26/09/2011 by Anna.

Our whole family were in Denmark in early September for our biennial cousins’ party.

For the first time ever this year I saw a fox at Fiskerminde; it appeared several times on the first day we were there, and was a really pretty little thing.

Fiskersminde has been in the family since 1917 and the branch of our family that own it have done a huge amount of work to improve it.

It has so much character.

There are now so many cousin’s descendents that it’s quite hard to keep track of all the children!

About 75 of us were present this year for the lamb midday meal…

after the meal it was time for the traditional ice cream kiosk to open where the children can buy ice cream and sweets using special money made just for Fiskersminde.

There is a lot of beer drinking, talking, playing games and relaxing at Fiskersminde.

We were really lucky with the weather this year, and it was even warm enough for a swim.

It’s not often that it’s so calm and warm when we visit Denmark, so this was a real treat!

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04/05/2011 by Anna.

This session was done a few weeks ago when the dandelions were in their prime. I know they are only weeds, but I love them…. provided they don’t take over my garden! They are certainly great to use in photo shoots when the weather is good and the grass dry.

The children were allowed to do their own thing in the field which kept them happy.

Because the sun was so strong I kept it behind the children for close up portraits.

This picture was the best of several that we took of the children jumping. They make a nice sequence.

Here, a bit of panning with the camera following the bike has given the illusion of real speed…

A lovely window lit portrait given a special colour treatment by me.

The blue carpet makes the perfect background for a baby with blue eyes!

I’m now looking at the countryside and thinking that the time is nearly here to take pictures amongst the buttercups. They were amazing last year and will probably be the same this year with all the dry weather we’ve had… any takers?

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20/08/2010 by Anna.

This christening was a lovely excuse to have a weekend in London! It was a lovely sunny summer’s day (maybe a little too bright for photography… we’re never happy!).

I took some pictures in the bedroom using some lovely window light just before Harry was getting dressed up.

He is such a photogenic little chap…

… and is also very smiley.

All dressed up in his finery.

With his proud mother.

The ceremony was in the local Catholic Church in Wimbledon - St. Winefride’s Church - a very impressive building with lovely light inside.

A nice record shot of all the guests.

Cousin Anabelle was fascinated by all the candles…

… and on the walk home she was happy to show off her scooter skills!

We used the only bit of shade in the garden to take some family group pictures.

Three young cousins - the mothers were very close at hand in case one of the little ones decided to leave the bench!

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03/05/2010 by Anna.

Apart from the fact that the weather was awful, with non stop cold rain, and that the baby being christened was ill, it was a lovely christening!

I arrived at the house at 8.15am to get some pictures of Georgia and her big sister before the service and while the house was still quiet.

Georgia was at her best being allowed to kick around on the sheepskin rug that I brought along.

Big sister Anabelle was much happier and easy to photograph.

The baptism

The ‘children’s corner’ at the back of the church

Georgia was asleep by this time which was the best thing for her.

This is grandfather with one of his other grandchildren

Because of the rain all the family pictures had to be taken indoors, which was such a shame as the garden looked so beautiful. I brought lighting with me and ended up bouncing my flash gun off the ceiling for most of the group shots, which made them look more natural than direct flash.

Anabelle refused to be in most of the group pictures but I got some lovely pictures of her absorbed in a book.

Isn’t this just the best thing to do when you feel unwell?!

Nearly forgot to get a picture of the cake, made by one of the grandmothers.

I hope you are better now, Georgia, and are back to your normal smiley self!

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08/11/2009 by Anna.

This session was done to provide some pictures of children ranging in age from 3 to 18 for their grandparents as a Ruby wedding anniversary present. Such a wide age range can be challenging to accommodate sometimes, but all the youngsters were wonderfully helpful and a pleasure to photograph.

Piling onto the bed with faces lit by window light is a good pose for youngsters, if there is room for me to fit in with my camera!

The dog joined in with this picture! I like to show details of the home environment as it’s such an important factor in the life of a family and lovely to have on record for the future.

I always vary the locations of shooting in a session because different locations inside and out have different lighting opportunities. In this shoot James, the oldest, who is a keen photographer, helped me with ideas and with holding the giant reflector I often use.

This is one way of fitting them all into the same picture.  I hope the grandparents will be thrilled with their present.

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29/10/2009 by Anna.

A couple of weeks ago I did a photoshoot at Shrivenham - what a lovely village! I’ve lived in North Wiltshire for many years and never been there before, so it was lovely to discover the high street with its old thatched cottages. I went to take pictures of Adam and his parents who are over from Canada for a year.

Once again, we were lucky with the weather which held out until I was ready to leave for home and then it started raining!

Standing under a tree gave a beautiful light for this father and son portrait.

Little Adam is one of the happiest babies I’ve ever photographed! He was so obliging!

These last few pictures are taken using window light and reflectors, when needed. I brought some bubble mixture along to entertain Adam and to get him looking up where I wanted him to - he was fascinated by the bubbles!

Hmmm - what a mess of feet! I hope that Adam and his family will have happy memories of their time in the UK and enjoy having some of those memories saved for ever in their pictures.

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16/10/2009 by Anna.

I always think the last few weeks of pregnancy are amazing - there’s an infinite difference between being pregnant and having a new person enter the world; it can happen at any time and changes your lives forever.

Sarah’s second child is due in a few weeks and she very kindly agreed to be my model for this shoot. I bought a mosquito net from Ikea, took my lights along to her house and we played! Here are some of the results:

I had to shoot Emily quickly as she wasn’t staying still for long!

For these next pictures we just closed the living room curtains and used them as a backdrop - they were perfect. I wrapped Sarah up in some horticultural fleece which sounds a bit odd, but is lovely and soft and drapes surprisingly well!

Then, I just had to get a few shots of Emily being fascinated by some bubbles that I brought along.

Can you see where this one has burst?!

Thanks to Sarah and family for a lovely afternoon and good luck with the next baby!

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03/10/2009 by Anna.

The autumn colours are well on their way now and I am reminded of a shoot I did on a lovely October afternoon a couple of years ago at Corsham Court. I chose for us to go there rather than Westonbirt as I didn’t really want my images filled with hoards of other people and Corsham Court is less well known and so a lot quieter!

It turned out to be a long walk for the children, with all the stopping for playing with fallen leaves, grass and sticks, but they loved it!

And of course, there were trees to climb…

A quiet moment to recuperate.

Great gran wasn’t keen on being included in the photos, but I really think it’s important to have records of all family members, so I managed to sneak this one!

This image was from a photo shoot I did in the park in Swindon old town - I have exaggerated the colours of the background - I love this picture!

Try some leaves throwing pictures yourself. If your models are not looking at the camera then a bright sun behind the photographer is not too much of a problem. The late afternoon sun is the best.

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22/09/2009 by Anna.

Aaahh! Isn’t it good to get some early autumn sun? The photo shoot that I’m posting this week was planned later in the day than I would have liked because of teenage children’s Saturday jobs, but in the end the sun was still so strong that it was just as well!

Jason is soon starting university so it’s nice to get a record of the family at the end of an era and the beginning of the next…

I like playing around with different colour effects - I think this one is quite cool!

As the sun was so bright, for this picture I placed the sun behind Katrina and got her to lean in to the camera. I had to use a reflector to bounce light back into her face.

The back light gives wonderful edge lighting around the hair. Again a reflector was used to bounce light into the faces.

I used a little fill in flash in this image to balance out the light a little.

Here is a family portrait set in the beautiful surroundings of the river in Malmesbury.

So, the next thing to look forward to is the changing colour of the trees. I took some beautiful family pictures with children playing with the leaves in the autumn  sun in Corsham Park a couple of years ago. Anyone interested?…

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10/09/2009 by Anna.

We have just come back from a lovely week in Denmark. We went over for a cousins’ party, which is held every 2 years, in the old family summer house by the sea. I am one of 15 cousins; many of us have children and quite a few of those children have children, so the family is now pretty big! I took far too many pictures but have chosen just a few to show you to give a flavour of the day:

The summer house was a fisherman’s cottage and has loads of character

Tove - a very popular great grandmother

This was just before the torrential downpour!

The youngest of the babies this year at 3 months old.

Mmmm… it was delicious!

Half Chinese Caia is a real Dane - they love their flag!

You can understand why I can’t stop taking pictures, can’t you?!

A short walk to the beach for a spot of power-kiting…

This was first time for Mette - it was a gallant effort, but the wind got the better of her!

The wind (and rain) made us suffer too!

Having a photographer record the people and events at a gathering or birthday party is a lovely way to preserve some of the memories of the day.

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