My Autumn Mini Session was held at Threave Gardens in October 2013.  I had four families turn up for half hour sessions each.   As always, Threave looked great, with loads of gorgeous red and orange tones everywhere, and a huge variety of leaves of all shapes and sizes. What’s more, it didn’t rain a single drop which is always a blessing.

Some of the kids were more self conscious than others, which does make it tricky when only having half an hour to capture their personality, but I felt we still managed to get some great shots in the short time given.  We had fun, asking dads to chuck leaves at the kids, getting the kids to chuck leaves above their heads and at each other, what’s the point of photographing in Autumn if you don’t do a bit of leaf chucking afterall? I do love this time of year, and look forward to doing it again in 2014.

Here are just a few of my favourites from the day.

When Alice Rose was first set up, I took some photo’s of little Imogen to help build up my portfolio, and supposedly her eldest brother Gil had been keen to get his photo’s done ever since.  Never one to turn down a child keen to get their photo taken, particularly a boy (a rarity in my experience!) I was thrilled when their mum got in touch to book me.

When we met up, the rain clouds quickly started to gather and before we knew it, the rain was falling down in bucketloads!  After taking shelter at my house which was nearby, and lots of cups of tea,  we were about to abandon the session when the sun came out in full glory.  Getting excited about the amazing, dramatic light, I dragged them all out to one of my favourite nearby spots.  We didn’t spend too long on this session, but I’m so pleased with what we got at the end of it, with both kids being so cooperative, and coming up with ideas as well as listening to mine.  Mum was so pleased with the results, she ordered a large canvas of the image below, which looked fantastic!

I met up with the adorable Lily and her parents in October, 2013.  The parents were given a Gift Voucher from dad’s place of work when Lily was born, and they felt that Lily was at the right age to get some great pictures.  And how right they were!  I’ve yet to meet such a happy, smiley baby, Lily was a pure joy to photograph.

We spent the session near Kirkcudbright Marina.  For those who know the area, there are some small grassy areas here and it’s a great spot to get some nice shots with different backdrops.  Lily was happy to lie on the blanket, cuddle her teddy and laughed along the way.  It was only about half way through that hunger got the better of her, and despite a few attempts to rekindle the smile, we decided to call it a day.

Lily was around 6 months, which is a great age to photograph babies. At this age onwards, they can often sit up unaided, can interact and show emotion, which creates plenty of opportunities for some great shots. It was brilliant that her parents wanted to be involved in the shoot, and now they have some nice memories of Lily to look back on.

Some of you may remember a newborn baby I photographed early 2013, in fact, it’s very nearly a year ago to the date.   Morgan’s mum decided that she wanted to do a few separate sessions at different stages throughout his first year, so that she could compile them all in a coffee table book to mark his first year.  This is such a great idea, as babies change so quickly in that first year, it’s nice to capture moments to be cherished forever.

I met Morgan and mum on a fairly dreich afternoon in Kirkcudbright.  We lay down a blanket, surrounded Morgan with toys and let him play, after which mum got involved.  The interaction between them was lovely, as he laughed and shouted with delight, and gave me lots of opportunites to get some great pictures.  We had hoped to go onto Broughton House Gardens afterwards, but babies have a way of letting you know when they’re done!

Here are some of my favourites from the session.

It’s been months and months since my last blog, so I’m finally taking the bull by the horns and posting something about the sessions I’ve missed out.  Starting with this, a lovely early August evening stroll with an equally lovely family.

Giles and I had met mum and the kids, when we photographed her wedding a year or so before.  We also had her youngest daughter come and do some work experience in the office with us, so we felt really comfortable with this family already.  The aim of this shoot was simple, to photograph all of the kids together on a rare afternoon in each others company.  Their mum felt that with them all growing up so fast, she wanted to capture this moment in time before it came and went, and she liked my relaxed approach to the shoot over dragging them all to a studio.

The kids (I say kids, most of them towered above our heads!) looked reluctant at first, with some of them being more self conscious than others, but they soon relaxed, and by the end I do think they were actually enjoying themselves!  As it was so long ago, I’ve since heard back from the family, who ordered a coffee table book of their session; the feedback was great, and definitely worth sharing.

Hi Lynne, I have just recieved my coffee book and prints and they are fantastic. I cant thank you and Giles enough. I really had to convince my boys to have their pictures taken initially, however the session was so relaxed and great fun we all really enjoyed it,particularly the boys!
The kids are all growing up and I really wanted to capture this time with them and that’s exactly what you managed to do. What a fab reminder I now have of this stage in their lives.  Thank you so much for the fantastic day,brilliant service and amazing photos.