Once someone has booked a photoshoot with me one of the most common questions I get asked is "What should we wear?" So I thought it would be a good idea to put my thoughts here and include some images as examples. It's important to note that this advice is just for photoshoots around October/November time, at other times of the year I would suggest slightly different colours. I think the most important thing is that you all feel comfortable in what you are wearing, I want you to look relaxed in the photos I produce and wearing something you feel comfortable in is an important starting point. If you are a jeans and trainer person (like me) don't feel that you have to wear a dress, similarly if your daughter adores wearing dresses then let her and if your son insists on wearing his batman outfit we'll make it work, as long as you match! Plain colours tend to work better than stripes, patterns or tartan. With family groups it's ok if one person wears a pattern, striped top etc as long as everyone else in the group opts for something plain. This is one of the reasons why its worth planning ahead what you are all going to wear. If one of you is going to wear a pattern then it's a great idea to use this garment as your starting point and pick colours out from it for others in the group to wear. Logos (especially big ones) are best avoided, It can really date the photos. Layering clothes not only looks great but helps to keep everyone warm. Think knitted jumpers with shirts under or knitted jumpers with a body warmer on the top. If you can avoid big coats, alternatively we can just remove any coats for a short amount of time to get shots. Accessories can be a great way to bring your outfits together eg hats, scarves and boots. Footwear is also important, it is possible the ground might be wet so make sure everyone is wearing something suitable. No one likes wet socks! Above is a colour palette to give you some ideas of which colours work well for an Autumnal shoot. Navy, mustard yellow, dark red, grey, dark green and orangey/brown. Grey and/or blue denim is good, black not so much. You don't need to include all of these colours just picking out 3 or 4 would be perfect. Autumn is always a time of year when I try to update my own family photos, so it seemed appropriate to use them to hopefully give you some ideas and illustrate what I have said above.
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September 2018 marks the start of year 2 for this one. She loves school so much that on day 2 of the school holidays she told me she was desperate to get back! We had an amazing summer and got up to lots of fun things (I'm planning a blog post so you can see what we got up to), and then just like that the holidays were over and it was time for the new academic year to start. I feel very lucky that she loves school, she was eager to start the term to see her friends and embrace school life. Although she has had a growth spurt she still isn't quite able to reach her peg, her teacher told me today that by Christmas that usually sorts itself out :) I am a very proud mummy, I hope she continues to thrive throughout her school life. And then there is this one, he's mummy's little mischief maker!
He is not due to start school until September 2020 but I think he maybe ready now. When I drop his sister off he sits down on the carpet with the other children and tries to join in with what they are doing. When it's time to go it's all tears and tantrums. So my idea of getting some lovely family images in the snow didn't go so well this morning. I have waited for a long time to have the opportunity to get a photograph of my two kids standing together. The youngest is now 19 months and only just getting steady enough on his feet. Safe to say my first attempt didn't quite achieve the results I was hoping for. I'm not sure exactly what the problem was, maybe it was the freezing temperatures or the biting wind or the fact he had so many layers on it was hard to move or it could have been the fact his had gloves on preventing him from sucking his thumb. Anyhow it wasn't long before we were all back inside! So after spending most of the day inside waiting for the wind to drop, take 2 in the late afternoon went slightly better, I think he began to see the fun side of snow and on a plus side at no point was he made to walk or stand in the white stuff!
These two kids are my world, there is an age gap of exactly 4.5 years. My daughter tells me she loves her brother but she often tells me that she never wanted a baby! Sometimes she says that a girl baby might have been better! The reason she has 'issues' with the little man is not due to his gender it is due to his behaviour......you know crying, dribbling and filling his nappy - all the things that babies do.
I would love to be sat here telling you how amazing it is to see the bond between the two of the growing and how amazing it is to watch the love that my daughter has for her baby brother but that wouldn't be the truth. What I can tell you is that when she thinks we are not watching I know she is keeping an eye out for him making sure he is ok and she'll play and talk with him, she also becomes very protective of him when we are around other people. On the other hand my son adores his big sister, his face lights up when she enters the room and he tracks her like no one else. Perhaps one day (hopefully sooner rather than later) when they are both bigger and they can play together she'll realise it's not so bad to have a younger brother. For now though I am preparing myself for what I see as the next hurdle, he is getting closer to becoming mobile and once he is able to touch her toys I know there is going to be some major trouble ahead! Wow I can't believe this is my first post of 2017!
Someone recently mentioned to me how they like reading my blog, I then realised that it had actually been quite a while since I had put together a blog post. It is hard enough to find time get out my 'big camera' leave alone putting together a blog post but spurred on by that conversation (and my son now having a fairly predictable nap in the mornings) I have managed to do one. My little dude is now 8 months old and all of my time is spent looking after him, in between the daily school run of my daughter! This means that he has become my main muse especially over the last few months, now that he is doing more. So I have put together some of my favourites; they involve a fair amount of sleeping and thumb sucking. He is a happy contented boy, as long as he's been fed of course! He has amazing blue eyes and his own unique hair thing going on. Hopefully this collection of photo's show all of that and more. Since my daughter was born (2012) I have always taken photographs of her around this time of year. At the moment I never seem to have any time to take photos but I was determined this year wasn't going to be any different. My little one is 4 months old so taking photographs of him outside caused me a couple of issues:
1) It was pretty cold 2) He isn't able to sit unaided. The solution to the first problem was to find somewhere that looks like it's in the middle of nowhere with trees and leaves but in reality was very close to where we parked the car. We moved to Wiltshire in January last year and are now very lucky to live close to Savernake Forest so this seemed like the best choice of location. The solution to problem 2 was to use his sister to hold him up. Perhaps harder than it sounds, I might have resorted to bribary. The whole shoot lasted no more than 10 minutes, so with that in mind I am very happy with the results, especially as I managed to get one of the four of us and we're all looking at the camera. If you are having photos taken in Autumn it's a great idea to think a bit about what colours to wear, I think it really enhances the end result. I made sure we were all wearing complementing colours and patterns much to my husbands amusement. 2016 has been a big year for us as a family - new house, new baby and for our eldest child this month saw the start of a new school.......BIG school! As a parent I think I underestimated exactly what this meant for me. I knew it would mean spending less time with the person who has been my shadow for most of the last 4 and half years. I knew I'd miss her and I had prepared for that but what I hadn't really thought about was the new routine. Add into the mix a new born baby whose routine is all over the place and it's made for a pretty stressful first couple of weeks.
Saying goodbye to my little girl each morning whilst she held on tightly to my finger (or leg, or top) not wanting to let me go was pretty tough. Not to mention the bruises I gained on my legs from carrying her rather hefty baby brother in a car seat round to the classroom. However, I am pleased to say 2 weeks in and despite her being super tired and unusually hungry she is really loving school and I think its going to be alright. These photo's were taken a couple of days before her first official day, she was so excited when we got her school uniform I had to hide it as she wanted to wear it all the time. As you can see the cardigan is massive even though it is the smallest size you can get, I guess it means it should last a while and her shoes in the photos are very shiny, suffice to say they don't look quite the same 2 weeks in :) So as my not so little girl embarks on the start of her school journey, I adjust to early morning starts, ensuring homework has been done and try to stay onto top of the endless emails from the school. Then once the morning school run is done I get to spend time getting to know the newest member of the family - scary to think in 4 years time we get to do this all over again with her brother, although hopefully by then I might be better at it as I'll have had some practice. On the Sunday the 17th of July I got a surprise birthday present - My son was born. He was a week over due and even though everyone joked I don't think anyone thought he'd actually decide to arrive on my birthday!
I mean what are the chances? His dad describes him to everyone as a 'lovely little chap', and he really is. These photographs were taken when he was 7 days old, it's hard to believe he is 1 month old already, he has changed so much in the short time he has been born. He has stolen the hearts of our whole family, particularly that of his big sister (although she's not too keen when he cries or getting too close to his dirty nappies). For my 3 year old daughter a recent family trip to Disneyland Paris meant that her dreams really did come true. In her words everything was "magical". We filled our days with meeting some of the characters and princesses, our nights were filled with a late night show (sing-along-Frozen) and the firework display.
A lovely afternoon spent with my little girl among the magical sea of bluebells. She wanted to bring along her rabbit mask which caught the attention of many passers by and made them smile. When I decide to take my camera out with us I find it always goes better if there is a promise of cake at some point during our outing and this day was no different. I brought the cake for us to share, it was a big slice and I was lucky enough to be given a couple of mouthfuls. I am looking forward to spending more days like this with my daughter - we just need less rain and more sun!
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