My favourite photos of 2012 #5 – a headshot session in Kingston

For the last day of my look back at some favourite images I took in 2012, I’ve chosen a headshot session. It took place last March in and around Kingston upon Thames with the lovely and very talented Hilary Nicholls of Frock Chicks www.frockchicks.com Hilary is an experienced stylist who has helped many clients with wardrobe busting and style advice as well as working closely with White Stuff and other corporate clients. You can see the latest news from Frock Chicks here too  https://www.facebook.com/FrockChicks The shoot was lots of fun and involved several outfit changes, lots of different locations and a few hairy moments that included being divebombed by a very large flock of pigeons and balancing on escalators, shop window ledges and staircases. I love the two shots below because of the lovely light from the River Thames in Kingston and because I think that Hilary’s personality shines through – with any headshot session I’ll do all I can to put you at ease in front of the camera and even enjoy yourself!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look back at 2012. I could have included many more photos from last year, but had to be strict with myself. Next week I will start showing some shoots I haven’t shared yet as well as announcing something new and very exciting for Sweetheart Studio. Happy Friday…

headshot photo session in kingston upon thames

My favourite photos from 2012 #4 – An adoring grand-daughter

Oh my word. It’s day 4 of my look back at some favourite photos from 2012 and I realise there are lots and lots that I won’t get a chance to choose or feature. But that’s given me an incentive to post all those shoots I haven’t shown yet on the Sweetheart Studio blog…

The big picture below is one of my all-time favourites. It’s a very beautiful baby girl who just couldn’t resist kissing her grandpa. Every time he held her, as you can see from the two smaller photos, she just kept kissing him. Her adoration was a joy to see and a pleasure to photograph…

naming ceremony photography norbiton

My favourite photos from 2012 #3 – a family photo shoot in Richmond Park

Hello. Day 3 of looking at my favourite photos of 2012 and here are some photos from a shoot that took place last June in Richmond Park. As you can see, it was very wet because we’d had so much rain so we had to paddle through some parts of the park. We were close to postponing the shoot but at the last minute there was a break in the clouds and we spent a happy couple of hours splashing in puddles, blowing bubbles and hunting for Gruffalos in the Isabella Plantation which makes a beautiful location for family portrait shoots. I love these photos because the colours are so intense – everywhere was so lush and green because it had rained for so long. And the family obviously loved spending time together and had lots of fun which I think shows in the photos. Tomorrow’s favourite pic is one of my all-time favourites of a beautiful little girl and her grandpa…

family photo shoot in richmond park surrey

 

My favourite photos from 2012 #2 – a studio shoot in Wimbledon

Welcome to day 2 of a week where I’ll be having a look back at some of my favourite photos from 2012. I hinted yesterday that the photo shoot I’ve chosen to feature today didn’t go as smoothly as I’d hoped at the time. It took place last February in the studio above Gooseberry Bush Cafe in Wimbledon which I use regularly for photo shoots. It was a bitterly cold day and it had started to snow so by the time Poppy - the very beautiful little subject of the photos - arrived she was cold and fed up from the bus journey. I think you can see from the black and white photo just how impressed she was with the idea of having a camera pointed at her… Anyway, with some cajoling we got some lovely photos. But the colour shot below, which is one of my favourite images from the thousands (I’m not joking) that I took in 2012, was taken when Poppy had thrown herself onto a beanbag, overwhelmed with the frustration of wearing a tutu and being trapped inside a studio when it was snowing outside. It’s all testament to how powerful the promise of some chocolate and a balloon can be… Tomorrow I’ll be featuring a shoot that took place in Richmond Park last year during the wettest summer in history.

toddler photography wimbledon

 

My favourite photos from 2012 #1 – a Norfolk photo shoot

I read somewhere recently about a photographer who decided to write five days of blog posts showcasing their favourite images from the last year. I was fortunate in 2012 to be kept very busy with photo shoots so I thought this was a really good idea because it would give me a lovely excuse to look back over the last year’s shoots again. I thought I’d kick off with some photos that I took last June. Anyone who knows me will realise that the star of these ones is our daugther, Lola. It might be cheating to feature her, but I thought it would be a good warm-up for the rest of the posts this week (!)

Here are the photos…

photo-shoot-in-burnham-overy

Like any parent, I love pretty much any photo of my daughter. But the photos above embody what I, as a photographer, am trying to present to my clients at the end of a photo shoot. A precious moment in a special place captured in a photo so that you can keep it forever… The pictures were taken in Burnham Overy in Norfolk in front of a windmill that I used to visit as a child with my parents. It’s somewhere that we’ve taken Lola each year since she was about three years old. Each holiday photo album features her clutching her faithful friend Rabby (who each year looks a little floppier and a little more threadbare after chalking up another year of hugs) in front of the windmill. One year Lola’s dancing about in poppies, the next in grass and then last year in beautiful yellow flowers. Her love of Rabby, even though she is now a busy and important 10-year-old, and her joy at just being back in one of her favourite places and having a good run around (despite having to wear wellies – remember how wet last June was?) shine through in the photos and that’s why I love them.

Tomorrow I’ll be sharing a studio shoot from last February with a less-than-willing model. But it all turned out well in the end…