The Prime Minster does it, the Royal family do it, so why don’t you? Have you ever thought about having a winter portrait session? You could turn the photographs easily into greeting cards. Below are some family portraits I have taken with greeting cards in mind. If you fancy booking a family portrait session then please get in contact with me. I think that they guarantee to make a Christmas card which is head and shoulders above the rest.
Here are some of the shots I’ve taken of Amy, Sally and baby Sophie last weekend. It was a fun and frenetic photo shoot. The photographs were taken at the family home in Surrey. The family portraits were taken using my ‘pop up studio,’ which can transform practically any living room into a photographic studio, all I need is a little bit of space.
So if you fancy kicking back your sofa and having a home photo portrait session then you can get in contact with me. The sessions last for about 2-3 hours. I promise to give your a copy of all the best images burnt to a DVD within 2 weeks of the shoot (I also tweak the images in post production software to make sure you are receiving the best quality images). Then it is up to you, how you can use the images. You might like to print a canvas, create calender or an album. If you would prefer me to create any of the products I can do so for an additional fee.
For this session we also did some Christmas themed photographs so the family could create their own greeting cards. What more could Grandma want? You can read more about the Christmas portrait session on the next blog entry.
I’ve just come back from a trip to Holland to attend a much loved Uncles Funeral. Although Holland is geographically not that far apart from England, I am struck by the gulf between our customs and attitudes towards death.
One of their customs, before the day of the funeral, is to display the body so that visitors can come and pay their respects and give their condolences to the family. The room is tastefully decorated with flowers, candles and pictures of the deceased. As a family member I stood in line, as friends of my uncle shook my hand and gave me their condolences. It was very civilised but also quite shocking as it was the first time I had seen a dead body.
On the day of the funeral, I was asked to take photographs of the open coffin, the floral displays and the ceremony. Unfortunately when the photographic request came through we had already set off for the day. This meant I had to document the day on my sisters compact! It had never occurred to me before that it would be an appropriate place to take photographs, so I had rather annoyingly left my DSL back at base. I thought death was a frontier that a photographer didn’t cross, how wrong I was.
Apart from the technical frustrations growing out of using a compact in low lighting conditions (therefore, no ISO, no shutter and no aperture control), a large cavenous church space with no wide angle lens. I was also battling with a taste issue of what was and was not appropriate to document. Do I take pictures of people crying? Do I take a portrait of the deceased? I also had to keep fighting the urge to tell people that I was asked to take photographs and this isn’t something that I normally did.
I got on with the job in hand. In some ways it wasn’t too disimilar to photographing a wedding: procession, ceremony, family, flowers and heart felt emotion. One old lady came up to me and in pigeon English said, ‘Take lots of photos, lovely, lots of photos,’ I found these words very encouraging as I busied myself trying to answer the brief I was given. When I showed the photographs to my uncle’s daughter at the end of the day, she like them. So I must have done okay.
It was a really interesting experience and although I would never use a compact camera, I wouldn’t rule out doing it again. Personally I shall always remember him as the person that he was when he was alive, mischevious, strong, intelligent, fun and king. I think that photographing the funeral was about giving closure to the people who needed it most, his family.
The portrait photographs that I shot of the band The Outdoor Types, are being used to publicize their new album, ‘All Aboard Who’s Coming Aboard.’ If you fancy having a listen to their tunes then you can pick up their album at the bargain price of £4.99.
Here’s some pics from our new abode. It feels like home already. So there’s a new photographer in Woking Surrey, available for Weddings, bumps n’ babies and portraiture. I can’t wait.
I’ve got a bit of a thing for wooden huts. I think it stems for playing in a tree house as a kid and making hutches to house chickens when I was younger. I love any wooden structure and to some extent the cruder the better. Anyway I was delighted to track down these beauties on a recent trip to La Rochellle. I stumbled across these muslce houses in a guide book of France.The muscle huts bravely jut out on the rugged coast line offering the fishermen a place to land their catch from and keep their equipment. When we were near La Rochelle I couldn’t resist getting some shots of the huts.
This pic was taken with the Iphone but I took some serious pixels with my real camera as well.
Scratchy memories of home
We are looking to move home which is both terrifying and exciting. I’ve noticed myself circling the house with my iphone, taking snaps of things that I like about my current location. I feel a little nostalgic even though I haven’t even left yet. Here are a few of my favorite things, just in case it all goes to plan and we do move!
I’ve got the Hipstamatic app on my Iphone. It’s great. it’s the perfect antidote to the clean pin sharp images that most digital cameras effortlessly deliver. With this app you can take, grungey, blurry, distorted shots all over again. That’s progress for you! But there’s something lovely about these shots. The app removes the certainty and replaces some of the anxiety that I used to have with film cameras. Was it correctly exposed? Has the film wound on? I wonder what it will look like when it’s developed? Ahh it makes me all nostalgic.
These shots were taken on Beachy Head in Eastbourne.
Bit, Grace Jones, a sprinkling of Kylie and a touch of Madonna, said the creative brief. For me it was more ‘Howards Way,’ meets ‘Dynasty,’ with a touch of Annie Lennox! Whatever - I had fun. Rachel is a singer, songwriter and performer and better known as ‘Rayzor Raye.’ I know the 80′s thing is band on trend at the moment but I’m not sure how I feel about it all. I squirm every time I see a bat wing and a Frankie T-shirt.
Anyway I loved doing this photoshoot as the lighting was as dramatic as the make -up. Rachel was fantastic to shoot, she could hold her poses and knew her angles well.
Do you ever wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and give yourself a fright?