As a celebration of Jesse’s first birthday, his mum and dad booked a portrait session with us. He decided that today he wasn’t going to smile lots, but we still got some lovely shots. And he is gorgeous!

Their reception was held at the Thatchers Arms thatchersarms.co.uk which had a beautiful field backdrop for their photographs.

As regulars at the pub, they went behind the bar and helped pull a pint.

There was a beautiful old piano, that we were able to get creative with.

They decided on a Storybook package, which is the fully bound, book style album. It is beautiful and have attached some of my favourite pages.

Here is some of Karen & Garry’s wedding day in July. Not only was the lighting outside the church beautiful, we had the use of a gorgeous room in their reception hotel which gave us some beautiful lighting and freedom for some creativity!

Children will either love being photographed and will pose for you as soon as they see a camera, or they will do their utmost to shy away from the camera! Both have potential problems. Those who love having their photographs taken can often tend to be the ones who will pull the silly faces and it’s very difficult to get a natural or nice one. With those who don’t want it done, you have the problem of getting them to look at you in the first place.

Have balloon fun

• Get them involved. Putting them into a certain position and trying to get them to stay there and smile will invariably not work! Let them explore about and be prepared to get down on your knees and catch their expressions as they move about.

• Following on from this, getting down to a child’s level will not only make them feel more comfortable with you but eye-to-eye contact is also as engaging in a photo as in real life. So try sitting on the ground and snapping some photos from the child’s perspective. Expressions will look more natural, your flash photos will be more evenly lit from head to toe, and the background will probably come out a lot better, too.

• Move quickly because children do too! Get used to your camera and get used to taking grab shots – ensure your exposure is correct. Take quite a few at a time, because children’s expressions can change in an instant and sometimes what you see through your viewfinder will not be exactly what finally translates to the digital file. Also, especially with slightly older children who like to pull faces, this means that you can obtain the more natural face once you’ve taken the first one or two when they think you might be done!

• Be aware of backgrounds such as televisions or other distractions in the house, trees or lampposts growing out of the child’s head! If you know enough about apertures and shutter speeds, use a low aperture to throw the background out of focus.

• Don’t be afraid to take candid shots, ie, when they’re engrossed in something else, looking away from the camera, staring out the window etc. You can capture some stunning expressions this way and this will also be capturing their personality.

• Be patient, sit back and watch but have the camera at the ready.

Watch out for more tips soon.