Your questions

When you book I will send you a questionnaire about your family.  You can give me as much or as little detail as you like, but the more I know about your interests and personalities, the better I can capture the essence of your family life right now.

Then we will have a quick consultation call. We will discuss the best time for your shoot, based on the light in your home, and things like nap schedules. Often mornings are best to get everyone in the best mood. We will start you thinking about a couple of your favourite activities that you could do while I am there, in order to capture lovely natural images.

On the day of the shoot, I will first spend a little time getting to know you and especially your kids, so that they feel relaxed when it comes to the photo taking.

Though the sessions are largely un-posed, if you want I will take some formal family photos. This is usually before we get started (and while the kids are still on best behaviour!)  There are always some relatives who prefer this sort of photo, so it’s nice to have one or two. 

A family session usually lasts 1-2 hours but I will never rush away till we have captured some magic.

If you want to get shots of everyone truly relaxed and being themselves, then a longer documentary session is the way to go.

We will have the same pre-session questionnaire and consultation call so I know as much as possible about your family beforehand. We can agree a time frame for the shoot during our call.

Timings can vary by what you want to capture and by season. In the summer months a full day will allow natural light as your children wake (if you have good sleepers!) and also at bedtime, which can be lovely if you want to capture a full day. By contrast in the winter, as the days will be shorter, images might be darker in mood, or I may need to use flash. On the day of the shoot, I will basically hang around with you and capture whatever it is that you are up to, in an artful way – trips out, meal times, getting dressed, bath times, your kids playing together, fun family activities… The only limit is our imagination! If you don’t want a full day, then of course we can stage the activities… There are no rules against having a bath and bedtime stories at 2pm 🙂

The timing of your newborn session will depend on what type of images you would like me to capture.

Between 7-10 days is a great time to capture the tiny curled up sleeping bundle in your arms or lightly posed or wrapped. Safety of your baby is paramount to me, and my style is natural and true to life – so you won’t find me doing complex poses or putting your baby in a bucket. 

Very early photos will focus on them as the teeny tiny centre of your world, whereas at around 6-8 weeks we will start to be able to capture more connection from them and maybe even some smiles. Older newborns won’t sleep as much, but often will doze off when wrapped so this can be a good option if you like a wrapped up burrito, as well as connected shots.

When you welcome a delicious newborn in your household, you will quickly realise that it is hard to put a defined timeframe and agenda on anything. Your little bundle will set the pace! So these sessions can take longer than planned, rest assured that I will stay for as long as it takes to capture nice images – and there is no need to stress if the baby won’t settle.

Prior to the session I will send you more information on how to prepare for the best result. Often morning is the best time to capture the best moods all round. As with family sessions, it’s really great if you can plan to incorporate some elements of daily baby life into the time or our shoot – a bath or even just nappy changes and feeding are gorgeous memories for you when captured in an artful way.

When you book, I will send you a pdf guide on what’s best to wear (and to avoid) during your shoot. You can choose to take all of this advice, or to completely ignore it – they are your photos so it’s important that you feel comfortable and like ‘you’.

But do bear in mind that the overall look of your photos is very heavily influenced by your choice of colours!

Definitely! I love outdoor shoots and in the right conditions, it is very easy to create beautiful natural images outdoors. I do have some favourite locations, especially for spring and autumn shoots, and am also very open to suggestions from you, or to shoot in your own garden if that’s what you want.  Outdoor shoots can be best if you have pets you’d like to involve, or just for larger families. However they are very weather dependent, and in this country that means that it’s quite hard to schedule and know that the weather will play ball.  On very bright sunny days, it’s hard to get flattering results in the middle of the day, whereas midday can be great on a cloudy or a foggy day. And rain and wind will mean the whole thing will need to be rescheduled – so if you’re happy with the possibility of a last minute date or time change, then this is definitely ok for me.

A 1-2 hour photo session with me costs £100 which covers the cost of my time and expertise during the shoot.

Newborn shoots are often a little longer to allow for the baby’s schedule, and may involve some wrapped and lightly posed shots of your little one – so the session fee for these is £150

Longer documentary shoots are also available and session fees for these will vary according to shooting time. They take at least 3 hours but some clients choose to have me document the entire day!

After the shoot – and once you have viewed your photos – you will be able to choose a collection that suits your budget. These collections start from £300 and all collections include a complimentary print credit – It’s so important to get those memories out of the digital world and have an actual tangible memory to display.