Regular readers will know Greenwich Park is a favourite spot for me, but it’s also a favourite spot for J, who regularly enjoys a run around the place. One of J’s favourite views is the view from the park across London. I could not agree with her more!

Thank you to J and F for being such great subjects!

C and B playing games in the park

B is my oldest, and has not long turned four. She has hair that is impossible to brush, but she’d never let us cut it!

My daughter B

C is my youngest, and will shortly be turning two. She has her daddy’s red hair and is very cheeky!

My daughter C

They’re children, so they liked getting as mucky as possible..

B checking out the flowers

And looking grumpy at the camera. Neither of my two are impressed with me photographing them – other people’s children are a LOT easier!

C does not like to be photographed

They both love the outdoors.. in fact B is developing a bit of a tree-hugging problem!

B loves trees

C loves to ride on her daddy’s shoulders.. and steal his hat for good measure!

Stealing daddy's hat

And of course, there’s someone missing. So I handed the photo to my husband and told him what to do with it!! Here’s something you very rarely see:

Daughter C and me

I hope you enjoyed this “sneak peek” of my own family! And now, back to my regular work! Keep watching for more sneak peeks, and don’t forget about my special Holiday/Christmas packages which I am booking towards the end of November.

M is seven months pregnant, so we took the chance to get some maternity shots as well!

I love doing silhouette photographs, and the light was perfect for it on Saturday:

The family has a little boy who is almost four, who was looking VERY cool in his leather jacket. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of me with a big camera at first, but he did a great job posing by the end!

Here’s a final one with his mum:

I really enjoyed photographing this fun family – the location is beautiful, the lighting was perfect and the family were great!

Even if it’s too late for newborn photos, or if you just want more photos later on, this session proves there is still plenty you can do with a slightly older baby! Not fancying driving (or parking!) in Central London, I was fortunately still able to carry my baby poser and blankets in on public transport which meant we had the best chance for some great photos.

Their apartment was blessed with fantastic natural light, which makes my job a lot easier!

I love taking photos of baby feet

We got through plenty of dress changes and poses – including this fabulous fun outfit:

Family shots were important to the family, so finally here’s M and his gorgeous family all together:

It was a very enjoyable shoot with a fun and creative family, and I am looking forward to processing the remaining images!

Also present was the proud father L, who was a great assistant when I needed one, as well as a fantastic model with L too!

And last, but not least, I must not forget Winston, their gorgeous family dog. One of the things he loves the most is resting his head on L’s tummy.

The excited parents-to-be are one of those rare couples who do not know whether the baby will be a boy or a girl! I can’t wait to find out either.

I recently invested in a portable backdrop system for use in homes where there isn’t enough room for a full studio (which in London is most homes!) Although it was still a bit cramped, this system is perfect for regular portraits such as these, or for children that don’t escape too far..

I leave you with a stunning pose that I am still in awe L was able to do this far along!

It was a genuine pleasure working with L and L and Winston, and I am very much looking forward to hearing about your new arrival!

Time was at a premium, as they were flying out on Tuesday evening. The scheduled session on Sunday evening had to be cancelled due to poor weather, and the forecast for Monday afternoon looked good, so we thought we would give it a go.

The R family, with their gorgeous daughter Samaira

Alas, the British weather did what it does best.. torrential rain at inconvenient moments! We were undeterred though, and in between showers I grabbed shots here and there.

Cute as a button Samaira with her gorgeous mother Sunaina

After doing Hyde Park Corner, we hopped in a black cab down to Westminster. What photo session in London is complete without Big Ben?

Mother and Daughter and some iconic London images

And of course, the London Eye!

Father Vaibhav with sweet Samaira

Finally, on Embankment, it was time to finish up, just as the sun decided to consider a reappearance! I leave you with a heavily stylised romantic photo of the parents:

Vaibhav and Sunaina at Embankment

It was great fun to photograph the R family – despite the horrible weather, they were full of enthusiasm and smiles and kept on posing no matter what! It was lovely to meet you, R family, and I hope your flight home was a good one. There are plenty more photos where this session came from, and they should be ready in a week or so!

Regular followers of my work here may have noticed that these photos are not my usual style. Well, the R family wanted something a bit different, and I was more than happy to oblige as some of the styles here are ones I am familiar with as I use them for my own personal photography. If you’re a future customer and you like this sort of thing, do let me know!

Newborn Baby Z having an interesting dream

It was also a chance to try out my new baby poser, which is suitable for children from newborn until they can sit unsupported. It was very easy to use and a worthwhile investment, along with the sheepskin rug I used for the photo below:

Newborn baby Z contemplates life on a sheepskin rug

He also got to try out my new basket too!

Newborn baby Z in a basket

I also took some photographs of Z with his parents. These have come out very well – here is one with his gorgeous mother.. I could not believe she’d recently had a baby!

Newborn baby Z and his mother

We did some family photos as well (he has an adorable older brother S who is two and a half who did brilliant “cheese”s for me!) which I will maybe share at a later date. The family were very enthusiastic and had lots of great ideas – it was great fun working with them.

In the meantime, I leave you with a photo of a very sweet Z in this gorgeous hat. Handmade by Jo at Halobaby (take a look, she has some fabulous stuff!) it really suits him!

Baby Z in a hat made by Jo at Halobaby.co.uk

Despite the gloomy light (thank you British summer!) we managed to get a lot of great shots, which I am very much looking forward to sharing with the family soon!

Ruby and her Dad

Sophie is a big cloth nappy fan, so out came the cloth nappies!

Ash and the nappy stash

Faith is the oldest, and did a grand job with posing:

Faith

Faith and her mum Sophie

At the end of the session, the children even allowed mum and dad to snatch a quick pose themselves!

James and Sophie

You can see their full gallery by clicking on the link here.

It was all great fun, both to capture the images and to process them. Thank you again to Sophie and James and their family for being such great models!

It’s reassuring that I don’t always need my full backdrop (requires at least 10-12 feet across, not to mention 8-10 feet in front) in order to create studio photos.

Laura was good fun to photograph and easy to work with!

Due to the lack of room obviously it was awkward to do full length portraits, but I managed a good selection of head and shoulders.

Of course we can’t forget about the cat!! She was not nearly as enthusiastic as Laura to have her photo taken, but we both love her outraged expression here:

You can see the rest of the photos from the session (including more of her cat) in a larger size at my Smugmug gallery here.

Thank you to Laura, and her cat, for a great session! I have two more sessions (a newborn and a family) remaining to process, which I hope to have done over the next few days.

She has access to private parts of the college that the public, and even regular students were not allowed to enter, which provided some good opportunities:

R in one of the private college rooms

This was also the first time I’d made use of my portable studio set up – no backdrops, but it’s a flash/softbox/reflector system that I can take with me without needing a car. Ideal for reaching people on public transport if car access is difficult.

After a few indoor shots, we headed outside – there were plenty of opportunities there.

A hut in the grounds

An interesting sculpture

And finally of course I had to reuse a location from earlier with K and his family.. I bet it would look even more spectacular in the summer.

Avenue

A very big thank you to R for letting me photograph her in full gowns.. and it was very nice to see her again and catch up!

K, like all small boys, didn’t want to stay still for a second so it was good training for my marathon to chase around after him!

K runs along a path

His mum caught him at one point..

K captured

Here he is with his mum and dad

K and his family

Occasionally we convinced him to sit still.. he did do a great job with posing when asked!

Steps near a pond

As it’s Spring, the daffodils were ablaze, and what better backdrop can you get?

K and the daffodils

And finally, just as we were finishing up, I managed to catch a close-up..

Close-up

Thank you very much to K and his family for letting me photograph them – it was very enjoyable especially hearing about the wedding memories!

Avalon and Jude

Avalon wanted some photos of both Jude on his own and the two of them together in their local park, which has plenty of memories for them.

As well as tree climbing, Jude enjoyed playing on the play equipment:

And as a bonus, a photo of their gorgeous fluffy cat!

I am always impressed by the energy that pre-teen boys have, and Jude was no exception. He certainly kept me fit chasing after him.. no bad thing!

Thank you very much to Avalon and Jude for being such great models. The rest of the photos will be processed in due course

Jo is absolutely stunning – ivory skin with a perfect complexion and beautiful vibrant red hair.

Beautiful Jo

She tried a couple of outfits over the course of the session:

And even a hat:

And what is a photoshoot if you can’t have a silly goth pose?

As with the others, there are more to come at a later date whilst I catch up.

It was a real privilege to photograph Jo, she is an excellent model and of course it made a nice change to have a model that I didn’t have to make silly noises at to get their attention! A big thank you to her husband David who arranged the session and helped out too.

There was disaster when I arrived when the fuse went in one of my lights, so I was down to one light for the session. Lesson learned about spares there! Fortunately there was a lot of natural light in the room and I also had my reflector so the session was saved.

Faith is the oldest, and was a fantastic model! Not only did she do everything I asked, but also helped out fantastically with the others too. If every child was like Faith, my life would be so easy.

Faith

Ruby is two years old and full of beans.. and opinions!!

Ruby

Ash is 16 months and was sadly getting over a tummy bug so he wasn’t his usual smiley self, nor was he up for many photos, but I managed to get a few photos of him including this one:

Faith and Ash

Faith and Ruby share a moment

Faith and Ruby

Ruby makes her feelings known to her mum!

Sophie with Ruby

James has his hands full!

James and his girls

There are more to come (and also more of Meg and her horse Pico) hopefully in a few weeks.

Coming up soon – a model in glamorous evening dress, and a newborn!

Pico currently lives in a very nice stables in North London, so I photographed him in his yard.

Here’s a peek at some of the photos from the session.

Pico and Meg

Meg is very close to Pico

Pico

A black and white of the two

I actually had two sessions that day. Coming up tomorrow – Sophie, James and their family!

These are more snapshot-style photos albeit with a touch of post-processing, but ones I am happy to do. Greenwich Park is a beautiful area, with not only the Royal Naval College, but also stunning views of Canary Wharf and its skyscrapers.

Aileen (left) and friends, and Canary Wharf skyscrapers

Closer image of the friends

Trying a slightly different effect to my usual style.

Outside the Royal Observatory

The park was pretty busy, but we all had a good time!

Sitting on a bench watching the world go by

Thank you very much to Aileen and her friends for letting me photograph you all! I hope you enjoy the photos

Amy has a very small front room, yet somehow I still managed to fit in the studio although it was rather tight at times. I brought along my new white paper backdrop, and I was very pleased with how effective it was.. worth every penny.

So, first off – Felix.

Felix and his teddy bear, Felix

Felix was rather attached to his teddy bear, and wanted it to be in all the photos. Here’s what happened when we tried to take it away:

Felix without his teddy

He is usually a happy chappy, and was extremely co-operative (especially at first) and did most things we asked!

Felix rolling around

One of the things Amy wanted most were some photos of her with Felix.

Felix cuddles his mummy

This was also a chance to try out my new black velvet backdrop, which also worked incredibly well!

Felix resting on his mummy

Meet Dave – Amy’s boyfriend!

Dave and Amy

We all had a lot of fun trying out various different poses..

Dave and Amy sitting down

Their patented “Staring at the chimney pots” pose:

Staring at the chimney pots

And a portrait of Amy on her own.

Amy

Finally, I decided to experiment with storyboards.. and felt that these photos were a natural fit!

Soppy storyboard

All in all, we had a great time! It took around an hour to set up the equipment (this will get faster as I get more practice) and we were shooting for two hours. Amy and Dave are very pleased with the photos and immediately changed their Facebook profile photos to some of the more soppy ones!

Thank you so much Amy, Dave and of course Felix for being my guinea pigs and being such great fun to photograph

Monday I did a tandem nursing shoot with Jessica.. watch this space!

And just to prove it’s not all children, here’s some photos of the up-and-coming band The Incisors I took last year in the summer:

I’m just as happy outdoors as indoors with the studio, and I’m very much looking forward to the summer so there are more opportunities for natural light photography!

I remembered to pack everything except my softbox which was very annoying. I couldn’t take the full width paper that I bought a few weeks ago (it’s 9 foot!) so it was sawn up a little and I had a 1 metre width instead.

Here’s some of the first half of these photos, mostly starring my brother but some with his girlfriend too (SFW!!):

1. Moody brother

2. Colour

3. With girlfriend and whistle!

4. More Jake and El

5. More Jake and El only in colour!

6. More black and white