family 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?

It's interesting how photography has changed over the decades - from cumbersome plate cameras, to portable box brownies, to lightweight film cameras and now digital cameras and even phones which take pictures. It's easy to track these changes through time, but it's also interesting to see who appears in pictures over these times.

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!

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.

Here's a little look at a recent family photo session I did for a new family. They wanted some photos with their new baby and the grandparents. This was especially important to them as one set of grandparents live in Germany. The baby was only four weeks old and it was their first visit to see her.