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!

Meet baby O:

As it was December, there were still lots of beautifully coloured leaves on the floor. O loved playing in them!

Which naturally lent itself to a storyboard..

O was not yet walking, but he loved to pull up (he was already an expert at crawling) which made for some great cheeky shots:

I love this photo of father and son together:

The light was just perfect, and we easily got all the photos we needed to!

We took the final shots just as the sun was setting – here he is with his mother:

Here’s a few more in a collage to leave you with:

It was a really great and special session – made all the better by the enthusiasm of O’s parents! I suspect a few of the shots may well find themselves in my portfolio at some point

And here they are with their extended family who were visiting:

The weather was overcast, but not raining, so we managed to get lots of photos into the mini session. Here’s a few with T’s cousins:

The children all did great, and were posing right up until the end:

It was lovely to work with you, P family. Enjoy your photos!

So much has changed in my life since I began my maternity leave back in February. My baby boy is now almost six months old, and full of character. My oldest daughter has just started school, and my almost 3 year old is growing up too fast too and becoming more mischievous by the day. Needless to say I’ve been pretty busy with my camera during the break photographing my children, and at the end of this post you can see some of my work.

So much has changed with the business too. I’ve also used some of the time over the break to update the site with fresh branding and a new look, better photo browsing, some rewording and reworking, new photos, updated galleries (seriously, check them out!) and a bit of a tidy up. Take a look around the new site and see what is new!

I now have a Twitter feed too – not much there yet, but you can follow me at @SilverAshPhoto – you can see my latest posts off to the side as well. The Facebook Page is still going strong – do “Like” it if you get the chance.

On the photography side of things I’m focusing more on newborn photography and outdoors, on-location photography – these are my strongest talents and what I enjoy doing the most.

On the financial side of things I’ve reworked my pricing - there is now NO minimum order with your order! It does mean I have had to increase the session fee, but at least half of that is a print credit so the increase is not all it appears. Due to the increase, a 25% deposit is all that is required for full sessions to secure a booking now.

New for my return are Studio Session Days. As those of you who had me bring my entire studio to your living room can attest, it is often quite impractical and from my point of view, I know I can get better photos in a larger space. I know many of my customers prefer studio sessions or would like the opportunity, so a few times a year I am intending to hire a large space and set up my full studio gear for the day. I will make a certain number of slots available (length and quantity depending on demand) and then make a dedicated page on this site so you can book your slot. The pricing is likely to be similar to my mini-session pricing and all product prices remain the same.

I’m planning on doing a Session Day in late November, perfect for Christmas presents. It would likely take place in the Greenwich (SE London) area, or at the very least not far away, and should be reachable by public transport.

I’d love to get an idea of interest and preferred days before I commit to a venue, so if this sounds like something you would be interested in, please fill in this form as soon as possible as I will need to book a venue soon. Filling in the form does NOT commit you to anything whatsoever.

I will only use your email address for the purposes of Studio Session Days, mailings will be infrequent and there’s a human being (me!) on the end so you can ask to be removed at any time.

And finally I thought you may like to see some of my recent photos of my children. I may have been on maternity leave, but I have not been resting my camera and I’ve been using the time to practice and further improve my skills! Here’s is just one of the ways that my new site makes sharing photos easier:

I love taking photos of my children but truth be told – other people’s children are easier. So I’m really looking forward to booking sessions again and getting out there meeting people and their gorgeous families, and best of all capturing their precious memories forever.

Tempted to book a session with me? You can book months in advance (with newborns even a rough due date will do) and my calendar is wide open right now so here is a chance to get the date you want. I book no more than one session a week, so my calendar fills up fast. Looking forward to making that first proper return booking – who will it be? Contact me to get things started or to ask questions!

However, that doesn’t mean I’ve put my camera down. Yesterday I “scheduled” a session with my own children, as the weather forecast had been for sunshine. Alas, it didn’t work out like that and we had rain, but I was determined to go ahead regardless and goodness knows the children needed a good run around outside!

Here’s my youngest in the rain, catching raindrops on her nose:

We went to Avery Hill Park in South East London, which has a nice cafe and a winter garden. The park was pretty deserted in the rain:

The children had fun anyway!

After getting wet, we headed over to a nearby Tarn which was very scenic and somewhere I would recommend for future sessions:

Just as the children got tired and too cold, the weather improved – but we were heading home by that point!

I’m planning on doing some studio shots of the children in the next few weeks too, after I sourced some beautiful dresses recently – so keep an eye open!

Greenwich Park is a wonderful location, and this great family live right next to it – how envious am I..

They’ve recently had their first baby, S, who is just three months old and a complete sweetheart. He was a little grumpy in the middle of the session but it was plain to see he’s normally a very cheerful chap and he gave so many cute smiles!

This was only a mini session, so time was short, but we managed to fit in a good variety of locations in the flower garden.

It was really lovely to meet you all, you were great to work with and I hope you enjoy your sneak peek!

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!

We arranged to meet in the hour or so before sunset as that is when the light is at its best. Greenwich Park is beautiful, and for this photo we were in the flower garden right at the very top.

Evie is nearly four, and wanted to hold my hand and get me to run everywhere!

Isaac is one, and even though he’s only been walking a few months, he was astounding me with his strong little legs as he was walking everywhere!

Toddler Photography

Evie is like my oldest, and likes riding on her daddy’s back!

The sun began setting, so it was time for a final pose in front of the Royal Naval college. Time for something a bit different to my normal photos!

It was wonderful to finally meet Mary and her family – and afterwards we met up for dinner and I dragged the rest of my family along, and Evie and my oldest got along fabulously! Looking forward to hopefully seeing them again soon.

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!

Josh is full of smiles

Josh’s mother wanted some breastfeeding photos; memories of a very special time. As is my policy, I won’t post those images here as people might be reading this entry at work, however I will be creating a separate breastfeeding gallery soon.

Josh being held by his mother

Josh was really not in the mood for a jolly good feed, however I did capture some which have turned out well.

The session took place in two places – indoors (the photos above) and outdoors in a garden. Josh lay down on a blanket and loved the shapes of the leaves against the sky!

Watching the leaves

I also took the opportunity to grab a few shots of Josh with his mother too.

Josh with his mother

I do enjoy taking breastfeeding photos – as someone who has been breastfeeding babies/toddlers for nearly four years now, I know how special it is.. and I also know how easy it is to not have any photos of that time at all. It’s so easy to forget to and then it is too late.

It was lovely to meet Josh and his mother Suzi – Josh is a very well-behaved and extremely cute little man who gave me the biggest smiles!

I’ve done a few sessions in Greenwich Park over the last few months – Mofette and her friends and a very cold session with James just two months ago. This session was a lot warmer!

Prakriti and her children

Kail has just had his third birthday very recently, and Simran was 7 months at the time (5 months adjusted as she was premature) and both were absolutely cute as a button!

Simran

Kail

The children were very well-behaved and were great fun to photograph too.

Playing with their mother's sunglasses!

Kail from above

Joe is the father – here he is with Simran:

Joe and Simran

The family were good fun to shoot and had a great sense of humour. It was lovely to meet them!

Family in front of the Royal Observatory

And that concludes my free sessions, aside from any maternity/newborns which I still have a few slots left on. More about that in my next post!

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

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!

James studies the Royal Naval College

Meet James!

James

James is a very sweet boy, and also *very* lively and I put my marathon training to good use as I chased him around the park up the steep hills and over fences up to the top of the hill!

At the top of Greenwich Park

He particularly enjoyed rolling down the hill afterwards, getting rather muddy!

Rolling down the hill

The sun was just starting to dip behind the trees when we decided it was just too chilly to stay out much longer.

The sun begins to set

It was lovely to meet you both and I certainly kept warm chasing James around!

You can see the rest of the session here

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