Portraits

Portraits of people, families, babies, indoors and outdoors, living rooms and gardens. I find I get better results by going to the house or chosen location of the customer and photographing the family in familiar surroundings to them. The photograph becomes historical then, as it was taken inside or outside the house they were living at the time, or the hotel where they had arranged a family re-union.

A colourful garden in summertime is so much nicer than some of those backgrounds we see where the child is placed in front of a painted library of books and asked to sit there with a volume of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Familiar surroundings are better as the sitters are immediately at ease, especially children. Lets be fair to small children, who wants to be dressed up and driven to some strange house, put in a dark room with lights and a background and told to watch some birdie.

With babies, mothers find it a great relief that they do not have to bundle their small child into the car with a change of clothes, bottles of milk, nappies and drive 15 minutes to find their child has slept all the way there and is a little grizzly at being woken up.

Hints and tips for portrait sittings

Wear something you feel comfortable in. Avoid fashionable clothes if possible, it will look dated in two years. Try not to wear something with loud patterns, it can dominate the photograph. Avoid photographs on children's birthdays, they will be far too excited. Darker clothes are more "slimming" that lighter colours.

Babies photograph best from six months old onwards.