Is less more?

It is quite natural when taking a portrait picture, to feel the need to put the subjects face in the center of your viewfinder. We naturally see things symmetrically and assume that is the best result for a picture. For most pictures, this works and you get a pleasing result.

However sometimes, the beauty in a photograph is because some of it is missing... When I first photographed this little boy two years ago, quite by accident I took a picture where half of his face wasn't even in shot, but it was one of those pictures that didn't need any work done to it. There was no cropping that could be done, because the picture already missed half of his face. It turned out to be one of his Mum's favourites. So when I had the opportunity to photograph him again I wanted to see if we could achieve it once more.

Two years on, he is of course more active and less excited about being photographed, but none the less a joy to photograph and his gorgeous dark eyes really pop! His little sister also had a turn and I can't resist showing her picture in colour. The contrast of her beautiful blue eyes,  rosy cheeks and gorgeous strawberry blonde hair is just melt worthy.

So next time you are taking a picture, consider that if you leave something out and embrace the white space, it might give you more.

Pumpkins and Poppets

Just recently I had a photo shoot with 4 close little friends. It's great shooting children that are used to each other and clearly used to having their Mums taking their photos, as they don't have any inhibitions and it's easier to capture their personalities in a shoot

We had the run of the Music school's garden and some pumpkins as props. I had some ideas on what I wanted to do with the children and their props, but it wasn't long before the children were all so excitable that they were running around in different directions and I wasn't getting 2 children in focus, let alone 4!

So I left them to it to see what they did and they all just plonked their bottoms down on a pumpkin each and laughed. It amused me, as I hadn't thought to ask them to sit on them and had I asked them, they probably wouldn't have!

You can spend so much time preparing for a shoot and imagining what the pictures will look like and what the client might want, but what I love about photographing children is the results are often so far removed from your original vision. The more you try to encourage a child to do something, the chances are, the more they will rebel against it. However they are likely to be doing something just as cute that is still a perfect poppet moment!

Have fun carving your Pumpkins ready for next week's Halloween!

A Cup of Tea - milk and one baby please...

I just had to quickly share this picture from a baby shoot from a few weeks ago. I first bought this cute pink spotty Tea Cup prop a few years ago and sadly didn't think to photograph either of my little girls in it and it and all too soon they were too big and I missed the opportunity.

So I was glad to photograph the little delicious Maya while she was still small enough to fit inside. I'm not quite sure what she made of it, but it's a nice picture to treasure when she's big enough to have a cup of tea... and maybe a slice of cake.

Someone once asked me when they saw another baby I had photographed in the Tea Cup. Is that a really tiny baby... or a really big Tea Cup?...

Hats in the late Summer Sunshine

Although Summer is my favourite time of year, as any photographer knows, bright sunlight is not necessarily the nicest light to photograph. High sun can result in dark circles under the eyes and stark contrast on the skin. So, as much as I am sad to see the Summer drawing to a close, I am glad to see that slightly lower sun which has been casting a beautiful glow on my recent photo-shoots. I have had morning and late afternoon shoots recently, both of which gave me the opportunity to grab some warm sunny glow in my pictures.

Children look cute in hats... bowlers, boaters, trilbys... any hats and there's nothing wrong with bringing along a few little props to get children in the mood for a bit of posing! Luckily for me all my little subjects were willing to pop a hat on. This resulted in some sweet little silhouettes and some dreamy sun flare. Here are two of the cutest boys showing how it's done...

It won't be long before Autumn is upon us and I can start using the apples, pumpkins and gorgeous leafage to inspire some shots.

Donuts and bright Balloons!!

I decided it was time I got a bit more creative with props this weekend. I had a lovely client/friend of mine with two slightly older children and a baby and I was all too aware that the older ones may have more inhibitions than the carefree toddlers I am more akin to.

The key to their hearts had to be a tasty snack so I (errr... no, my lovely husband) got baking some donuts. Mercy, my daughter, got decorating with pretty sprinkles...  and I ordered some bright helium balloons which I soon learnt when left in a hot car, deflate quite quickly!

Luckily for me, the children were beautifully confident and were excited about having their photos taken. They were aware of themselves, but not precociously so. They responded when they needed to and allowed themselves to have fun which added to the personality of the pictures. So I didn't need to feed them, but I definitely became their best friend when I opened the tin of donuts for a mini break! They had bites in them before I even had a chance to take a photo! Even the little one year old tucked in.

The balloons were more of a hindrance than a help on the shoot. Firstly, every other child in the park had a sudden keen interest in what was going on in our direction and wherever we went, we needed to ensure the balloons didn't wander off in the next gust of wind! They aren't the smallest prop, but the children loved them and the results weren't bad either.

So Donuts and balloons are fun, but next time I will remember to take the picture before the food disappears and I won't leave helium balloons in a hot place!

A Photographer's Delight

Last weekend, a close friend requested a photo shoot of her family. I have photographed her little girl numerous times and it has always been a pleasure. She's a little doll of a girl and her little brother has the most perfect strawberry blonde coloured hair with little curls that Mummy didn't want to cut until after the photographs had been taken...

It had been a hot sunny week, but as luck would have it, the rain arrived that morning, so we did what the British do best and had a cup of tea and waited. When the blue sky crept out from behind the clouds, we took a dash to the park which was wise as the sunshine only lasted an hour.

Usually an hour wouldn't be enough, but within minutes, both children were posing in complete unison and after only 15 minutes I already knew I had enough smiles that would have fulfilled any clients expectations. After a blissful hour of clicking this cute family smiling and laughing together, the clouds rolled over and before the weekend was over, they were all edited on my host page.

These are the shoots I challenge myself on the most. Once I know I have some 'banked' shots, I can then work at trying a few new things out. I came home on a high that day and decided it was high time I took some pictures of my own family!

Troublesome Twins

I was very excited, when I got the last minute phone call to photograph Anna, a little girl I thoroughly enjoyed photographing last year... plus her gorgeous 10 month old twin brothers. Having never photographed twins before, I thought it best to do a little research before I embarked on this new challenge... So I mooched around the web for some of my favourite photographers pictures of twins for inspiration and every thing looked calm, serene and doubly cute when browsing pictures of two cute little nappy clad bodies over one.

Now considering I have a little 10 month old girl and my older child is the same age as Anna, you would think I could second guess what I was in for... how wrong one can be!

It was a very hot afternoon and I was wrong to assume that just because my little girl sits still having not mastered the art of crawling yet, that these little lads were going to sit and stare adoringly into my camera.... at the same time! To make the challenge even harder, I needed Mummy, Daddy, Opa, Oma and of course 2 year old Anna to look into the camera at the same time as well.... 

700 photos later and 4 evenings of editing and I was able to present a shortlist of the photos. Hopefully I have a happy client!!