So honoured to have been asked by HRH the Princess of Wales to take a birthday portrait of Prince Louis as he turns 5. Of my two portraits released by the Palace, this image of Louis in the wheelbarrow with HRH The Princess of Wales, laughing down towards him, is my favourite. It not only captures Louis’ spirit and cheek but also the relationship he has with his mother, and the fun they have together. You can’t but help feeling joy, love and laughter when you look at this photo.
For more examples of my children portfolio, click here.
This portrait is from a children and family photoshoot I did last summer (2020) in Motcombe, Dorset. I can’t wait to get back out and do more children and family shoots again, I really miss them. I’m all the more excited as to try out my new and utterly amazing Canon Mirrorless camera system and lenses.
Every parent loves a portrait of their children together. Whilst many of my favourite images result from spontaneity, a more ‘staged’ approach is sometimes the best way to capture four children and their dogs. I found the father’s landrover to be the perfect rural backdrop for this portrait. I love its informality and the way the door frames the siblings. It also will remind them of their childhood trips. There is something so special about a landrover. Rather like a VW campervan epitomises festivals and young travellers, landrovers are about family country life. I love to incorporate animals in my children and family photoshoots. They not only keep everyone more relaxed, they often also add spontaneity to the portrait.
Children and family bookings are flowing in for this summer so if you are interested in booking a family or children photoshoot, please do get in touch. I’m based in Dorset but happy to travel all over the country. I’m regularly in Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Berkshire, London, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. Do also look at some more examples of my children,teen and family photography to give you a more extensive feel of my style of children and family photography.
Fabulous issue of School Notices Magazine – ‘Noticed’; Their best yet. And lovely, as always, to see my images donning their front covers.
School Notices is a new company offering parents, pupils and schools a fabulous way to communicate. Taking the principle of the old-fashioned school noticeboard, they have created a cutting-edge website where parents and alumni can connect with other like-minded members across a network of schools in the UK. Members can buy and sell within a trusted community; businesses can reach out to our members; and schools benefit from the fundraising support from advertising revenue.
How old are we when we stop skipping down the road, or jumping on street walls? Some may say never, but in essence there is definitely a time when we become too self conscious, when we are suddenly too grown up, too rushed, too stressed… One of the many joys of photographing children is that they remind me to stop and enjoy the little things again, hold hands, skip down the street, even try a bit of jumping. And wow, the thrill comes straight back – along with a few strange looks admittedly!
When I moved out of London over 10 years ago, I craved rural backdrops for portraiture, but I fear I was simply unaware of quite how fantastic urban backdrops are for children portraiture – especially in black and white. Every street offers something unique, graphic, dynamic, quirky, but equally, every street invites the imagination of a child by offering games, adventures, magic, fun, play…
This image captures Ben enjoying a little alley way just around the corner from his home – he apparently does this wall jumping each time they walk along there. I hope one day that this image will remind him of a whole chapter of his childhood.
Capturing the spirit of school life and providing schools with compelling images to use for advertising, prospectus, website, PR and social media is one of the areas of my work that I most enjoy. Indeed I photograph regularly for schools across South West England, from Perrott Hill School (as per the above image) in Somerset, Sandroyd & Pinewood in Wiltshire, Leweston, Hanford and Castle Court School in Dorset, Cheam and Twyford in Hampshire, Horris Hill in Berkshire and the Westminster Choir School in central London.
I love the colours, light and composition in this image, but it’s the way that the boy is looking cheekily up at the little girl that brings the image to life – reflecting the most important qualities we, as parents, look for in a school – the happiness factor – and the same reason that Country Life Magazine chose this for the front cover of their annual supplement School Life.
One of the many things I love about my job is returning to photograph the same children and families over the course of many years. I have been photographing these siblings every 2-3 years for over 15 years – now with a pretty unbeatable collection of A* A’Levels and GCSEs behind them, they were a far cry from the little rascals I photographed in my studio in London aged 4 and 2 years old!
I love the composition of this image – the sister on the fence smiling down at her younger brother, both looking happy, relaxed and confident, framed within the urban context in which they have grown up.
Nothing like photographing a baby in water. In fact, I think ‘splash’ might be one of the first words babies learn. This kitchen sink was ideal for a fun portrait – lovely uncluttered background and large windows letting in lots of natural light. He created quite a mess in a matter of seconds – this was one of his ‘milder’ splashes. So needless to say we got quite wet. But it was worth it.
Lovely to return almost 3 years after her wedding, to photograph the beautiful Lady Natasha Rufus Isaacs with her stunning daughter Georgia, both donning dresses from Natasha’s fashion range Beulah.
Founded in 2010 by Natasha along with Lavinia Brennan, Beulah London was born out of a desire to design and produce beautiful clothes that empower and inspire the women who wear them, whilst being committed to raising awareness of the plight of women trapped by human slavery.
This luxury fashion brand with a social conscience has inspired some of the world’s most influential women to wear the label, including the Duchess of Cambridge.
I had such a happy day photographing 3 generations of a wonderful family in Hampshire, ranging from an elegant and charming grandmother down to this divine 2 year old boy, Arthur. This year seems to be ‘year of the grandparents’ as this must be at least the tenth family photography booking I’ve had this year involving 3 occasionally even 4 generations.
As a portrait photographer, I photograph people of all ages, but children photography is my passion. Whilst children can of course be challenging, as long as you keep the session fun, they are immensely rewarding. Their expressions are so diverse, their energy and enthusiasm boundless, and they are blissfully unselfconscious.
