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Ann having a baby (no. 2!)

I wish I could write as easily as I take photos. There are so many fantastic blogs where they have beautiful photos *and* beautifully crafted sentances to accompany these photos. Although lots of these blogs are American and I just couldn't imagine writing the same kind of things, it wouldn't really work for us unsentimental Brits. Besides I often don't really read the writing, I just skip to the photos.

When I previously photographed Ann she was expecting her first baby, on the local estate. Despite it being a rainy day, the textures and the colours really helped me create some photos which I love.

Ann went on to have a beautiful little son - Samuel, and is now expecting baby no.2. This time however we decided to stay indoors. As you may know, maternity photos are not my favourites to take. I find the whole posing thing quite hard, and being indoors brings a whole set of new challenges.

Thankfully Ann is also a photographer, which allowed her and her husband to be wonderfully patient at being moved for each photo, sometimes by just a few millimeters. Her husband even took some of the photos.

So thanks guys for being such sports, I had a faboulous time and hope to get at least 1 more photoshoot in before the little baby arrives!

Do check out Ann's blog, to see more about her life as a mother, great receipes and beautiful photos.

 

 

The Many Faces of Sarah

The holidays (my busy times) are over and I've lots of photos to blog, and I am going to start with the most recent. On friday afternoon I went to visit Karen and little Sarah. It has been a while since I last saw her but she has lost her newborn looks and is growing fast. It is so great to see her settling down in to life and to see her bond with her Mummy. 

  

Sarah at Sunset.

Sometimes it is organised photoshoots of babies and some times its snaps of friend's new babies. This probably falls more into the latter so excuse the lack of variety, we just hung out and chatted and I took the occasional photo. Well I took a quite a few, but here are my favourite.

Sarah has the contemplative face down to an art form even at two weeks old and such fun to photograph, especially in the light of the sunset. She is such a loved baby come in to the world with two amazing people as her parents. Welcome Sarah!

 

  

 

Baby S. SneakPeak

It has been about 2 and half years since the wedding of Karen and Wil, and a few weeks ago they welcomed the birth of their beautiful daughter. There are a few photos which I have to sort through but here is a sneak peak...

The Beautiful Baby S.

Kath and Marcus have had their baby. She arrived perfectly timed, allowing her parents to move in to their new house. Kath has been a friend of mine for I think about 6 years, and so it is just such a pleasure to see them marry and start their family. Thank you! Here are some of my favourites of the session, enjoy...

And for more photos of the beautiful Baby S.

                        

 

Ann, Adrian and A Baby

So you remember Ann and Adrian. Well Baby S, came a little late but he came eventually and I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing him on Saturday. 

For the rest of the photos, please check out Ann, Adrian and A Baby

 

Leah and Tom are having a baby!

Well actually they have had their baby. A little girl! So lets rewind to bank holiday Monday, on a sunny afternoon at the canal by Caledonian Rd.

These photos are more than a little inspired by my last lot of maternity photos (Ann and Adrian) and you will probably see similar ones in sessions to come. I'm on this mission to take lots of photos, get lots of practice and hopefully build up my own style and repertoire of poses, it is hard work but I feel I'm making progress.

Thank you to Leah and Tom who were absolutely lovely, and welcome to your new little daughter, I can't wait to meet (and photograph) her!!!

Leah saw the scooter photo I did for Ann and requested a bike photo, this has to be the coolest bike ever.

Maternity Photos on the Andover.

I have known this lovely couple since they joined my church (separately) a few years ago. It has been a pleasure to get to know them individually and also watch as they have come together, getting married last year. Now they are expecting the arrival of their baby imminently and so it was a great chance to improve my maternity photo skills.

The session took place on an estate in North London. We were originally going to Parkland Walk but it was raining a bit too much and I knew there were lots of covered walkways on the estate. An excellent location, will definitely be going there again! They are such a lovely couple, and were constantly laughing.

This baby is going to be born to the most amazing parents and community, lucky child! Thanks for being such a great couple to photograph!

The rest of the photos can be seen here: Ann and Adrian are having a baby!

 

Baby A.

NB! She has been named and if you are friends with the family, go check out facebook to see her formal announcement...

This last newborn shoot was extra particularly special for several reasons...

1) It is my 10th newborn shoot! Thats right I have so far persuaded 10 new mums to let me photograph their new babies in their first two weeks of life. The first shoot was funnily enough on the 15th September 2006 and this one was 19th September 2009, almost exactly three years. I like to think I have improved in that time!

2) This little girl is not just any baby, but the daughter of very good friends. Naomi, who has great taste and style and more than willing to practice a variety of shots and Tom, the new daddy who indulged us and I hope is impressed with the photos!

3) Its the first time I put a baby in a basket and I must say I love the picture, and totally got to do it again! What surprised me with how content baby was with being in the basket, she just kicked back and relaxed. Next time I might invest in a bigger basket though!

So with that said, prepare for baby photos galore. Click any of the photos to go back to the flickr album and see the entire set!

Naomi pregnant / Petts Wood

Last weekend I help to organise a baby shower for my friend Naomi, perfect timing as it turned out as baby arrived yesterday, just under two weeks early! On Sunday Naomi and I went for a walk at Petts Wood in South London.

I am perhaps not the biggest fan of South London (my loyalty to the North side) but I was quite pleasantly surprised by the beauty of this little corner of London.

Who cannot fail to admire an area developed by a man called Basil Scruby and once was home to Charles De Gaulle and Jack Dee, that is what I call diverse. The 250+ acre wood is owned by the National Trust now and has more variety of trees than you can shake a stick out (or in my case, even knew existed) including  oak, birch, rowan, alder, ash, hornbeam and sweet chestnut (follow links back to wikipedia's descriptions).

Petts Wood is quite similar to Stanmore Country Park which I wrote about earlier this year, main difference being one is south and the other is north. It is a lovely place for a quite afternoon walk, be sure to bring a good sense of direction (we got lost and had to rescue ourselves with my mobile's GPS and two little old ladies), a blanket if having picnic and comfy shoes (boots if raining).

These photos below are some of my favourite of the day, first is Naomi and second is a random lady writing which I thought made a cool photo. For more photos, click on the photos below or follow this link to my flickr album of the afternoon, please do comment and let me know which your favourite photos are.