How it all started …

I went to a seminar on photographing children; simply because my sister in law was pregnant, and I was being ‘told’ that I’d have lots of opportunity to photograph the baby.

So I thought I’d brush up on my techniques – go to a seminar and continue my professional development. Then I had a light bulb moment – the photographer speaking was a fan of natural light and operating as a mobile photographer.

Suddenly I was thinking of a whole new angle for my photography business. No way was I interested in factory photography – which is what I feared having a traditional studio would result in. Lots of photographing people in the same poses – just different faces, and frankly not the kind of photography that would get my creative juices flowing.

Ok so I know my clients may not want loads of creativity, but they still want me to photograph their child as they are, to see their child’s many faces photographed, and I want to give them a range of shots so they can decide themselves.

I prefer relaxed and natural portraits of children, and whilst not every parent wants a stranger coming to their home, a lot more appreciate the convenience of not having to load the children into the car, drive somewhere, arrive and wait their turn, whilst fretting that the child won’t cooperate once in front of the camera. And believe me a child is much more confident in their own home, than in a strange new environment, and that shows in the photographs.

Given my other love is outdoor photography it’s no surprise that I wanted to incorporate this in my kids photography business, by photographing on location – either at the clients home or garden. In fact I want to extend this – I have an artist studio on an old flour mill, the building is listed so it’s got lots of quirky bits to it, and I think this location would make a fabulous backdrop for photographing children.

Every photographic session is different because every child is different. And that’s what makes it fun to do. It’s like a breath of fresh air each time. And to me that’s important, I like the fact that every child responds to their environment differently, and that I have to respond differently too – photographically speaking that is.

Ultimately the parent wins, because they get to chose from a unique set of prints, that captures their child’s personality during those precious childhood years.

October 27th, 2006