Honoured to share with you my latest commission for the Prince and Princess of Wales: a birthday portrait of Prince George as he turns 10. As with my previous portraits of Prince Louise, Princess Charlotte & Prince William, I took this portrait of Prince George in the grounds of the Windsor Estate, a few months later.
I love how this image captures the confidence, maturity and charm of Prince George – and gives us a glimpse of what lies in store as a future king.
For more examples of my children portfolio, click here.
The saying never work with animals or children would put me almost instantly out of a job! As a children photographer, I find myself working with both all the time, and thankfully I love it! In fact I find the spontaneity that comes with pets often results in my favourite photographs from the day. This portrait from a children photoshoot near Newbury, Berkshire, is a classic example. The way the girl is rolling her head back exudes pure joy, love and happiness. I also love the dog’s crossed paws and patient expression. No doubt this is a result of years of being smothered with love, poked and prodded.
I often start a shoot with a ‘lightly’ staged group shot of you all together. I find it best to do this first thing when the children are fresh and most co-operative. It also provides a fall back if we don’t succeed in capturing a spontaneous family portrait. But I like to spend the majority of the shoot photographing your children at play, inside and outside. This might include cuddling their pets, climbing a tree, riding a bike, a game of cards, cooking etc. Whatever takes their fancy. These provide wonderful opportunities to capture informal and spontaneous images which best reflect your children’s personalities. They are also wonderful ‘story telling’ images which will remind you of their childhood.
Many of my clients opt for a photo album which includes all the images from the shoot. These are lifetime heirlooms which you will treasure forever. They can be any size, but I usually offer 12″ x 12″ as I find square the best format to display photographs. They can be embossed on the front and spine, and handbound in either pellaq or leather. My printer has the royal warrant, so it goes without saying that the paper is lovely and thick and the end result is top notch.
Please do get in touch if you are are thinking of booking a family or children photoshoot. 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 and family photography to give you a more extensive feel of my style of children and portrait photography.
I’m using these quieter times in the covid pandemic to go through all my children photography and refresh my website and blog. It’s a useful exercise to revisit your old work with fresh eyes. In doing so, I ask what I love about each image, and what I would like to have done better. When I started out as a children photographer, my main aim was simply to capture a beautiful portrait. As I evolved, I strived for perfect lighting and composition. The better I get at taking children portraits, the less photographs I find that tick all the boxes. I gather this is a classic artist and photographer’s flaw. But it is through this process of self criticism that we improve.
This is one of those images that stops me in my tracks. Ironically you can’t even see her face but I still call this a portrait as it’s captured a moment in time which captures her spirit. The moment I took this, I knew I had captured something special that would be treasured forever. I love the graphic shape of the hat with the fingers popping out below, the composition and the light. And I love that itt brings a smile to my face every time I look at it. I hope it brings one to yours too.
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 and family photography to give you a more extensive feel of my style of portrait photography.
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.
As I peer out of my kitchen window today, it’s raining ‘sideways’ and last November’s sunny day photographing this wonderful family in Gloucestershire already seems a life time ago. Where does time go?
I love this portrait of these two siblings on their cherished trikes. All the elements work perfectly – framed between two trees, lovely backlight making them stand out from the background, and both giggling in anticipation of the race! A moment of magic.
This is a portrait of Milo – future musician of the year! Well, at least his hand positions on the piano certainly suggest this – he looks like a total natural. However I can assure you the noise coming from the piano suggested otherwise!
As a portrait photographer nothing could stop me picking up the camera and photographing this friend’s son whilst they were staying with me in Dorset this last weekend. His captivating eyes, engaging smile and happy & relaxed temperament made him the perfect model. I can’t wait for our photoshoot in the New Year.
I think this is my favourite photo of my 3 girls I’ve ever taken – not sure it’s theirs though! Nearly 5 years on, it still makes me smile. This was our Christmas card in 2011, in anticipation of the London Olympics the following summer – and had the caption “The Pilkington sisters were taking their curling training very seriously for the 2012 London Olympics”. Read more…
