It was a high risk pregnancy and we weren’t sure how things were going to turn out, so it was kept very low key all round, hence no announcements on here that I was expecting. I started my maternity leave at 29 weeks at the end of February although I stopped doing sessions at the end of January as due to SPD (back and pelvis problems) I felt I was no longer able to give my best for customers. It took forever to get up off the floor after this shot with my children!

End of April, this little man was delivered via c-section:

Here he is at just four days old:

And here are a few more of him at 12 days old – firstly being prodded by his big sisters:

Trying out my new cocoons:

As you might expect, given I won’t really be working now until probably November, there will be a lot of this little fellow and his big sisters to come over the next few months!

I will probably start taking bookings for future work in late November (no guarantees for Christmas) by August/September time.

In the meantime I can do a few urgent sessions here and there in special circumstances and/or subject to quite a high minimum order (payable in advance) as I can only take a few limited days out of my maternity leave by law to work, so I wish to use them carefully which I am sure you can understand.

If any existing customers wish to order prints/products etc from a previous session, they can do so at any time – please contact me to reinstate your gallery.

I am looking forward to getting back to work though, and photographing all your amazing and gorgeous families again!

2 year old C looking thoughtful:

4 year old B posing as usual!

2 year old C tries to copy:

Two girls together!

B with her daddy sharing a moment:

Our two usually get on very well!

And finally – a storyboard:

Keep an eye open for some very special photos hopefully coming in around two weeks..

They are one of two Holiday Mini Sessions I did this weekend. These are quick sessions (30 minutes shoot time, with time on either side for setting up and taking down) in the customer’s home, and fewer proofs to choose from. I use a black background for these sessions, because it is so much quicker to set up for the session.

The two boys did a great job of posing in the short time available – we even managed a hug!

The big boy pulled so many great expressions it was really hard to narrow them down for the proofs.

And the littlest one was such a sweetheart playing with his toys too.

I hope you enjoy your sneak peek, G Family, and have a lovely Christmas!

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!

Before I left, I did two more sessions on the weekend before, but until now I have not had a chance to upload them!

The first of these was a newborn session with handsome Percy, who was born two weeks past his due date – what a contrast to Alexander who was born 5 weeks before! Percy is just a few weeks old for this session.

Percy in a basket

Percy was not all that keen on sleeping, despite being so new!

But he was a good sport even whilst awake, giving lots of good poses.

Playing around

Watching the world

Trying to roll already

He spent a lot of time feeding, as newborns tend to do! So when he wasn’t feeding, he was making his thoughts quite clear..

Percy tries the taste of his arm

Percy has a full head of hair too.

Head shot!

Finally he fell asleep, and I managed to get some of him in the basket!

Sleeping in a basket

It was lovely photographing Percy and meeting his mum Chloe (and the rest of their family!) Percy is a gorgeous little chap and it was a real privilege to be asked to photograph him!

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.