I am fortunate enough to have a large family including eight nieces & nephews to practice my photography skills on when they were tiny & now, not so tiny. What I can’t believe is the oldest is now 21!

It seemed only yesterday when I took him as an 11 year old boy to Go Ape in Bedgebury. We had an excellent day and he was fearless, even on the really high ones! Even I was having doubts about launching myself off some of the platforms.

One particular obstacle was the final zip wire. It was to be the massive crescendo to end my rather nerve racking responsibility as his uncle that day. It was high, high enough for me to have my doubts and he was equally as doubtful. Neither of us was going to let it show though.

Unfortunately for him, there was no choice but to go first. So I clipped him in and with a few counts to 1000 he finally went off. I can still picture his skinny legs spinning around to stop him from twisting backwards as he careered towards the bottom.

Those days have sadly gone but I now have two boys of my own to keep amused. They are a bit young for zip wires but judging by the way time flies it wont be long before I am doing it all again.

Not only did I have a lot of nieces and nephews but as time moved on so did my career. I ended up working as a professional photographer within the interiors niche.

Turns out, if you have a camera then people are quite keen to utilize it and the next thing you know you are taking all sorts of pictures. It coincided quite well that we all were getting married and having children so it was only a matter of time before the phone started ringing and I was taking photos of the newbies & more besides.

There were countless trips to friends and family members taking pictures of their new additions.

At that point I hadn’t any children of my own and I hadn’t realized babies sleep… allot! Well, these ones did anyway. So, your window of opportunity is often narrow if you want a photo with their little eyes staring into the lens.

That said, a sleeping baby is always a great photo too!

I have become accustomed to the baby ritual and realize you simply have to be patient to get that one great photo. To go slow but be ready!

Outdoors can bring many opportunities for some great photos. Having fun in the garden in a really natural environment often makes people relaxed but living in the UK can draw in the rain and then theirs winter!

Unless it’s a lovely warm sunny day then it’s likely we will do the shoot indoors. This is absolutely fine and great photos can still be achieved either using the environment we have at our disposal or to create a neutral backdrop for a stylish minimalist image.

I like to keep things simple when we are photographing newborns. Whether we are using a backdrop or just the sofa I will tend to use a fill light and then be free hand. No tripods and the occasional flash to freeze any movement if necessary.

If I can just get away with natural or a portrait light then I will. The last thing I want to do is make it uncomfortable for the child and the simpler we keep things the better.

This is totally up to you. I am easy either way but if you want to go ahead then have your clothes, hats, teddies ready so we can play around with various poses and styles.

A good one is with the family pet or dog. These make lovely photos but ask the dogs permission first.

In all honesty, not long. An hour should hopefully cover it and to be honest, your child will probably have had enough by then.

This will give us plenty of time to gain enough variety of shots both awake and asleep. Also, it should provide us with a couple of outfit changes and poses.

There will be a degree of setting up and finding the best places to do the photos if its not using a backdrop. This is typically around 30 minutes or more if we need to clear things away and stage the shot a bit.

I will take the photos away to edit them and make them look there best. This usually takes up to 2 weeks depending on workload.

You will receive an email and a link to you gallery online where you can view the images.

Alternatively, I can provide a fire stick for £20 including postage.

I can provide a printing service on all my images so please ask me for more details.

In house framing available on all my photos. Please ask for more details.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me.