children's portrait

With just ten weeks to go until Christmas, you're probably wracking your brains for good Christmas gift ideas. Well look no further! Now is an ideal time to have a family portrait session and order photographs to give to the grandparents as gifts. Or you could just have the children photographed, it's up to you.

Some of my customers like the idea of having their photos taken in a location which means something to them. In this article I'll be looking at some of my favourite North East portrait locations.

I photographed at Big Waters for the first time last year and really liked the backdrop. These shots were taking near the pond-dipping area.

A few weeks ago we looked at the pros and cons of having your portrait session at home. This week it's the turn of location portrait sessions. So, again, let's start with the good things.

1. You can incorporate your location portrait session with a lovely family day out. Why not take a picnic to have after you've had your photos taken and spend some quality time together?

I love it when I find a new location for a family portrait. I have been to Big Waters before, but not for many years. I had forgotten the pond-dipping pools under the trees and this turned out to be an ideal location for this portrait session.

If you regularly read my blog posts then you may recognise this family as being the one that has their portrait taken every year for Christmas presents for the grandparents.

With everyone carrying around their own camera on their mobile phones now, it's hard to justify paying to have your family photos taken by a professional portrait photographer. Here are some reasons why you'll love your photo session.

1. People and families change and grow the whole time. You will be capturing your life moments which are precious.

Introducing a new and exciting product for this year! Exclusive Christmas card photo sessions. These can be done in your home or on a location, so dig out your Christmas jumpers and create a unique greetings card to send to your friends and family this year. The Christmas tree is optional but if you're willing to put some Christmas decorations up then your card will look all the more festive!

What are children's Fine Art Portraits? I've always loved the more serious expressions on portrait photos and this embraces this look. Dark backgrounds, classical poses and timeless expressions. I love the classic looks of old Hollywood movie star photos and I'm trying to emulate this in these sessions.

Before Christmas I held a prize draw at the Great Park Christmas fair to win a portrait session. One of the 2nd prize winners wanted some photos of her grandchildren. We did the session in the school holidays and it happened to be snowing!

Thankfully, the mum didn't call it off and I met them at the community centre.

Every year this family have a family portrait and give photos of the boys to the grandparents as gifts. We've used a few different locations and this year we re-visited Plessey Woods in Northumberland.

Here are a few of the shots from this year's session. I only take a couple of the family all together as the focus is mainly on the boys.