I'm going to be holding some Spring mini sessions on Saturday 10th March. I'll be announcing all of the details in the next couple of weeks so make sure you check back as there are only 4 slots available and these Autumn ones sold out very quickly!

Crazy hair

2011-11-28T17:00:00.000Z

I had a shoot last month with this lovely family in their home in Addlestone, Surrey. I think it's fair to say that this little girl has the the best hair of any baby I've ever seen! Apparently they literally get stopped in the street with people commenting on it!

This family have already booked their next family shoot with me in the lavender fields next summer; I do love it when people plan ahead (I also booked our own family shoot 10 months in advance!) I'm really looking forward to seeing how this little lady has grown, and if her hair is still as cool as it is now!

A lovely baby photo shoot in Clapham Common

2011-11-24T13:28:00.000Z

I loved this shoot! It was a really hot day (for the end of September anyway!) and I spent an enjoyable hour or so photographing this gorgeous mum and daughter. It was the first shoot I've done on Clapham Common so I loved walking around discovering the beautiful light and backdrops. I used to live around the common in my 20's (as did most people I know that worked in London!) so it was great to go back again and reminisce!

The family ordered some lovely big frames one of which was this beautiful storyboard frame which I think really tells the story of the session and just shouts happy memories!

More than just words

2011-11-21T13:57:00.002Z

I thought I would share with you the present I got for Karl for our 5th wedding anniversary. We always try and buy each other presents that are the traditional year gifts and 5 years is wood. Karl was very thoughtful as always and got me a pear tree, a lovely necklace with all of our names on and wrote me a poem (old romantic!). I thought if I get him yet another framed photo he wouldn't be very impressed! So instead I bought him this gorgeous wood product from More than Words Art who I discovered through Twitter.

I commissioned Lisa to make this unique piece...I found the 6 words for the piece whilst browsing Pinterest and I thought they would make a wonderful family philosophy. Things that I want me, Karl and the boys to ensure we do everyday; live, laugh, leap, love, learn & listen. If we can do most of these things everyday then we're doing something right!

I always prefer photos with people in them, so I had a bit of fun experimenting with the tripod trying to capture me in motion spinning Sammy round. I didn't nail the motion blur completely but I had to put Sam down for his nap before getting on with some work! And by the way, if any of you are thinking I am some kind of domestic goddess with a really tidy house, don't be fooled...I simply kicked the toys out of shot!

Thank you to Lisa from More than Words Art for creating this piece for us....we absolutely love it.

An extended family shoot in Windlesham

2011-11-17T21:25:00.000Z

I had the pleasure of photographing part of this lovely family around 2.5 years ago which you can see here. I was delighted when Corinne contacted me earlier this year saying that her and her sisters would like to buy a photo shoot for their Dad for his 60th birthday.

We held the shoot in their lovely garden; we were so lucky with the weather as it started raining literally after I'd taken my last shot!

A family photo session is such a lovely gift to give to grandparents for a special birthday or anniversary. You can see other shoots I've done with large extended families here and here. And of course I can't forget the shoot I did for my own parents Ruby wedding anniversary here!

Autumn mini session in Esher Woods - part 3

2011-11-14T15:02:00.000Z

The third session on the day of my mini sessions in Esher Woods was with this lovely brother and sister. Mum & Dad weren't so keen on being in the photos, so I had the wonderful brief of capturing these lovely siblings having fun together. We had a great time playing around in the woods for half an hour!

If you missed the first 2 mini sessions, you can see them here and here. I'll be sharing the 4th and final one very soon!

The importance of family photos

2011-11-12T09:09:00.003Z

I read something some time ago that had a big impact on me. It was written by a fantastic US photographer about whether there is a perfect time to have family photos done. I hear so many people say 'we really want to book a shoot with you once I lose the baby weight/Molly's tooth grows through etc. I'm guilty of this too. It made me really think about the fact that I'm in hardly any of our family photos. I didn't want the boys to look at our family photos when they grow up and wonder where their Mum was in all of them!

So I booked a friend of mine, the fabulous wedding photographer Juliet Mckee, to do an autumn shoot with us. I chose Esher Woods as the location as we go walking there a lot so it means something to us as a family. I'm so happy with the photos and I feel they really capture our personalities.

It was such a valuable experience, not just to get these gorgeous photos of my family, but also to put myself in my clients' shoes. I now understand the panic over what to wear, checking my email constantly to see if the gallery is ready (can't believe I've admitted to that!) and then the joy of sharing the photos with my family & friends. So if you're a photographer reading this, book a shoot with another photographer today, don't wait!

You can see the shoot in Juliet's words here on her blog. Thank you so much Juliet; I'll cherish these photos forever.

Update on availability and session fees

2011-11-11T09:54:00.001Z

I feared this would happen! I'm suddenly getting lots of enquiries from families wanting photo shoots before Christmas, but all of my sessions have been booked for a while now. So I'm having to turn away business which I really hate doing!

So I thought I would just write a quick update on my availability. All of my headshot sessions for Jan & Feb are now booked; thank you so much for all of your interest in these, I can't wait to get stuck into them!

Due to the headshots I'm doing, along with my workshops, some training I'm investing in for myself, and a family holiday in Feb, I'm taking on very limited family shoots at the beginning of the year. This means that all of my sessions are now booked up until the end of March and the next weekend session I have available is 7th April. I am going to be doing Spring mini sessions on Saturday 10th March. I'm still confirming the details, but if you want to be one of the first to hear, please drop me an email.

My session prices have now increased for 2012, but if you book your session for next year before 30th November, and pay before 31st December then you will pay my 2011 prices (£120 weekdays/£140 weekends). Someone has already booked their photo shoot in the lavender fields for next July! (I do love a forward-planning client!)

And because posts are boring without photos (and let's face it, this hasn't been the most exciting post anyway!) here is my youngest on a walk in East Molesey last week. Taken with the kit I always use on family trips, my trusty old Canon 400D and my 'nifty fifty' the Canon 50mm F1.8. And yes, I know he really needs a haircut!

Autumn mini session in Esher Woods - part 2

2011-11-10T13:57:00.000Z

I was delighted when this lovely family booked one of my Autumn mini sessions as I photographed this little girl as a baby and I couldn't wait to see her as a toddler. She is the gorgeous baby who features at the top of this blog and you can see the rest of her shoot back in April last year here.

She is now a beautiful, bubbly toddler and like all 2 year old girls, has a real mind of her own! I had great fun chasing her around the woods!

If you missed part 1 of the mini sessions you can see it here. More to come very soon!

Autumn mini session in Esher Woods - part 1

2011-11-07T13:56:00.000Z

I'm really excited about sharing the results of my Autumn mini sessions with you. I did the sessions in Esher Woods one lovely sunny morning in October (we were so lucky with the weather!) I was a bit nervous that morning as it was the first time I'd ever done mini sessions, so I had loads of questions running around in my mind. Would everyone arrive at the right time? Would they be able to find the location ok? Would I be able to capture everything I wanted in a 30 minute time slot? My custom family sessions normally last 60-90 minutes, but there isn't a time limit. So if little Johnny decides to have a meltdown for 20 minutes, there's no pressure, I'll keep shooting until I have what I want.

But with mini sessions there isn't the luxury of time. Each of the 4 families had a 30 minute allocated time slot, and so I needed to get the shots in that time. Hence the mild nerves! Anyway, I needn't have worried as all of the families are delighted with the results, as I am! The kiddies were all fantastic. Mini sessions in the great outdoors are fantastic for children; they felt like they were just having a nice play in the woods rather than having to sit still and have their photo taken in a studio!

The first mini session was with this lovely family of five. It was 9am and the light was beautiful with the sun just peeking through the trees.

I've never had any 'behind the scenes' photos of me taken before as I don't normally work with an assistant. But I had my lovely assistant Claire with me for the morning, so she took a few snaps of me at work with this family. I don't know how interesting it is for you, my lovely readers, to see me at work....so if it is please let me know and I'll try to post more behind the scenes shots in the future.

I've got 3 more lovely mini sessions to share with you which will be coming up over the next couple of weeks.

Review of my photography workshop in Essential Esher magazine

2011-11-04T08:57:00.008Z

Following on from this blog post where I posted the Sunday Express column that I featured in, here is the review in Essential Esher that Camilla Tominey was talking about in her article!

Alice Aird, who is the editor of Essential Esher, came to my 'Photography for Parents' workshop in October and then wrote this lovely review about it which is featuring in this month's magazine. Thanks so much Alice!

Just an update on the workshop availability; my next 'photography for parents' workshop in January is fully booked and there is just 1 space left on Saturday 4th February. We have just confirmed a new January date on Friday 27th so there are 7 spaces left on that date. And there is another 'photography for creative business owners' workshop on Friday 8th March. Book your space on one of these workshops here through MakeMe's website.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am working on a new website specifically for my workshops, but it has had to take a bit of a backseat while I focus on all of the editing and orders from this busy autumn season! I hope to have it ready to go live at the beginning of next year (I have to do it now I've said it publicly!)

And thank you to everyone who has visited my blog in the past week. I had more visitors to my blog on Sunday than any other day this year which I'm chuffed to bits with! I really appreciate your support and interest in my work.

Birthday boy {baby photo shoot in Epsom}

2011-11-02T21:10:00.000Z

I have lots of family shoots to share with you, and I thought I would start with this lovely family as I delivered their gorgeous products to them today. Our session was around a month ago and we held the shoot at their home which made a nice change for me as I've been doing so many location shoots recently.

The reason for the title of the blog post is because the lovely Miles turned 1 yesterday - happy belated birthday Miles! He shares the same birthday as me and he should count himself lucky as I think it's the best date for a birthday; I spent my whole childhood thinking that Halloween and Bonfire Night were all part of my birthday celebrations!

And here are a few pics I took of the lovely products they ordered before I delivered them....I just love that Storyboard Frame!

A lovely family shoot in Richmond Park & some exciting coverage!

2011-10-30T08:12:00.003Z

I had a fantastic shoot with this lovely family a few weeks ago. We started the shoot at their home in Kingson-upon-Thames where I took some portraits of the children. How amazing are their curls; I'm very jealous!

Then we strolled down to Richmond Park and did the rest of the shoot there. It was an overcast day which made my life nice and easy as I didn't have to worry about what direction I was shooting in!

If you are thinking that you recognise the lovely mum from this family you are probably right! Camilla Tominey is the Royal Editor of the Sunday Express and the Royal Correspondent for This Morning and NBC. I am so excited about the fact that Camilla is featuring an image from our session in her Sunday Express column today.

It happens to be my favourite shot from the session so I wanted to show you it in it's full glory rather than in the montage. In fact I'd go as far as to say it's one of my favourite images of all time, so it's currently taking pride of place on my website homepage!

Here is the scanned article....the quality of the scan isn't great but fingers crossed you can read the text.

To say that I am happy to have one of my images alongside a lovely testimonial, in a national newspaper is a complete understatement! Thank you so much Camilla!

As Camilla mentions in her column, the photo of Annabel will also be featuring in next month's issue of Essential Esher, who are doing a review of my 'Photography for Parents' workshop. I'll share the review with you as soon as I have the magazine in my hands!

Wow, what an exciting month this is turning out to be!

5 years ago today....

2011-10-27T07:50:00.001+01:00

Although it feels like only yesterday, it was 5 years ago today that Karl and I got married. I couldn't let this occasion go past without taking the opportunity to embarrass Karl (and myself!) by posting photos of ourselves of kids.

This photo of Karl below makes me laugh so much; the chapped lips and the 'I-really-don't-want-to-be-here' expression on his face. We used these photos on our order of service so that all of our guests could have a giggle at our expense!

And here is a snap from our honeymoon. We're on the back of a jeep on our way to an elephant safari. As you can see, it's by no means a professional photo. It's taken with a little point and shoot by the guide on the trip. But it's one of my favourite photos of us as we just look so happy and it takes me right back to that wonderful moment.

Sometimes the emotion in a picture is way more important than how technically perfect it is! Although it does make me a little depressed when I realise that 5 years and 2 kids down the line, and I'm not looking quite so healthy, tanned and slim...hopefully a few of you can empathise with that!

So happy 5th anniversary to my wonderful husband and for making the last 5 years magical (don't worry, I've saved the really soppy stuff for his card!)

My beautiful goddaughter

2011-10-25T20:12:00.000+01:00

It's all very hectic at the moment with shooting, editing, admin, orders and of course looking after my 2 little boys, so blogging all of the shoots I've had recently will have to wait until next week. But I couldn't resist sharing these photos I took today of my gorgeous goddaughter who came to visit. She was wearing the outfit I got her for her recent 1st birthday so I just had to take some shots of her in it as she looked so cute!

Doesn't she just have the most amazing brown eyes? They work like little mirrors reflecting the light!

Hasn't she grown! {toddler photo shoot in Esher Woods}

2011-10-21T10:44:00.001+01:00

I've know I've said it before, but one of the most satisfying parts of my job is when customers return to me so I get to see their children grow up. It's also very rewarding to know that these children will have a wonderful record of their childhoods, to look back on when they are adults themselves.

Here is this lovely little lady when I photographed her back in 2009 when she was just a few weeks old...

And here she is now; a funny, lively and gorgeous toddler! We had so much fun during our little session in the woods.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

The Keepsake Accordian

2011-10-18T19:57:00.000+01:00

I was about to package up this product for a client last week, then I realised I hadn't featured these gorgeous keepsake accordians on my blog before. So I quickly took some snaps of them so that I could!

This shoot was with a lovely family in Dorking last month. I was delighted that they ordered the accordians as it was the perfect way to show the sequence of photos of their little boy picking blackberries!

This product is called the Keepsake Accordian and is a wonderful way to display your images. It's 4x3" in size (similar size to an iPhone) and can display up to 12 photos. It comes in a personalised image sleeve for protection and is perfect to put in your handbag. The thing I love about the accordian, is that when you aren't out showing it off, you can display it in your home (and turn it round when you fancy a change!) There is a minimum order of 3, so you can have one at home and work and they make a wonderful gift for relatives! Drop me an email for pricing information.

We had the Autumn mini sessions in Esher Woods on Saturday morning and I was so relieved that it was a beautiful sunny morning....phew! The morning was a great success and I'll be sharing the results of the 4 mini sessions soon. Until then, you can take a peek at some of the 'behind the scenes' photos of me in action here on my Facebook business page. (oh go on, you may as well 'like' my page while you're there!) Thanks so much to Claire, my wonderful assistant for the morning, for taking these shots.

The difference a good headshot makes

2011-10-14T16:07:00.001+01:00

I know we all secretly like looking at a good 'before and after', so I have some great ones to show you in this post! I have put these together to demonstrate what a huge difference a good professional headshot can make. I have written about this before on my blog, but I thought it was worth talking about again!

On the left of each of these photos below is the image the ladies were using on their websites and/or on social media such as Twitter, Facebook etc. Then on the right is one of the photos from our headshot session. I don't use make up artists for my headshots, as I like to show people as they look everyday. So the only difference is the fact that a professional photographer took the photo, and therefore found the right light, background and pose for the person.

Here is a before and after that I haven't shared on here before, and what a great one it is! This is Amanda Allan of Indigo Blu Events Management.

Below is Fiona Macduff who runs a graphic design business, Kifi Creative.

Here is Jo Mir who sells Jo Magdalena jewellery and runs a team of consultants.

And finally, here is Paula Trovalusci who runs a soft furnishings business, Curtain Lab.

So hopefully you'll agree that these professional headshots make a huge difference to the image that they are portraying to potential customers. And if you are using your logo as your profile picture then you really need to consider showing your lovely face instead! I completely believe that people buy from people (and could bore you with statistics & research...but I won't), and so it's really important that you show your face on your website and social media.

If you would like to invest in a gorgeous new headshot for 2012, I have just 2 slots left for my headshot promotion in Jan/Feb. I'm delighted that since I announced it on Wednesday, I've had 8 people book their sessions already. So be quick and email me to grab one of the last sessions in Kingston-upon-Thames on 25th January.

Exciting headshot promotion for Jan & Feb

2011-10-12T14:08:00.006+01:00

Would you love to have a gorgeous headshot of yourself that you are proud to show on your website and social media? Well this is your chance to get one!

You may remember back in April I said that I was limiting the amount of shoots I was taking on, so that I could spend more time with my family. This meant I also took the decision not to do any headshot sessions for the rest of the year. But as things are always a little quieter at the beginning of the year, I am able to really focus (excuse the pun!) on headshots and so I am delighted to tell you about this new promotion I'm offering in Jan and Feb.

What should I expect? I will meet you in a location that I'm familiar with, then chat with you about what you want the headshots for, and find out more about you. I will then spend around 30 minutes photographing you in a number of different places to finding the right light, background and poses for you.

What do I get? The shoot, professional editing of the photos, an online gallery of 10-15 images live for 7 days, 2 digital images to use online along with a licence to use

How much is it? The promotion for Jan/Feb is £100 which includes the 2 digital images (normal price is £180). Additional digital images can be purchased at a reduced rate.

When and where are the sessions? I will be holding the sessions at these 3 different Surrey locations.
Esher: Wed, 18th January 2012, session times available ~~9.30~~, ~~10.15~~, 11.00
Kingston: Wed 25th January, session times available 9.45, 10.30, ~~11.15~~
The Medicine Garden, Cobham: Fri 3rd February, session times available ~~9.30~~, ~~10.45~~, ~~11.30~~ (all Medicine Garden & Esher sessions have now been taken)

I'm not keen on calling them 'headshots' as I believe they are so much more than this. All of the people I have photographed have been amazed at how good they look in the shots and it's proven to be a big boost to their confidence. This isn't just a 'sit on a stool and smile' session. I really work with you to get the right headshot for you, and find the best light, background and expressions to show you at your most flattering.

Here is a comment a previous headshot client wrote on my blog...this explains the session much better than I can!

"Vicki, what can I say!? I was so apprehensive about my headshots but after our coffee & chat beforehand and the first couple of nervous pics, I was amazed how relaxed I was. I put that 100% down to you and your fabulously reassuring style. I'll be honest, even at that point I wasn't entirely convinced that I would actually like a photo of myself at the end of it all..... but I couldn't be happier with them. So much so that I've even had one printed for my husband for Valentine's Day, something I would never have imagined doing before the shoot. I had also thought that choosing a headshot for my profile picture would be easy as I expected there would only be a couple of photos I liked but how wrong I was, it took me ages!

On a personal level, after having 2 kids I have found the whole experience a real confidence boost and that with a bit of effort I can maybe look like Jo again rather than just 'Mummy'! I've even recommended it to a friend of mine today who doesn't need it for business reasons but who I think would just benefit from a confidence-boosting photoshoot with an incredibly talented (and lovely) photographer" Jo Mir (you can see the photos from Jo's session here)

To book your session, please email me and tell me the location and time you would like to book. I will then send you an invoice for the deposit (£50) which is required in advance to reserve your session. Please be quick as I only have this limited amount of sessions available and I won't be doing any other headshot sessions for the rest of the year.

I will be posting some great 'before & afters' in a few days so you can really see the different a good headshot makes!

Saturday's 'photography for parents' workshop in Cobham

2011-10-10T21:58:00.000+01:00

On Saturday morning we had a great time at my last workshop of the year. Karl and the boys dropped me off so we were able to get a few shots of me (with the goody bags!) in the entrance to the Medicine Garden. You'll spot Harrison in one too; he's never one to miss a photo opportunity!

We always get outside for a bit in each workshop so that everyone can practice the new camera settings they've learnt. Someone mentioned in a previous workshop that it would be really useful to see me 'in action' and demonstrate how I photograph someone. So I did a little headshot demo as part of the workshop and used the lovely Alice as my model (and what a great model she made!) You can see the resulting headshot in this montage above.

Here are a few of the comments from the feedback forms:

"..would recommend this course to anyone, it's been really brilliant."

"..this course delivered exactly the type of content that I hoped it would. Having done courses previously I have often been overwhelmed with too much information when I just want to know enough to take good pictures of people! Thank you so much."

"...FANTASTIC! Enough detail without being overly complicated."

As this was my last workshop of the year, I've been reflecting on how successful they have been this past year, and how much I have loved doing them. I have done 7 workshops this year, which is pretty good considering I only planned to do 1 or 2 for past clients & friends who had asked if I would do one! The workshops have proved to be more popular than I could ever have dreamed of, and I just love running them. Knowing that this year I have taught more than 50 people how to use their cameras properly, see the light and take great photos as a result, is hugely satisfying!

I plan to run even more photography workshops for beginners in 2012 and will be adding some new and different workshops to the schedule as well. To make it easier for you to see everything I am offering, I am currently having a website designed especially for my workshops. Fingers crossed it will all be finished at the beginning of next year...watch this space!

The Jan workshop has already sold out, so we have announced another date on Friday 27th Jan. There are 2 spaces left on the Feb workshop, so book your place quickly. I also have gift vouchers available (workshops make a great Christmas present!), drop me an email for more details.

Wonderful window light {family photo shoot in Reigate}

2011-10-05T11:12:00.001+01:00

This shoot was a great reminder to me of just how wonderful window light is. If families have children over the age of 2 I usually suggest doing the shoot out on location so the children can run around to their hearts content. Any regular readers of my blog will know that I am passionate about shooting outdoors and using nature and the changing seasons as a beautiful backdrop to your family photos. However this shoot with these two lovely sisters made me remember how great it is to photograph children in their own homes using natural light.

I use natural light 99.9% of the time in my sessions as personally I'm not keen on look of flash photography. Also, I love capturing children as they really are and generally I don't think using flash results in the most natural expressions. Anyway, who needs flash when you have beautiful window light to work with!

I had such a good time with these gorgeous girls and they had me in stitches for most of the session! We also took some family photos out in their lovely garden.

The girls just have the most infectious smiles don't they?

I have an exciting few weeks ahead.....I have my last workshop of the year on Saturday, Photography for Parents, and then my Autumn mini sessions are taking place next Saturday (fingers crossed we get another heatwave for them!) Then next week I will be announcing an exciting headshot offer for Jan & Feb so keep your eyes peeled!

Photos from today's photography workshop for creative business owners

2011-09-30T17:18:00.000+01:00

We had a great morning at my 2nd photography workshop for creative business owners at The Medicine Garden in Cobham. (you can see how the first workshop went here)

We had a lovely group of creative people attending, ranging from events organisers to gardeners! And what beautiful weather as well so it was perfect for everyone to practice their new backlighting skills!

Here are some of the group's names and website links, do take a look through as they run some fab businesses!

Amanda Allan - Indigoblu Event Management

Sarah Quiney - Not on the High Street

Jill Anderson - Anderson Landscape Design

Claire Brown - Plantpassion

Heather Grant - Lewis & Grant Parties

Ade Oduyemi - Maximum Inheritance Specialists (although Ade wanted to learn how to take better photos of his fantastic cakes which we sampled this morning!)

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice there are 8 people in the photos, but only 6 in the list. That's because I haven't included the 2 lovely ladies in this list who don't own their own businesses and were doing the workshop to photograph things around them or their own craftwork.

And there were lots of lovely comments on the feedback forms which is always great to hear:

"...so much ground covered and yet I haven't been overwhelmed by the technical stuff"
"...the course was pitched at a perfect level...I'm no longer scared of my camera"
"...I have learnt so much in such a short space of time and cannot wait to get practicing!"

Thank you for being such a lovely (and rather lively!) group. I'm looking forward to seeing your homework!

My next workshop for creative business owners is Friday 9th March which you can book here on MakeMe Workshop's website. I have a number of Photography for Parents workshops before then so please book your place soon before they fill up!

My parents Ruby wedding anniversary

2011-09-25T07:00:00.001+01:00

Wow, my Mum & Dad have been married 40 years today! You may remember from our family holiday in Whitstable in August that I did a shoot with all of our family as a gift to them. They haven't seen any of the photos until today as I've been very patiently waiting until today to show them! I'm so excited to give them their gorgeous album containing the best photos from the shoot, then I have a lovely slideshow for them to watch.

We decided to do the shoot at Broome Park country house in Kent, as they've been going there every year for the past 25 years and we all have very fond memories of our breaks there when me and Rachel were growing up. You'll notice that I even appear in a couple of these shots (thanks Karl!)

I'm so pleased with the shot in the middle of Mum & Dad with their 3 grandsons, it's no mean feat trying to get a 1, 3 and 12 year old to smile naturally at the camera!

I also took a few shots of just them on the beach in Whitstable...

I truly hope that in 35 years time, me and Karl can be as happy and full of life as my parents are now. Happy Anniversary Mum & Dad!

Baby photography at it's most natural

2011-09-21T18:43:00.000+01:00

I had a lovely session in Richmond Park last month with 7 month old Max and his Mummy & Daddy. Max was at that perfect stage where he was sitting up but not yet crawling...makes my life a lot easier! Jo and Ed have recently got engaged so I got some lovely engagement shots of them too.

Photos from today's photography workshop for creative business people

2011-09-16T16:59:00.002+01:00

We had a great morning at my first photography workshop for creative business owners.

I had a group of 8 lovely ladies who all own fantastic businesses and want to take better photos of their products or things that inspire them for their blogs and social media.

Here are the names of the ladies and the links to their websites. Have a browse through their sites; they're a very creative bunch! Then we can all keep an eye on whether their photography is improving (no pressure then ladies!)

Oorla Morgan: Oorla Jewellery

Janne Ford: My Heart & Home (you might remember the name from this recent shoot)

Lynda Appuhamy: Kids in the Garden

Kathy Jobson: Kathy Jobson Jewellery

Tracy Gray: Button & Bean

Rona Wheeldon: Flowerona

Abigail Ruane: Isabel's Attic

Heidi Sternberg: Polkadots and Blooms

My aim was for everyone to walk out of the workshop feeling confident about using their cameras, and also know how to find great light and compose their shots effectively. And judging by the feedback forms and they comments during the day, they did!

"...an excellent workshop, covered everything I needed to know."
"...fantastic, I've had a great time!"
"...it's changed my life!"
"...fantastic course. I can now control my camera, rather than my camera control me!"

Thank you ladies for a really fun morning and for throwing yourselves into it. I can't wait to see the results of your new skills!

There is one space left on the next workshop for creative business people on Friday 30th September. Click here to snap it up!

I'm starting him young

2011-09-15T13:22:00.000+01:00

As you can imagine, I'm constantly taking photos of my boys. Now Harrison is older he keeps asking me if he can take some photos with my camera. I normally say no, but as a treat because he's 'a big boy now' I let him loose with my Canon 400D (I didn't give him one of my 5D's. I'm not THAT crazy!)

It's good to see that even 3 year olds pull silly faces when they're taking photos!

The proof is in the pudding {Surrey photography training}

2011-09-12T07:51:00.000+01:00

One of the best things about running my photography workshops for parents, is seeing the fantastic photos that the parents are producing afterwards. Photography really is an amazing skill to learn; knowing that you are able to capture your children growing up in the best possible way. And if you read this previous post, you'll know it's not just the camera that takes the photo. I'm afraid you can't just buy a digital SLR, stick it on auto and hope for the best! Well I guess you can, but you won't get the results you're after every time!

I figured it's all very well and good me telling you how much the parents get out of my workshops, but you need to see it for yourselves! So I thought I would share some of the photos my students have taken of their own children (with the parents permission of course). Here are just a few of the photos the parents from my first 4 workshops have sent to me for their homework (yes there is optional homework after the workshop!)

How lovely are these?! I've had a number of people book onto my workshops because they saw a previous attendees great new photos of their kids on Facebook...there couldn't be a better testimonial!

If you wish you could take photos like this of your own family, then click here to book onto one of my half day workshops in Cobham, Surrey. The October workshop is fully booked, there are just 2 places left on Saturday, 7 January, and 7 places left on Saturday, 4th February. I do have workshop gift vouchers available, so I hope it's not too early for me to mention that they would make a fab Christmas present (too late I've said it now!) Drop me an email if you would like to buy one as a present.

Picking apples {family photo shoot in Thames Ditton}

2011-09-06T09:17:00.000+01:00

I loved everything about this session! The family are very lucky to live minutes away from a lovely nature reserve which was a perfect location for the shoot. It has a little orchard in it too so the children had a lovely time picking apples and running around.

How gorgeous is this family?! I love the way they have co-ordinated their outfits, without being too 'matchy' (a made up word I think!). I don't have a 'what to wear' category on this blog yet (it's on the to do list!) but if I did, they would definitely be in it!

Then we went back to their house and for some more shots in the garden and finishing off with some natural shots inside.

The family have ordered a gorgeous storyboard frame, album and gift prints, and I can't wait to deliver it all to them very soon!

Autumn session availability {and some beautiful baby eyes!}

2011-09-03T19:50:00.000+01:00

If you are considering booking a family photo shoot before Christmas please don't hang about as I have just TWO sessions left. Yes I know, I couldn't believe it either but I've double checked and there are definitely only 2 left! One session in November and one in December. All of my Autumn mini sessions at Esher Common are now booked, and I'm really excited about all of the sessions I have coming up in the leaves and the gorgeous autumnal light (I say with crossed fingers!). I may be running more mini sessions next year, in different locations, so to keep updated on these please either 'like' my Facebook business page or drop me an email to be added to my mailing list.

As I mentioned in this last post about my availability, I am taking on very limited family sessions in Jan/Feb as I always like to invest time in training & updating marketing materials at the beginning of the year (which I just never seem to get time to do the rest of the year!). I'm going to be announcing something very soon about headshots which will be taking place in Jan/Feb. And we're also going on an exciting family trip to see friends in Singapore in February, so it's going to be a busy start to the year!

I have already booked in a few Spring shoots next year (I do love forward thinking families!). My session fees will be increasing slightly from 1st January, but if you book your 2012 shoot before 31st December then you pay my 2011 session fees. The colour in the springtime is gorgeous and results in beautiful family photos; take a look at some of my spring sessions from this year here, here and here.

And as I promised in the title of this blog post, here are some beautiful eyes of a baby girl I had the pleasure of photographing with her twin sister last week. How cute is she?!

Preparing for my new workshops

2011-08-31T07:14:00.001+01:00

In between shooting, editing and spending the summer with my boys, I've also been busy preparing for my new 'photography for creative business owners' workshops in September. I've been taking lots of photos to demonstrate some of the techniques, so I thought I'd share one 'before and after' with you.

Many people think that if they buy a decent DSLR camera, they'll automatically be able to take good photos. I hate to break the illusion but that's definitely not the case! You have to know how to find good light and learn the essential elements that go into taking great photos. You also need to learn how to take your camera off auto; you simply won't get the best results if you just point and shoot. You may as well have just bought a compact camera!

Below are 2 shots of the same product. They are both taken with an entry-level DSLR (the Canon 400D) and an £80 lens (the Canon 50mm F1.8). They are both taken in the same room within minutes of each other, and with no extra equipment.

The photo on the left was taken with the camera on the auto setting (so the awful direct flash popped up!) and the one on the right is taken using the settings and tips that I will be demonstrating in my workshop. Hopefully you can see the difference! The one on the left looks 2-dimensional, has washed out colours and looks pretty boring! Whereas the shot on the right has richer colours, is more 3-dimensional and looks more inviting! The product in the photos is a gorgeous linen lavender sachet I bought recently from What Katie did Next.

I've got some fabulous business owners from around Surrey (and some from much further afield!) coming on the workshops and I'm really excited about showing them how to take great photos of their products.

The first workshop on 16th September is fully booked, and I have just 2 places left on the workshop on Friday 30th September. The workshops are held at The Medicine Garden in Cobham. If you want to book, you can do so on MakeMe workshops website by clicking here.

A baby bump & a beautiful boy

2011-08-25T07:30:00.001+01:00

I spent a sunny Saturday morning in Bushy Park with this lovely family. Sometimes when families fall pregnant with their 2nd child, they think they need to wait until the baby has arrived before they have a family photo shoot. But actually, doing the shoot when Mum is pregnant is perfect as not only do you capture your family of 3 (before you become 4) you also get some beautiful shots of your baby bump too!

Here are some of the images from our session....isn't Toby a cutie, he's going to make a lovely big brother!

I'm looking forward to photographing them all again next year with their new baby boy!

The shoot that didn't go to plan

2011-08-22T21:21:00.001+01:00

The title of this blog post was meant to be 'Sam's first steps' but anyone who has ever tried to photograph children or babies will know that things often don't go to plan. This was definitely one of those times!

I said on Twitter a couple of months ago that I had just witnessed Sam take his first steps. Well after that he continued to take the odd step but still favoured crawling as his preferred way to get from A to B. But last week he started walking properly and so I was desperate to get some lovely photos of his first steps in the evening summer sun.

So Friday evening after tea, I excitedly took both boys and my kit down to our local fields. I bribed Harrison to sit and watch with a lolly (bad mum alert) while I photographed Sam walking in the long grass. Hmm, well that was the plan anyway. I tried standing him up but he sat down immediately then decided to just crawl everywhere. Everytime I stood him up he either cried or sat down! So after about 15 minutes of trying I decided to give up and walked the boys home feeling rather deflated and like it was a waste of time.

But then last night when I uploaded the few photos I did take, I was really pleased when I discovered these 2 shots. So it hadn't been a waste of time at all!

So for now the walking shots will have to wait. Right now I'm just happy with these photos of my lovely little boy sitting in the grass smiling his toothy smile at me.

Child photography at The Medicine Garden, Surrey

2011-08-19T08:09:00.001+01:00

These girls were the models for the 'My Heart and Home' photo shoot at The Medicine Garden. You can see the results of that shoot here and here. The mums of the girls had asked if I could take some photos of them in their own clothes at the end of the shoot and of course I agreed!

These shots were taken between 5pm-6pm and the light was beautiful.

You may have guessed by the matching dresses that these 3 girls are all sisters. Aren't they just lovely?

And this beautiful little lady below had me in stitches for most of the shoot!

Thanks girls for being absolute stars and making my job very easy!

'My Heart & Home' commercial photo shoot at the Medicine Garden - Part 2

2011-08-17T08:05:00.000+01:00

Here is the 2nd part of the commercial shoot I did for 'My Heart and Home'. We wanted to ensure some of the images had a lovely summery feel and so we styled a tea party in the middle of the Medicine Garden in Cobham. We were very fortunate that it was a beautifully sunny afternoon, so hopefully you'll agree these images are the epitome of summer!

I took these lavender photos below right end of the shoot and was really pushing my luck as the girls were getting tired. I'm so pleased I did as they are some of Janne's favourite and she's going to use one of them on the banner of her website.

I'm so excited to see how 'My Heart and Home' use these images on their website and marketing materials. Here is part of an email I got from the owner Janne after she had seen the gallery....

"I have now gone through the gallery about 10 times each time seeing something new. The colours are just beautiful! You've captured the innocence of childhood perfectly and the images are truly aspirational. It has really focused my mind on the way forward for my product range. I'm truly inspired to get excited about what I am doing again and will be confident in shouting about my website from the roof tops. Thank you so much for working so hard on the project......you've come up with some amazing images."

On Friday I'll be posting the results of the mini sessions I did with each of these lovely girls in their own clothes, so make sure you come back and take a look!

And if you missed part 1 of this shoot, you can see it here.

'My Heart & Home' commercial photo shoot at the Medicine Garden - Part 1

2011-08-15T08:16:00.002+01:00

This was one of my favourite shoots of all time! I was very excited when Janne Ford who runs 'My Heart & Home' found me through Twitter and commissioned me to do a photo shoot for her vintage-style children's nightwear & gifts. We chatted on the phone and met before the shoot to discuss the styling, photography style and potential locations. We were both as excited as each other about the images we were going to create to take her business to the next level!

We decided upon the beautiful Medicine Garden as a location for the shoot. It's a 19th century walled garden in Cobham, Surrey which has been lovingly restored. It's also where I run my photography workshops, so I'm very familiar with it! It was the perfect backdrop to Janne's beautiful nightwear and products.

I am going to be sharing the images from the shoot with you in 3 parts as there are just so many I want to show you! We had to make sure that the images weren't too seasonal as Janne wanted to be able to use them to market her products throughout the year. We used the walls of the Medicine Garden as the backdrop to the first set of images to ensure that they didn't feel too summery. We had 4 beautiful little models for our shoot who are all absolute stars in the making!

And then this set of images below were styled to have a more autumnal feel....

On Wednesday I will be sharing the images from the gorgeous styled tea party in the garden and then on Friday I'll post the images from the mini sessions I did with the girls in their own clothes.

Our family break by the sea

2011-08-13T21:05:00.002+01:00

We got back yesterday from a lovely family break to Whitstable, Kent. It was so great to get away for a week and spend some quality time together as a family.

As you may remember from our last holiday to Corfe, I don't normally take my professional kit with me as I always worry about something happening to it, but this time I was doing a shoot with my whole family for my parents Ruby wedding anniversary next month (I will share the results soon), so it was a real treat to have my favourite lenses and camera with me!

We stayed in a lovely beach house in Seasalter; it was a bit further out of Whitstable than we had hoped but I would definitely recommend it if you're looking for somewhere nice to stay in that area.

I've never experimented with photographing silhouettes before, but as I had my kit with me I thought I'd have a go. It's more of a challenge than I thought!

Not only do you have to get your settings spot on, you also have to make sure that what you are photographing works as a silhouette. So ideally you want people in profile. Unfortunately most 3 year old boys (mine included!) don't take much direction, you just have to shoot what they give you. So I was very excited when I had this shot above all set up, with Harrison perfectly in profile, then I was shouting at Karl 'I need you in profile'. He then just kept looking at me confused while I tried to desperately signal and shout that I need him to look to the side. By the time he did Harrison had moved, the light had changed and the moment had gone. Sigh. But it made me realise that when taking photos of my own family, I really must stop being such a perfectionist and just capture the moment rather than trying to get the perfect shot. I'm going to have to make myself look at the above photo and remember the moment, instead of thinking how great it would have been had Karl had just looked up at Harry!

The week before I went on holiday I had one of my favourite ever shoots. I have so many photos I want to share from it that I think I'm going to post it in 4 parts over the next week. So come back soon to see 4 gorgeous little girls in a beautiful location.

Just one more thing...I had an enquiry today who left an incorrect email address and no telephone number. I hate the thought of anyone thinking I haven't responded, so Carlene, if you're reading this, please get back in contact! Thanks.

She's a big sister now {photo shoot in Kew Gardens}

2011-08-11T10:10:00.000+01:00

This summer has seen me return to a lot of families I've photographed before which has been lovely. For this blog post I've decided to copy the title from my other recent post 'He's a big brother now'....I know, not very creative of me!

You may recognise these lovely blue eyes from the baby gallery on my website.

I took the photo above of Emily back in April 2009. And now here she is over 2 years later with her new little sister.

We had a lovely morning strolling around Kew Gardens and the girls even had a little tea party in the grounds. I loved Emily when I met her as a baby as she was so friendly and cute, and she hasn't changed one bit. Oh apart from the fact that now she doesn't stop talking! She held my hand round walking round the gardens like I was her new best friend! She's very cheeky too and when I dropped their products round to their house this week, Harrison and her were getting into mischief within minutes of meeting!

And it's lovely to see that her new little sister has also inherited her blue eyes and cheeky personality!

Commercial photo shoot for Gymboree baby classes

2011-08-06T10:00:00.002+01:00

I used to take Harrison to Gymboree classes when he was a baby and I'm a big fan of them. So I was delighted when the Marketing Manager of Gymboree UK contacted me to see if I could photograph their baby classes for them to use the images in their marketing materials.

Here are a few of the images from the class that I photographed:

The babies were really cute and it was lovely to see them interacting with all of the activities they do in the classes. Gymboree offer baby classes from newborn up to when they start crawling, and then they have other classes right up to age 5. If you're in Surrey or SW London they have classes in Surbiton, Cheam, St Margarets and Wimbledon. I highly recommend them! Not only did Harrison love them but I came out of it with some lovely new mummy friends too!

Waiting for Nanny

2011-08-05T14:20:00.000+01:00

You know those moments when you walk into a room and your child is doing something that just melts your heart? Well this was one of those moments.

My Mum comes up to help look after the boys every Wednesday, so that I can have a shoot, do some work or just get some much needed jobs done round the house. Harrison had woken up very excited this week about seeing Nanny and kept asking when she was coming. I was in the kitchen clearing up breakfast and realised that the boys had gone very quiet. I asked what they were doing and Harry shouted that they were waiting for Nanny. I walked into the playroom to take a look and this is what I saw....

I had to decide between running and taking Sam off the chair in case he fell (he's never stood on it before) or grabbing my camera. Thank goodness I decided on the latter otherwise I'd have missed this moment (and he didn't fall off anyway!). Normally if I plan to photograph the boys I always have a bit of a tidy first, but this was very impromptu, so please excuse the mess. Hopefully you'll agree the moment was more important than a tidy room!

And in case you're a bit confused, yes they are standing on the wrong chairs!

He's a big brother now {Surrey child photography}

2011-08-01T11:40:00.000+01:00

Last year I photographed this lovely little boy and his mummy's beautiful bump. You can see some of the images from the shoot here. I was delighted to be asked to photograph him and his mummy again, this time with their new addition to the family, a lovely baby girl. Although she's 1 now and toddling around all over the place, so not quite so much a baby anymore!

We had a lovely morning in one of my favourite spots in Bushy Park, and here are some of the photos from our session.

The shoot was on 1st July and as you can see it was a lovely sunny day, but the sun seemed to then disappear for the rest of the month! I'm loving this sunny weather we're having at the moment, let's just hope it continues well into September to make up for the rubbish July we had!

A lovely family of five {photo shoot in Bushy Park}

2011-07-27T10:30:00.003+01:00

This photo shoot was bought as a lovely Christmas present from a very considerate husband (who had been dropped lots of hints!) We booked the shoot in for June when their youngest would be sitting up and the weather would be nice. We were very lucky with the weather and had a lovely sunny morning in Bushy Park. Here are a few of the images from our time together. What a lovely happy family they are!

A creative way to display your photos {Moo mini cards}

2011-07-25T22:29:00.000+01:00

I just put together this frame from Moo to display my mini cards and I love it! I ordered it to display in MakeMe's lovely studio at The Medicine Garden where I run my photography workshops.

Once I'd put it together, I realised what a great way this would be to display your own family photos in your house. You can display lots of photos (16 in total) altogether in one frame and all for less than £30!

Now it's not quite as simple as sticking a print in a frame from Boots. But it is a a creative and unique way to display your photos, that will get lots of comments from your friends! Or make a fabulous present for someone.

So if you take great photos of your family (and if you don't then you should come on one of my workshops to learn how!) then all you need to do is this. Resize your images to the correct dimensions, order your mini cards from moo....you can order a different image on each of the 100 cards if you want to. Then the left over mini cards can be used as bookmarks, gift tags and lots of other things! Then just order the frame in black or white and put your chosen combination of photos in it....pretty straightforward and lots of fun if you like being creative!

Now before you ask, I'm not on commission from Moo! Most business owners I know use them for their business cards as they offer fantastic customer service, innovative products and great print quality . But you don't have to own your own business to use them. The fact that you can have a different image on every card means that they are a great way to print your photos and use them in creative ways, plus have your details on the back to hand out to friends.

Hope you've found this useful!

Nursery Photography....with a difference

2011-07-22T14:35:00.000+01:00

It was Harrison's last day today at his lovely nursery, so I thought I would share some of the photos I took of the children there recently.

If you're familiar with my work, you'll know that I am passionate about capturing children naturally, doing what they love doing. I would never get them to sit on a stool in front of a white background and say cheese; that's just not my thing. So when I photographed the children at nursery I let them just be. I photographed them either as they played, or chatted to me; it was great fun! Here are some of the lovely children Harrison has spent the last 18 months with.

Today is a monumental day for many mums whose children are leaving their nurseries & schools. Reading through my Twitter & Facebook feed this morning it seems most people have mixed emotions about it. Many children are leaving their junior schools, or starting reception for the first time in September. I read this blog post this morning from a mum who has 5 children and in September her youngest starts reception, so it will be the first time in 13 years that she doesn't have a pre-schooler to care for!

Although I'm sad that Harrison is leaving his great nursery, I'm really excited about him starting pre-school in September and also Sam will be starting at the nursery next September so I'll get to see all of the lovely teachers again!

Because Harrison isn't in any of the photos above (I decided to shoot there the days he wasn't in nursery!) here are a few snaps of him I took at sports day yesterday. How cool does he look as a cowboy?!

Two lovely sisters, one year on

2011-07-19T17:59:00.001+01:00

I love it when families invite me back to photograph them. I first met this family last April when I was heavily pregnant with Sam! Here are some of the images from last year's shoot. You may recognise them from photos on my website and blog. In fact, this laughing shot in the middle is one of my favourites!

And here is the family one year on. I met them at Marble Hill in Twickenham and it was so lovely to see how the girls have grown and how their personalities are developing. And what lovely little girls they are, we had a great time!

A quick note on availability

2011-07-18T21:12:00.000+01:00

The only good thing about this miserable weather is that it has obviously made people think about booking autumn photo shoots as I've had lots of new bookings! So I thought I'd quickly update you on availability. From this month onwards I'm taking on a very limited amount of sessions each month (see this blog post for the reasons why!) which means my sessions are booking up very quickly. Here is my upcoming availability for sessions:

July, August & September: all fully booked unless I have any cancellations
October: fully booked apart from 1 slot left at my mini sessions in Esher Common on the 15th
November: 2 sessions available
December: 3 sessions available
Jan/Feb: 2 family sessions available. I will be focusing on headshots and workshops in these months.

Please contact me to get your session booked in the diary.

I have one 'photography for parents' workshop left this year which is fully booked. We have just confirmed some new dates in Jan & Feb which are already booking up so book your place quickly!

My first 'Photography for creative business owners' workshop on 16th September is fully booked, but there are 2 spaces left on the 30th September.

And because I can't post without pictures, here is Sam yesterday watching the rain.

And here is Harrison in his pyjama's showing off his new short hairdo!

Brown eyes {family photography in Bushy Park}

2011-07-17T20:22:00.000+01:00

It was back to Bushy Park a few weeks ago to photograph this lovely family. The little ones were a joy to photograph and both had the most amazing eyes. The memory I'll always have of this shoot is two pairs of big brown eyes peering over the long grass at me!

The family ordered some large individual frames of the above images, one of my popular Storyboard Frames along with a session album containing all of the images from their shoot. I delivered their products last week and they are going to look stunning around their house.

Family photo shoot in Richmond Park

2011-07-14T08:07:00.000+01:00

I still have a lot of family sessions to share with you. And some are from quite a while ago as you may realise when you spot the daffodils and jumpers in this session!

I did this lovely shoot back in March in Richmond Park. There was great light and a gorgeous family; always a winning combination!

I think this shoot nicely demonstrates how important the choice of clothing is in your session. The big brother's bodywarmer looks fantastic and I love the splash of red in each of the photos!

And I love this shot below so much that I felt it justified being shown on it's own in it's full glory!

I have lots more family shoots to share, plus a commercial shoot for Gymboree UK and some work I did with a local nursery. So do come back again soon!

Change of date for the autumn mini sessions

2011-07-12T07:57:00.000+01:00

This is a very quick post just to say that I've changed the date of my autumn mini sessions from Saturday 22nd October to Saturday 15th October. This is because I had a few people contact me saying they really wanted to do it but it was the start of half term week and they were likely to be away.

Check out the mum here with 2 pre-schoolers who doesn't yet have the school holiday dates etched onto my brain! Give it a couple of years and I won't be making this mistake again! There are just 2 time slots left now so please get in contact quickly if you want to book in.

And because I can't post without a pic, here is little Sammy a couple of weeks ago. I'm so pleased I got this smiley shot when I did, as one of his front teeth has now grown down and he looks like a toothless old man at the moment!

This weekend's 'Photography for Parents' workshop in Cobham

2011-07-11T10:44:00.000+01:00

What a lovely group we had on Saturday for the 'Photography for Parents' workshop at MakeMe's gorgeous studio. Not only did they all learn a fantastic new skill, but also it was everyone in the group's first trip to the Medicine Garden which is always a treat!

It started raining just as the group stepped outside to practice their new camera skills, but they didn't let a bit of drizzle stop them!

Here are a few of the comments from the feedback forms:
"...was really fantastic, thank you. Very excited!"
"...brilliant workshop!"
"...I love the way we now have our cameras set up to take our photos."
"...really enjoyed this morning, it couldn't have been better. I leave today full of enthusiasm."

I've now had 30 people on my workshops this year, and I've absolutely loved seeing them discover a brand new hobby and also seeing the fabulous photos they've been posting of their children on Facebook. In fact, lots of new people have booked onto the workshop after seeing these very photos! It's all very well me saying I'll show you how to take better photos of your kids, but it's when you actually see the photos people produce after attending the workshop, that you realise how effective the new techniques must be.

My next 'Photography for Parents' workshop is on 8th October and is already fully booked. We have just confirmed 2 new dates in January & February, which you can find details about and book your place here on MakeMe's website. Go on, impress yourself and be super organised by booking on now!

There are just 2 spaces left on my 2nd 'Photography for Creative Business Owners' workshop on 30th September. You can find out more details and book your place here.

Exciting mini sessions this autumn in Esher Common

2011-07-08T13:28:00.001+01:00

I'm really excited to launch these brand new mini sessions this autumn. All of my sessions are now fully booked until November, but I have kept one Saturday morning free in October so that I can offer mini photo shoots to 4 different families.

How are mini sessions different from a full custom session with you?
The mini sessions will last around 30 minutes in length (my custom full sessions last from 1-2 hours). In my full sessions we normally take a walk and shoot in lots of different spots for variety, whereas the mini sessions will take place in one set spot in the woods. After a mini session, you will get around 15 fully edited images in an online gallery after your session, including family shots and individual shots of your child/ren. After a custom full session you receive around 40-50 fully edited images.

If you just want photos of your children and don't want to be in them yourself, that's absolutely fine as I will then spend the half hour photographing them. And if you don't have kids, you can book a slot and get some gorgeous shots of you as a couple!

What can we expect?
You will be greeted by my colleague and then directed to a special spot in the woods which I will carefully choose for the best light and background. I will have a gorgeous shabby chic bench available which can be used for the family shots and I'll photograph you all having a lovely time together. I will also spend some time individually with your children and capture lots of candid, natural shots of them having fun in the autumn leaves.

A mini session is perfect for you if:
- you are looking to update your existing family photos
- you are wanting to try out lifestyle photography for the first time and see if it's for you
- you want a lovely family photo for your Christmas cards (sorry to mention Christmas in July!) and also sort out a few pressies as well!

A full custom session would be better for you if:

- you have more than 2 children. I need more than 30 mins to do your lovely big family justice!

- any of your children are particularly shy or wary of strangers. During a custom session there is no rush and I'll give them all the time they need to warm up to me.

- or the opposite, any of your children are a little hard to tame! If you don't think your child will sit still for a second then it's probably best to book a full session!

- You have a baby who isn't yet sitting up independently.

When are the mini sessions? The morning of Saturday, 15th October 2011. There are four 30 minute slots available at the following times: 9.00, 9.45, 10.30, 11.15

Where are they? The mini sessions will take place in a carefully selected spot in Esher Common. There will be car parking easily accessible within a 5 minute walk. You will be sent exact location details in a 'what to expect' pack prior to your session.

How much are they? The price is £245 per family which includes the following:
- a pre-shoot telephone consultation so I can find out more about your family and exactly what you are after from the session
- a 'what to expect' guide giving tips on what to wear and how to brief the kids!
- A 30 minute mini session in the woods
- Secure online gallery with 15 fully edited images live for 7 days
- A beautiful gift box delivered to your door containing four 8x6" gift prints of your chosen images and the same images on CD ready to print

The normal price for the above package would be £420 so this offers considerable savings. You are welcome to order additional prints and products but you are under no obligation to do so.

How do I book? Please fill in this contact form and say which time slot you would like ideally, then I'll send you an invoice for £100 to reserve your session. Sessions will be allocated on a first come, first served basis and won't be confirmed until payment is received.

And what if it rains?
Hmm, the only challenge with having photos taken in the beautiful outdoors rather than a boring studio is the British weather! If it does rain then I will do the mini sessions on Saturday 29th October instead, so you need to ensure you're available at the same time on that day. If it rains on that morning too (please no!) then I will refund your deposit in full.

Please do drop me an email if you have any questions at all.

Lots of giggles {family photo shoot in Bushy Park}

2011-07-06T10:57:00.000+01:00

I know this family well as Katie and Jim were in our NCT group when I was pregnant with Harrison. We met one evening when we all sat nervously in a room in Surbiton introducing ourselves to each other and listening to a lady telling us what we'd let ourselves in for! And now 3.5 years on all 8 couples still meet up with each other as regularly as we can, although with 15 children between us it's not as easy as it used to be! I always recommend the NCT to any new pregnant friends...more for the friendships you gain that the things you'll learn about childbirth (that normally all goes out of the window anyway!)

I love it when friends book me to photograph their family and we always have a lot of fun. We spent some time deciding on a location for the shoot, and in the end decided on Bushy Park. I know a great part of the park which is quiet, and lush & green this time of the year. It was a pretty miserable & grey the morning of our shoot but who would know it looking at these lovely happy photos!

And I love these series of photos below so much that I thought they deserved a montage of their own. And if you're wondering what she found so funny....it seems I have quite an amusing dinosaur roar!

Don't you just love this time of year with all of the gorgeous green everywhere? I'm just making the final touches to my exciting Autumn mini-sessions so hopefully I will be able to give you all of the details in my next blog post....keep an eye out!

A lovely family shoot {including chickens!}

2011-07-01T13:53:00.000+01:00

I really loved this shoot. Like most of my new clients, this family came to me through a recommendation, from another lovely family that I photographed last year. They had just moved to Hampshire which is a bit further than I normally travel for my shoots, but it was certainly worth the trip! I was greeted with 2 smiley boys, 2 lovely parents and a gorgeous location to shoot! Oh and some chickens, but more about them in a minute.

We did all of the shoot in the lovely countryside surrounding their house, and here are some of the photos from our morning together.

When Jennie told me that the chickens they have really love their eldest boy Harry, I must admit I was a little skeptical! But when he walked into the coop, it was amazing, they all just ran up to him. And were more than happy to take it in turns to be picked up. I didn't know friendly tame chickens existed! So I think it's very apt that they've ordered a frame including these 3 images below as a homage to the chickens!

They've ordered these 3 images framed of the lovely smiley Harry.

And the family have also ordered a couple of gallery canvas wraps which are going to look stunning. Here is one of my room templates demonstrating how one will look. It's tricky sometimes to visualise how your photos will look on your wall, so these room templates are great for that.

To the lovely family, thank you so much for a lovely morning; I can't wait to show you your products!

Happy chap {baby photo shoot in Surrey}

2011-06-28T12:18:00.001+01:00

What a happy little chap this 11 month old boy was! We did the shoot at this little man's house in New Malden. He was an absolute star throughout the session and we got lots of lovely smiley photos.

We did the 2nd part of the shoot out in their lovely garden and I got very excited when I saw that they had a lovely blue shed which matched the colour of Alfie's eyes!

I love the families' choice of products which I delivered to them yesterday. Here are a few photos of them; from a beautiful gallery canvas wrap and a Storyboard Frame to mini brag books which are perfect for proud grandparents!

I then got this lovely email from the family:

"Rachel, Alfie and I would just like to thank you for the fantastic prints & products. We were really happy with the online gallery, but the prints have surpassed our wildest expectations. It's been an absolute pleasure in all our dealings with you, from the booking, to the shoot, to the fantastic end products and would happily use you again / recommend you! Looking forward to using you for future shoots and showing off our wonderful prints to friends and family."

I just love getting feedback like this, that's what it's all about! Thank you Mark, Rachel and Alfie for being so lovely to work with. I look forward to seeing you again.

3 reasons why I love blogging

2011-06-24T17:09:00.001+01:00

I noticed the other day that this was going to be my 150th blog post. Wow, that's a lot of posts. So I thought I would mark this occasion by blogging about why I love blogging!

I've been writing this blog for over 2 years ago, and I remember when I started it, I was doing it more because I felt I should. Then I remember being delighted when I saw the first few people reading it. Now when I look at my stats I'm overwhelmed by how the number of readers have grown. I try not to think about it otherwise I find it a bit daunting when writing more personal posts like this! But I want to thank you all for reading my blog and looking at my photos, it really does mean a lot to me that so many people take an interest in my work. I know I'm not the best writer in the world (thank you to those who take time to let me know about any typos!) but I really do love writing my blog and I hope that shows.

Even when I am crazily busy, I always make time to write a blog post at least once a week. Even if it means writing it when I really should be sleeping! I never really understand why so many bloggers don't write a post for months then write 'sorry I've just been too busy to update my blog'. I see it as an essential part of my business. As essential as keeping on top of your accounts (although my accountants would tell you that my blog looks a lot more organised than the pile of receipts I hand them each year!)

So here are the 3 reasons I love blogging:

It's the voice of my business. I'm a big believer that people buy people. I've been known to walk out of shops if I'm not keen on the shop assistant, and on the flipside, I've bought many things I don't really want or need, just because I really like the business owner. Inviting someone into your life for an hour or 2, to photograph your family is a very personal thing. You need to like your photographer and trust them in order for them to capture the best shots. I think it's only fair that my clients learn about me, my life and my family too. More about this in the last point!

It's my living room wall. I am extremely passionate about what I do. I love love love taking photos and capturing memories for families. So I'm always just as excited as my families about their photos. But it would be slightly odd for me to have photos up on my living room wall of other peoples' children! So just like my clients show off the photos around their homes and on Facebook, instead I use my blog to show them to everyone. I really love showing off my recent shoots and it also means that new clients can easily see my recent work and can see that I'm busy too!

It's my journal. Every year I love reading back over my blog posts to remind myself what I've been up to. I include posts on here about my holidays, my children and my life. I love the fact that often when I turn up to shoots, my families are already asking me about Harrison & Sam, about where we've just been away and how Karl is! And when I need to make important decisions about my business it's my blog I share them on. So my blog has become a bit of a diary for me, albeit a very public one!

So I hope that makes it a bit easier to understand why I do have a bit of a blog writing addiction!

And because this is a photoblog and posts are pretty dull without pictures, here is me and Harrison having fun on the beach.

And here is Harrison on an early evening trip to some local fields a while ago:

The morning of the Royal Wedding {family photo shoot in Surbiton}

2011-06-22T09:34:00.000+01:00

In years to come, when asked what I was doing the morning of the Royal Wedding, I'll always remember that I was photographing this gorgeous little boy!

I did my first shoot with this family back in October 2009 when Jasper was 18 months old. It was so lovely to be invited back to photograph them again and see what sort of little boy he is growing into. And what a delightful little chap he is! We started the shoot by him showing me his bedroom and we chatted about Fireman Sam, racing cars and of course princesses getting married!

We then went for a little walk to the private gardens near their home and I took some lovely colourful images of them as a family. Check out the gorgeous green colours. Love the fact Jasper's Crocs match the trees!

The family have ordered a session album, some gift prints and a Storyboard Frame from the shoot which just looks stunning. I can't wait to deliver everything to them on Friday.

Now I've had my business nearly 3 years, I love the fact I'm getting to see so many of the families I photograph again and again. My aim is always for my clients to be so delighted with their photos and the service I provide that I become their family photographer for life!

Happy father's day....

2011-06-19T08:18:00.000+01:00

...to all of you wonderful dads! I hope you have a great day.

I count myself very lucky to have a dad who will do anything for his 2 girls and always knows how to make us laugh. And my boys are also very lucky that they'll grow up having a fantastic Dad too.

Here is a montage of some of the lovely Dads I've had the pleasure of photographing over the past 6 months. Some you may recognise as they've appeared on my blog, others I'm still yet to share!

"Anyone can be a father. It takes someone special to be a Dad."

Gorgeous Georgia {Surrey newborn photography}

2011-06-14T08:16:00.001+01:00

If you weren't broody before you came to my blog, I'm pretty certain you will be after seeing this gorgeous girl! I first photographed her when she was still in her Mummy's tummy which you can see here.

Georgia was brilliant during the shoot and slept all the way through it, even when I was moving her around and putting various different hats on her!

Isn't she just gorgeous? She must be one of the luckiest babies around. Not only has she got extremely lovely parents, she's also got a teenage sister who just adores her and 3 older brothers who will protect her forever. No wonder she kept smiling!

Cute curls {toddler photography in Surbiton}

2011-06-12T07:56:00.003+01:00

As I promised in my last post featuring this little boy's mummy, here is the gorgeous Teddy. I spent some time photographing him playing in his house and out in the garden....he just loved running around the trampoline. We were very lucky with the weather as it was a beautiful afternoon.

Aren't his curls just adorable? A few weeks after this shoot, his little sister was born. I'll be sharing some photos of the gorgeous little lady on Tuesday.

Just a quick note on availability....I have one session left in September and then I'm taking bookings from October onwards. I'm going to soon be announcing some exciting mini-sessions in the Autumn. Keep an eye on this blog for details soon. Or please like my Facebook page to be one of the first to find out the date and details.

Soon to be seven {pregnancy shoot in Surrey}

2011-06-10T13:19:00.000+01:00

I spent a lovely sunny afternoon with this gorgeous mum-to-me. Seeing how wonderful she looks, you are probably thinking this is going to be her first baby. Well you're wrong; it's actually going to be her fifth! I know, I can't believe it either, I didn't look this good even when I was pregnant with my first!

I have a treat for all of my lovely readers over the next week. After we'd taken these bump shots, I then did a little shoot with her little toddler Teddy who has the most adorable curls. I will be posting these on Sunday. Then on Tuesday next week, I'll share some photos from the newborn shoot and you'll be able to see the gorgeous baby girl who was hiding in this bump. And she is worth waiting for!

Caroline - thank you so much for choosing me to photograph your wonderful bump. It was such a pleasure meeting you and your lovely family.

One year on {family photo shoot in Bushy Park}

2011-06-06T13:48:00.000+01:00

I love it when clients invite me to photograph their family year after year and I get to know them and see their children grow up. I photographed this lovely family for the first time last April when their little boy Tristan was 10 months old, you can see some photos from that session here. It was great to photograph them again a few weeks ago and see how he is growing up.

We started the shoot very early in Bushy Park; in fact so early the gates to the gardens weren't even open! The early morning mist and light was beautiful as you can see in the black & white photo at the top here.

We then went back to their home and did the 2nd part of the shoot there. I felt like each part of the shoot justified a montage all of it's own!

One of the most popular questions clients ask prior to a shoot, as well as 'what do we wear?' is 'where shall we have the shoot?' I always say if you have a baby who is not yet walking then it's best to have the shoot at your home. If you are a family of 4, then it's generally better to have a location shoot. But if you have a toddler then you can have either, and I think these 2 different montages show the difference between a location shoot and a session at home. I absolutely love location shoots as I'm passionate about the outdoors and changing seasons. But home sessions are great for different reasons; often it's easier to capture a child's real personality when they're at home and I can take more 'lifestyle' shots of them so you can remember what they used to do everyday at home.

This family have ordered a coffee table album of the whole session to add to the one from last year. These yearly albums will make a wonderful keepsake of their little boy growing up. It was so lovely to see how Tristan is growing into a charming (and rather cheeky!) little chap!

My baby boy is one today!

2011-06-04T07:56:00.001+01:00

I seriously can't believe where this last year has gone! I know everyone always says it, but it seems like only yesterday I was announcing his birth on here.

It's been a hectic but amazing year. No-one can prepare you for how demanding it is having 2 kids....you just get used to looking after a toddler, then bam...you're back to baby stage again; the night-time waking, the crying and changing nappies all of the time!

The first 6 months Sam was a dream baby; slept through the night from about 8 weeks, didn't cry unless he needed something and would go to anyone. (Very different from Harrison!) But the last 6 months, he's been a little bit more demanding....he started crawling at 7 months (Harry was nearly 1!) and hasn't sat still since! He no longer sleeps through the night regularly (blame the teeth!) and I can't take my eyes of him for a second. But he is amazingly cute! He has a smile and a wave for everyone and just loves cuddles and tickles from anyone who's willing to give them. You can already tell he's going to be the little cheeky, mischievous one!

One of the best things about being a family of 4 is watching the 2 boys together. They are already the best of friends and it melts my heart when Harrison says every morning 'I love you my baby Sammy'.

Happy 1st Birthday gorgeous Sammy, we love you so much.

Headshot session at London's South Bank with Heidi Sternberg

2011-06-01T22:01:00.000+01:00

This headshot session with Heidi Sternberg took place in March at London's South Bank. Heidi runs a business called 'Polkadots & Blooms' which offers gorgeous handmade goods made from vintage fabrics.

The weather was miserable that morning and as soon as we started the shoot it started raining heavily. But who would know it from these photos! Luckily we managed to find some spots undercover with some fantastic light. South Bank is a perfect location for a headshot session, rain or no rain!

Heidi's daughter even shed a tear when she saw these photos and said 'you look so beautiful Mummy'. I was so pleased when Heidi told me that!

Heidi is also coming on my 'Photography for Creative Business Owners' workshop so that she can take great photos of her products for her blog. Really looking forward to seeing you again in September Heidi!

Family holiday in Corfe Castle, Dorset

2011-05-30T09:55:00.000+01:00

We had a lovely break last week in a gorgeous little place called Afflington Manor Cottage in Corfe Castle. When the weather is good (which it was most of the time!) then you really can't beat a UK holiday with the kids. No airports, no long car journeys and lots of great things to see and do. The cottage was surrounded by beautiful gardens and they had chickens, sheep and even Alpacas, so Harrison was thoroughly amused! It was great watching the sun going down every evening over the fields and the flowers. Here are some of my pics from the week...

As with my recent bluebell trip family snaps, these are all taken with my 'holiday kit' which consists very simply of a Canon 400D and a Canon 50mm F1.8 lens; the kind of kit the parents who come to my photography workshops have. You'll notice that I've appeared a couple of times here again....I'm getting much better at putting the camera is Karl's hands and making him take some shots. I want my boys to know I was there when they look back at our holiday photos in years to come!

With two kids, holidays aren't really restful like they used to be, as any of you with children reading this will know. I remember when we used to holiday in exotic destinations and could lay in every day, have leisurely long lunches and do things like scuba diving whenever we wanted. Those days are long gone (I'm hoping to get them back in about 18 years!) but they've been replaced by great trips like this where we have a lovely time as a family. I hope you liked having a little nosy at our week away, I would love to know what you think!

Headshot session with Tracy Gray from Button & Bean

2011-05-28T22:30:00.000+01:00

This headshot session was with the lovely Tracy from Button & Bean at the end of March. I met Tracy when she came to the business mums group I used to run in Surbiton (along with some of my other headshot clients including Paula Trovalusci, Jo Mir & Ashleigh Crabtree).

Tracy had been hiding behind her logo on social networking sites and so I was delighted when she booked me for a headshot session so she could finally show off her lovely face! We had planned to do the shoot in Esher but the weather was miserable so we re-located to Tracy's house instead. Here are the results....

So much better than hiding behind a logo don't you think?! Don't forget that people buy from people, and seeing these I would definitely want to buy from Tracy, wouldn't you? It's very considerate of her to have beautiful blue eyes that also match my logo!

I also did some commercial work for Button & Bean at the beginning of the year for their beautiful jewellery which you can see on the homepage of their website. I bought the fingerprint cufflinks for Karl last Father's Day and it was the only present I've ever bought that actually brought a tear to his eye!

Tracy is coming to my Photography for Creative Business Owners workshop in September so she is able to take great photos of her jewellery when she doesn't have a professional photographer to hand. If you want to come on the 2nd date on 30th September, book your space quickly as the £15 early bird discount runs out on 31st May and there are just 4 spaces left!

A shoot full of colour! {Family photography in Bushy Park}

2011-05-21T07:49:00.000+01:00

I think this is one of the most colourful shoots I've ever done! The family have just emigrated to China and wanted to have a family photo session in a quintessentially English location, and what better place than Bushy Park in the spring! We had a lovely time and here is the story of our very colourful afternoon!

The family ordered some gorgeous products including a Storyboard Frame which looked stunning, a session album and of course lots of gift prints to display around their new home in China.

And to the lovely family; thank you for choosing me to photograph you before you left the UK, and I hope you create a wonderful life for yourselves in China. Vicki x

Lifestyle headshot session with Natalia Barbour

2011-05-20T13:00:00.001+01:00

I met interior designer Natalia Barbour for her headshot session at the beginning of April. She wanted some professional headshots that would look great on her gorgeous website and blog. We decided to hold the shoot in an interiors shop in Esher.

I think Natalia's new headshots look fantastic on her website and the colours all work really well together. Thank you to Clarkes Interiors in Esher for allowing us to shoot in their beautiful shop.

Our family trip to the bluebell woods

2011-05-18T09:56:00.000+01:00

I thought I would share with you a few pics from our recent family trip to Hatchlands Park in Guilford to see the bluebell woods.

When I'm photographing my own family, I don't normally take my professional kit with me unless it's a special shoot I'm doing with my boys like this one. Because I normally have a professional shoot every few days, I panic that something will happen to my kit when I'm out on a family trip and that I won't have it ready for a shoot (have I ever told you I'm a bit of a worrier?!) Also, it's nice to have some time off and not lug my kit around everywhere!

On professional shoots, I normally carry two pro camera bodies (5D's if you're curious), at least 3 lenses and a reflector....not overly practical every time I step out of the house! So when I'm taking snaps of my family, I grab my old Canon 400D and a 50mm F1.8 lens (which you can get for about £80). I like to challenge myself and just use one fixed lens (which you can't zoom in and out). I don't use either of these pieces of equipment on my professional shoots so I don't have to worry about damaging them (phew!). The Canon 400D is the type of camera most parents bring along to my photography workshops...so I wanted to share the kind of family snaps that I take with this camera.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that I've actually made a rare appearance on my own blog! I don't get to be in many of my own family photos, just the occasional time when I put the camera in Karl's hands and make him take a pic!

I haven't done anything other than basic editing to these photos, so if you own a digital SLR camera, there is no reason why your family snaps can't look more like this if you just learn the essentials of photography and take your camera off auto. And a quick shameless plug if you're interested; there is just one space left on my next 'Oh Snap! Photography for Parents' workshop on 9th July, and 6 spaces left for the 8th October workshop. You can book your place here on MakeMe Workshops website.

Hunting for sticks in Oxshott Woods

2011-05-16T10:08:00.000+01:00

You may remember when I posted photos from this lovely little lady's session, that I also photographed her big brother in the woods. And here he is!

We had a lovely time walking through Oxshott woods hunting for sticks and treasure, despite the rather miserable weather. But I always think there is no such thing as bad weather in photography (ok, unless it's completely pouring down!) and the foggy, overcast weather we had on this morning just adds a lovely atmosphere to the photos.

If you read my post about addressing the balance and are wondering why I seem to be busier than ever, (like Karl said to me when I was still working at midnight the other night!) it's because my new way of working and only doing 1 shoot a week starts from July. When I wrote the post, I was already booked up until then so you'll be seeing lots of shoots on here before my new way of working starts!

Headshot session with Ashleigh Crabtree from Jamie at Home

2011-05-15T16:10:00.000+01:00

The next headshot session I'm going to share with you is with Ashleigh Crabtree who runs her own Jamie at Home business. I first met Ashleigh a couple of years ago when she came to one of my business mums networking meetings that I used to run in Surbiton.

We met in Bushy Park for the shoot but most of these shots were taken around the car park! There appears to be a bit of a theme with my headshot sessions as most of Sarah's headshots in my last post were taken around a car park too!

Like most of the ladies I photograph, Ashleigh was a bit nervous about being in front of the camera at the start of the session, but by the end was posing like a pro! The shot by the tree on the left is one of the first shots I took, then the one in the middle is at the end....I think you can see the difference in her eyes and I love her relaxed, confident expression in the middle shot.

Lifestyle headshot session with Sarah Martin from Ladies at 11

2011-05-13T19:56:00.000+01:00

I have about 6 headshot sessions from the last few months that I haven't yet shared with you, so I'll be posting them over the next couple of weeks.

Starting with the lovely Sarah Martin who runs the fantastic networking group Ladies at 11. If you are a lady in business then do check out the website. I don't get much time to network at the moment, as I'm pretty much a full time mum to my boys. But once Sam starts at nursery next year, I'll be at the Surbiton group in a flash! As well as running a successful business, Sarah also recently ran 3 marathons in 3 weeks for charity; a very inspirational lady!

I was delighted when Sarah booked me to update her headshots. We did the session in a very glamorous location....in a car park round the back of the shops in Esher! When doing my headshot sessions, I am just looking for the best light and the most interesting backdrops....and these tend to be in places like car parks!

Here are the results from our session...

Sarah had a fantastic response to her new headshots on Twitter which I was delighted with! Thanks Sarah for choosing me as your photographer.

Photos from Saturday's Oh Snap! photography workshop for parents

2011-05-09T11:00:00.000+01:00

On Saturday morning, I held my 3rd photography for parents workshop at MakeMe Workshops gorgeous studio at The Medicine Garden in Cobham (I don't know how many I have to do before I stop telling you the number of it!)

The rain threatened, but luckily for us the sun was out for the shooting part of the workshop. And the Alium's in the beautiful garden made wonderful subjects for the group to practice the new techniques they had learnt.

It was a fantastic group and we had a lot of fun. There seems to be a theme occuring with each of my workshops so far, we've had just one guy in each one! It's all ladies at the moment for the July workshop, so come on men, I need one of you to book on to keep the theme going!

Here are some of the comments from the feedback forms:

"...covered everything you need to take better photos of your children. Can't wait to put what I've learnt into practice!"
"...very, very well organised"
"...thoroughly enjoyed the workshop."
"...really fantastic morning, can't wait to start taking lots of photos!"
"...perfect level of technical vs practical information."
"...so much information but pitched at exactly the right level for the amateur photographer. I'll definitely be recommending it to my friends."

I have just 3 spaces left on the Saturday, 9th July workshop and I have just announced the Autumn 'Photography for Parents' workshop which is Saturday, 8th October. You can book your place through MakeMe Workshops website here.

I was delighted that all of the places for my new 'photography for creative business owners' workshop in September were snapped up within 24 hours of us announcing it. At the risk of sounding like I think I'm a pop star (er, have you heard me sing?!), we're announcing another date due to the popularity of this workshop. The new date is Friday, 30th September from 9.30am-1.30pm. Again, you can book here through MakeMe workshops website. Places are limited to 8 so please make sure you book early. And you still get an early bird discount of £15 if you book before 31st May. Just enter 'Early Bird' at the checkout.

Discovering the daffodils {family photo shoot in Bushy Park}

2011-05-06T15:12:00.000+01:00

I told you to prepare for lots of upcoming blog posts, so here is my 2nd one in 2 days! You may recognise this lovely family from a 'what to wear' post I did back in March when I included one image from their shoot.

This lovely little lady had just turned 1 the day before the shoot and this was a wonderful way to capture her at this milestone birthday. We were so lucky as the daffodils had just come out in Bushy Park and she had a great time running around in them. I found this lovely spot in the park which was just full of daffodils, I literally gasped the first time I came across it. So beautiful. Here are some of the photos from our session...

The family ordered some beautiful frames to show off their photos around their home, here is a little glimpse at a few of them.

To T, J & A - it was a real pleasure to meet you all and I look forward to our shoot next year! x

Photo shoot with my sister in the woods

2011-05-05T21:00:00.001+01:00

This year, when I asked my brother-in-law what my sister would like for her birthday, I was delighted when he said she would love to have a photo shoot with me, like the headshot sessions she had seen with other ladies here on my blog. And of course I was more than happy to oblige!

So off to the woods we went and lots of giggling and hair flicking ensued! We were so lucky with the weather as it had been dull and gloomy all day and the sun literally put his hat on for about half an hour in the early evening for when we had planned the shoot. Thank you Mr Sun. Here is the result of our fun photo shoot....

I was so pleased that Rachel was delighted with the results of our session. Happy belated birthday sis! xx

New photography workshop for creative business owners - just launched

2011-05-02T07:14:00.003+01:00

Do you own a business where you make lovely products but get frustrated that your photos don't do them justice? Do you wish you could take gorgeous photos, but don't have time to read the manual from cover to cover and learn every aspect of photography? Yes? Well I think I have just the workshop for you! Since launching my successful photography workshops for parents, I have been asked many times if I would do a workshop which focuses on taking photos of products rather than people.

Many people (myself included!) are put off by bad product photos and just won't buy something or go somewhere that is selling itself with bad photographs. And it's not because I'm a photography snob (ok, maybe a little bit!), but because bad photographs can just make things look, (dare I say it), a little bit cheap and tacky. We've all seen an advert for a new restaurant that's opening, and if the photographs of the interior and the food are beautiful, it makes you want to go there doesn't it? But if there is an advert with bad photographs of the food sitting on plates, you want to run a mile!

Now, I'm not suggesting that by coming on this workshop that you'll never need to hire a professional photographer again. It's essential that you get a pro to photograph your products for your website and marketing literature to ensure you are showcasing your products in the best possible way. But unless you're Theo Paphitis, it's likely that you can't afford to hire a professional every single time you make something new. So, if you own a cupcake business, you may hire a professional to photograph your cakes every 2 years when you refresh your website and marketing materials. But what about all of the beautiful cakes you make in between? Imagine if you could take gorgeous photos of them to show off on your blog and social networking sites. Photos that you're proud of. And unfortunately just buying a good camera doesn't mean you can suddenly take a great photo; as demonstrated in my post 'it's not the camera that takes the photo'.

Or perhaps you run a business where you don't create products, but you do write a blog where you would love to show great photos of things that inspire you. And it makes such a difference when you can take good photos of these things. Just check out Fiona Humberstone's blog at Flourish Studios. Recently she has started blogging about things that inspire her and she is getting a chance to show off her photography skills as well! Don't these great photos she takes make a big difference to the feel of the blog?

This workshop is all about taking lifestyle photos of your products using natural light. Like the kind of photographs you usually find on Not on the High Street website. You won't be learning how to shoot them in front of a white background using studio lights. To demonstrate what I mean, here are some different photos I've taken of one of my products, the Mini Brag Book. When I started my business 2.5 years ago, I naively thought that all product shots needed to have a white background (slightly odd considering I'm so passionate about shooting people in the natural world, rather than in a studio!) So on the left is how I used to show this product on my product list, and on the right is how I show it now. It's the same product but I think the lifestyle shot on the right makes it look more stylish and also puts its size into context. What do you think?

So here are all of the details about this new workshop.....

What is it? Oh Snap! photography workshop for creative business owners.
You will spend an enjoyable morning learning a new skill that will benefit your business enormously. This brand new Oh Snap! workshop focuses on simple concepts that will dramatically improve your photos; just by understanding light, composition and perspective. A great networking opportunity too! See MakeMe workshop's website for details of what is covered in the workshop.

What do I need? Ideally you will have a digital SLR camera (with interchangeable lenses). You could come to the workshop with a compact camera and see an improvement in your photos, but for the best results you need a digital SLR camera. Just contact me if you want help choosing which camera to buy if you don't already have one.

When and where is it? Friday, 16th September 2011, 9.30am-1.30pm at the Make Me workshops studio at The Medicine Garden, Cobham in Surrey. A wonderful venue! (UPDATE: as this date sold out within 2 days we have announced another date on Friday, 30th September 2011)

How much is it? £125 for the 4 hour workshop. If you book your place before 31st May you can receive a £15 early bird discount.

What's included? - An intensive & dynamic 4 hour workshop

- Coffee, tea and homemade cakes

- A digital manual including all of the tips you've learnt during the morning

- 2 weeks of email support from me after the workshop to ensure you're on the right track

How do I book? It's easy; just click here to go to MakeMe workshops website and book your place online. Enter 'Early Bird' as the discount code to receive your £15 off (before 31st May) There are only 7 spaces left so be quick!

And credit where credit is due; the gorgeous cupcakes here are by Sprinkles and Swirls and the beautiful fingerprint necklace are from a commercial shoot I did with Button and Bean.

They grow so fast {family photography in Molesey}

2011-04-28T12:23:00.000+01:00

When you have your own children, you don't really notice them growing up as you see them every day. It's only when you look back at photos and see how much they've grown, that you realise how quickly that time has gone. I love it when clients invite me back year after year to photograph their families, as I get to see how their children have grown. I love knowing that these children will have wonderful photos of their childhood to look back at when they are properly grown up!

I first photographed this little lady back in 2009 when she was just a few days old, here she is back then.

Then I did another session with the family when she was just turning one which you can see here.

And now here she is, 18 months and full of energy and giggles. We had such a lovely time running through the daffodils near Hampton Court, early one sunny morning. I must have sung Baa Baa Black Sheep to her about 10 times in an attempt to keep her from running away; apologies to her mummy & daddy for having to listen to my terrible singing voice all morning! Amelia seemed to love it though and I got lots of claps, giggles and even shouts of 'good girl' from her!

You may recognise this family from a recent post where I said they had co-ordinated their outfits beautifully. And she looks so cute in that little knitted dress.

I hope you all have a lovely day for the Royal Wedding tomorrow, whether it's your cup of tea or not. I didn't think I'd be that into it but I must admit, I'm pretty excited about it now. I'm going to be watching it and waving my flags with my mum, sister and my boys back home, while Karl goes off and plays golf with my Dad! Have a great weekend everyone.

Girly & gorgeous {baby photography in Cobham}

2011-04-26T21:44:00.002+01:00

Well I said in my last post that I had a lot to share, so be prepared for lots of post updates coming up on this blog! I'm so pleased as I've just installed a new bit of software which allows me to upload images to this blog way quicker than I was before. Normally it takes me about 1-2 hours to prepare images for just one blog post, which is quite a time suck as you can imagine. Now I should be able to do it much more quickly which means hopefully you'll get to see a lot more of my shoots!

I had a shoot a few months ago with this gorgeous baby girl and her mummy in Cobham. She was the perfect model during the session and treated me to lots of lovely looks and smiles. You might remember her from when I did a tiny sneak peek of the session in a post a while ago.

Isn't she gorgeous? I then did a shoot with this little lady's big brother in the woods; I'll be sharing this with you very soon.

So for the meantime, I'll be displaying my images in a montage like this. This means that I'll be able to share a lot more images with you from each shoot and also hopefully they will load quicker if you have a slow connection. Hope you like it! Please do let me know what you think. x

Counting down the days {Surrey pregnancy photographer}

2011-04-25T19:03:00.000+01:00

I have so many shoots to share with you and I thought I would start with this lovely one from last week. I did a little pregnancy shoot with a good friend of mine who has 5 weeks to go until she welcomes her 2nd baby into the world. I hope these summery photos will remind her in years to come of the Easter heatwave we experienced when she was 8 months pregnant!

Her little girl Daisy joined us to say hello to me and the bump. You may remember Daisy from a little session I did with her last year in my gorgeous red tutu. You can see it here. I got lots of lovely smiles from Daisy....

But when she was asked to say hello to her new brother or sister she wasn't quite so sure. I just love her expression here...

I can't wait to meet Daisy's little brother or sister in June! I hope you enjoyed seeing a few of the photos from their session. Please check back soon as I have lots to fab shoots to share with you and some exciting things to tell you about that I am planning for the Autumn. I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend in the sunshine!