Different Styles of Finishing for Portraits

It's nice to have different sorts of effects on the final images you receive from a portrait session or for your wedding pictures. So i've been experimenting a little bit with a few different styles and finishes .... some softer colours; more washed out looking or brighter stronger colours and some different black & white effects. Here are a few that I quite liked...

Lifestyle Model Shoots

One of the lovely things about photography is that you never stop learning, improving and being inspired by others, so I undertake quite a lot of training courses over an average year. I've recently returned from a course up in the Lake District run by Contemporary Photographic Training (CPT). The course was really related to the Business side of photography but we did a bit of shooting too. Here are a few images that were shot during a really fun hands-on day with Bath/Bristol based Photographer Jo Hansford. The models were great to work with and it was a pleasure to meet Jo and learn more about her approach to Lifestyle Shoots.

We shot some family images with children in the morning - here are a few favourites:

Then in the afternoon - we did another shoot with a young couple - here are a few of those:

Thanks go in no particular order to all the models, to Jo, and to the CPT team - Catherine, Jane, Ali, Mel and David and to my fellow course buddies. A great few days with far too much lovely food!

Outdoor Family Portraits Watford

This session was done a few weeks back when the bluebells were still in flower... just taken me a little while to post them! I love to go to Cassiobury park and the local woods to get natural photos of children and familes. It's often surprisingly quiet so you can get some great shots without lots of people in the background. Here are a few favourites from the session.

Family Portraits

I'm often asked to take a big photo of everyone .. Mum, Dad, children, Grandchildren, Cousins, Aunties, Dogs ... lots different age groups and lots of children. During these sessions I always try to get lots of different images of the families both together and separately as well as the big group photo. Here are a few examples:

Watford Peace Hospice Fundraising Event

I recently took some photos at a family day to help raise money for the Watford Peace Hospice. The event took place at Hunton Park - a beautiful venue - and was organised by the Peace Hospice to raise money. The Hospice and it's staff do a fantastic job day after day caring for the terminally ill and offering support to the families. There were stalls; bands; games; mini fairground rides; facepainting; bouncy castles and many other stalls and activities to keep everyone entertained. Unfortunately the British weather wasn't that kind to us on the day but there was still a pretty good turn out and all the children and families had a fun afternoon. Here are a few of the images.

Pictures are available through the website with 50% of proceeds being donated to the Peace Hospice.