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Winter Shoots

January 10th, 2017 admin Blog No comments

When you think of Winter, you could be mistaken for thinking of wet and dark days.  Admittedly we’re going through a bit of that, now that we’re into January, but we were really lucky to have some gorgeous crisp winter days at the end of last year.  The light is usually great at this time of year, as the sun is low in the sky, so when it is shining it can help in capturing some of the most magical shots possible.  I also love the fact that everyone has to bundle up in the cold, with lots of layers and layers of woollies, hats, scarves and the works.

Here are a few shares from one of my favourite shoots from December, which go some way to prove that you needn’t be afraid of a photoshoot in the Winter.

Fast Forward to September 2016

September 21st, 2016 admin Blog No comments

I admit that I am terrible at keeping my website up to date, let alone my blogs.  I can’t believe it’s been over a year since my last blog post, and I’ve had some great shoots in the past twelve or so months which are all worthy of a blog.  Instead of trying to catch up, I’ve decided just to share some of my favourite shots from this period.  🙂

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Cake Smash

September 18th, 2015 admin Blog No comments

I had been in touch with Sofia’s mum for a while about doing a photo shoot with a difference, to mark Sofia’s first birthday with something really special.  Hayley really liked the idea of doing a cake smash, when you put a big cake in front of a baby and let them dive right in, so we made our plans to meet up at their house on an agreed date.

Unbeknown to me, Hayley was busy during the time in between our initial chat and the date itself, sourcing the most fantastic outfits, accessories, decoration and of course the cake to make this a really special day.  When I arrived a few days before the shoot to make sure the location would work, Hayley showed me the gorgeous tutu and customised baby grow she had for Sofia to wear, and had some lovely happy birthday bunting to hang behind her and a selection of balloons.  She had also commissioned Susan from ‘Corrie Couture‘ to create a wonderful little head band for Sofia.  After a visit to Sofia’s bedroom I spotted a beautiful tee-pee, another must-have prop for what was shaping up to be the perfect girlie photoshoot.  To top it all off, the family had two bulldogs who I instantly knew would be great in a photo, if only I could guarantee they would stay still…

On the day, the sun was quite bright so we set the tee-pee up in the garden facing away from the glare.  Sofia looked such a picture sat in the doorway, she just stayed where she was placed down and laughed and smiled away, with her favourite bunny by her side.  With lots of encouragement from mum and dad, and with the help of some very entertaining balloons, Sofia was as good as gold and I got some great photos.  We then moved indoors to a nice and airy room with a large plain wall to hang the bunting on, the perfect indoor set up (with a little help with some lighting from the hubbie).  Craig and Hayley tried very hard to get their two bulldogs to sit still, which did create a few minutes of hilarity and a few shots were there for the taking, but I decided to move swiftly on the piece de la resistance before Sofia tired of this photoshoot lark!

The gorgeous cake was made by the same lady who made Hayley and Craig’s wedding cake, it was really beautiful and looked too good to eat, never mind to have a baby smear it all over herself!  However, the icing was possibly a touch too hard for the task at hand, so Sofia took a bit of time to get messy, although she was totally enjoying herself in the process. And who can blame her, given the freedom to not only eat a huge cake but to cover yourself with it too, what a joy!  After a bit of inspecting and prodding, a wooden spoon was introduced to create some real mess, and with a little help from mum and dad, she managed to get some of the way there.  This was such a fun shoot with a lovely family, and the best thing was that they were able to salvage some of that wonderful cake to eat at the end, so perhaps the hard icing wasn’t such a bad idea afterall.

Fancy doing something similar to mark your child’s first birthday? Then please get in touch 🙂

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Nursery School Shoot

July 5th, 2015 admin Blog No comments

Although I’ve enjoyed some fantastic shoots this year so far, I have fallen a little behind with the blogging it has to be said.  I did, however, feel that this particular session was worth sitting down and blogging about, as it was something a little different for me.

I was approached a few months back from a nursery school manager, asking if I would be interested in taking the kids photo’s. She explained that they encouraged their children to interact with nature and were often taking them outdoors to explore and have fun. For this reason, she was looking for a photographer who could capture the kids in this kind of environment, rather than the usual sit-down indoor ‘school’ style of photography.  This was so up my street that I couldn’t refuse the job, so a date was agreed.

The day itself was a gloriously sunny day. Giles and I turned up at the beautiful gardens near to the nursery, which had been adorned with bunting, blankets, teepees and toys. It was my perfect setting, I really couldn’t ask for more.  I set Giles on the task of capturing the kids playing in a more candid fashion, something he is used to when photographing weddings, which left me the task of trying to get a portrait of each child. I set up two chairs behind a bush which separated me from the rest of the group, then one by one the children were walked around to have their photo taken. Some were full of excitement and anticipation for their turn, whilst others were hard to pin down, and a few were not wanting their photo’s taken at all. As you can imagine, each child would be very different as we were dealing with babies up to four year olds, some shy, some confident, some not possibly feeling their best…it was a case of trying to form some kind of connection with each child and taking their photos as quickly as possible, before moving onto the next one. For some kids who wouldn’t sit still, I found that their parents holding them up in a nearby tree worked wonders, other kids loved to sit on the daisy covered grass whilst some wanted to lie down.  This really was a case of being really flexible and adapting to each child’s personality, which I found really interesting (albeit exhausting, it has to be said!)  All in all, I really enjoyed the day and have had great feedback from the nursery manager and some parents.

Here are a few photo’s from the day.

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Moving into 2015

December 31st, 2014 admin Blog No comments

2014 has been the most wonderful year for Alice Rose Portraits, for many reasons.  Not only was I invited to be a part of the Galloway Photographic Collective, which has opened up so many new opportunities, the word has spread way beyond anything I would have expected when I started up the business a few years ago.  I am overwhelmed and flattered by the attention, and have enjoyed every bit of this year.

When I started the business up in 2012, it was really only a ‘hobby’ as a sideline to my part time job working in an art gallery.  This year has seen many changes, not only with the rise in popularity of Alice Rose, but also with my role within my ‘day’ job, which has seen me being promoted to manager. Don’t get me wrong, I love my day job as much as I love the photography, which makes it all the more difficult for me to be in the position I am now in.  I found that towards the end of this year I was having to turn photography clients away, something I never thought I would have to do, but I began to realise that my limited time was being squeezed, and quite honestly to take on any more photography sessions would have done me and my family in!  The past few weeks of  quality time I’ve enjoyed with my children has forced me to re-asses how to take things forward in the new year.

With this in mind, I’m afraid that I am taking Mini Sessions away as an option for 2015. This means that anyone wanting to book a session will have to book a full session with me, which can be on any mutually agreed date and location.

Many people misunderstand the point of a full session and comment that their child/ren would not want to be photographed for 2 hours, but the point is that you have the option to book me for anything UP TO two hours, but very rarely do I stay for the entire duration.  You can book me with a group of friends as the full session can be for up to six in one sitting, and we have a bit more fun with a full session, as opposed to mini sessions where everything is very regimented and I have to bark orders to get as many results in the alloted time frame. With a full session, we can chill out at the beach or in the woods, with no pressure to get photo’s as quickly, and the result is that usually the children relax more and we get more natural shots than often achieved with the mini sessions.

I would still urge any of you wanting to book me to do so in advance, as I hope we can avoid having to turn anyone away in 2015.

Hope you all have a wonderful new year, and I look forward to seeing you again in 2015.

 

Graduation Princess

June 2nd, 2014 admin Blog No comments

I was contacted by a woman from Canada, who asked me if I could photograph her granddaughter in one of our local Scottish Castle’s.  We agreed on Caerlaverock, as it’s so beautiful to photograph and there are so many interesting nooks and crannies, so we booked the date and crossed our fingers for good weather.

It seems that it’s popular in Canada and the USA for recently graduated young adults to have a photo shoot in their gown to mark their graduation.  I had slightly misunderstood the brief, and admit to expecting Madi to turn up in a black gown and mortar board, which I must admit I was feeling a little uninspired about.  When I saw Madi in her beautiful black and white gown I was pleasantly surprised and relieved.   Madi was up for anything, and after a little bit of a warm-up outside getting to know each other, by the time we entered the ruined castle she was happy to scale the walls in her gown and bare feet. Following this, we drove to the Crichton in Dumfries for the last half an hour.

Madi was a pleasure to photograph, and Giles and I really enjoyed the time we spent with her and her grandparents who were such lovely people.  I’m pleased to say they are thrilled with the photo’s – here are a few of my favourites.

 

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Arielle

June 2nd, 2014 admin Blog No comments

After a couple of quiet months during the winter period, I had the pleasure of being approached to photograph this gorgeous wee girl.  This shoot was to mark her first birthday, and she was full of smiles and laughter all the way through the session.  What a nice first session for 2014 this was.

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Christmas Session

June 2nd, 2014 admin Blog No comments

It’s been too many months since my last blog post, so I’m starting up again with this Christmas shoot with the Baty family.

I had a call from the kids dad, saying he wanted to arrange a photo-shoot for his wife’s Christmas present, as she had been wanting a new photo of her kids to hang on the wall. On a gloriously crisp and sunny winter day I met up with them all, and we took a walk along the Dee, photographing along the way.  They turned up in their special Christmas jumpers with their favourite toys, and weren’t afraid to have their photo’s taken….in fact, they were so relaxed it was one of the easiest shoots I’ve done.

At the end, I pulled out some joke moustaches’ which had the kids in hysterics, a great end to a fantastic shoot.  Mum ended up getting a large canvas for the wall too!

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Keeping Me On My Toes!

February 23rd, 2014 admin Blog No comments

I met up with Neve, her mum Nikki, and Harlow the dog on a crisp, sunny morning last November.  We went to the Dhoon beach, as I knew it was a great place for kids but it also had lots of shady areas I could take advantage of, as it was such a glaringly sunny morning I would need this balance.  Once we had arrived, Nikki and I set down the props we had brought along with us and then spent about half an hour running around after Neve as she decided she was just going to do her own thing.  Looking back on it, we must have looked so funny chasing around after this little dynamo, who had us trying every persuasive tactic we could come up with.  Just as I felt we were starting to break ground, and Neve was starting to slow down,  I managed to get a couple of lovely shots of her on the beach, but unfortunately the poor little lamb then fell into the mud as she waded out a little too far.  With this, a cold and damp and very upset Neve meant that the session was over!

I had never been in this position before, whereby I had come away from a session with hardly anything to show for it.  I offered Nikki another session, this time suggesting that we go to the park instead of the beach, as it is a less open space with lots of things for Neve to do.  Nikki agreed, and so we gave it another shot on another lovely day to follow.  Although I was feeling a little apprehensive  initially, the second session went like a dream.  As we had hoped, Neve enjoyed the swing and slide, but all the while she still remained firmly in control of the situation, guiding me from one place to the next as if to say ‘I’m still the boss’ :).  She then walked up a hill to a little bit at the top of the park, at the foot of the woods, which was full of gorgeous Autumnal coloured leaves.  Up here she had a blast, playing with the leaves, her tea set and some bubbles, we even managed to get some fairy wings on her for a little time.  Finishing off at the park again, and feeling so much relief at how well it had all gone, Nikki produced a little wind up plane from her bag, telling me it was one of Neve’s favourite toys. I couldn’t resist capturing her playing with it before we called it a day….I think that little momentos like this are the things which will be cherished when looking back in years to come.

Here are a few of my favourite shots from both sessions.

 

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Bubbles & Boats

February 16th, 2014 admin Blog No comments

Another catch up blog from last November, and once again this session was along the Dee on a very sunny afternoon.  My reason for choosing this location was simply that the glare from the sun was so great, that I knew the boat was always a reliable bit of shade, never minding the fact that it’s a fantastic backdrop.  It’s no wonder that this boat is so important to the local painting and photography community, and there was so much protest at the suggestion of it being removed a few years ago, that it now remains as a permanent fixture.  Not only this, but the walk along the Dee offers so many beautiful backdrops, from the reeds which glow when the sun comes down, to bridge along the walk and much more.

I agreed to meet this family at the harbour so that we could walk and shoot along the way.  As Rhys was so young and Mia so shy, I handed out bubbles as soon as we got to the boat, as this is always a good way of getting the kids to relax and forget they’re here for a photo shoot.  This certainly did the trick, and I snapped some of my favourite shots of little Rhys laughing, as his dad blew bubbles at him, as well as some more pensive shots of Mia.  Once they had relaxed, we carried on for a while, although I think we may have walked too far on this occasion in my enthusiasm to find new locations, but these two kids were such troopers.  As with all full sessions, you can have as much or as little as you want of the two hours you have booked me for, and in this case little Mia wasn’t feeling well, so we called it a day as the sun was coming down.  I got some great shots of these two kids, and know that their mum is delighted with the images.

Here are a few of my favourite images

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