Photographing your dog – five top tips
A border collie puppy leaps out of her kennel.
A Colshaw Hall Wedding in Summer
Rachel and John’s August wedding at St. Matthew’s Church, Stretton and Colshaw Hall
On an August Saturday you’d hope for sunshine all day and dry weather and we almost got it. The gardens at Colshaw Hall were in perfect condition and the atmosphere was amazing!Read More
An outdoor Autumn wedding at Statham Lodge Hotel
Getting married under clear blue skies in early October
Everyone loves the idea of an outdoor wedding. And Statham Lodge Hotel in Lymm has fabulous gardens which are perfect for an outdoor wedding ceremony. Their beautiful gardens and the way they have laid everything out make it perfect. The only thing is the weather; you can’t guarantee it.Read More
Winter family portraits at sunset
That golden glow as the sun starts to sink in the late afternoon, or if it’s late November, around half past two. It’s magic light and creates wonderful portraits, loaded with atmosphere from the setting sun illuminating heavy skies.
This session was taken a few weeks ago on the hills above the River Kent estuary in Cumbria, with Grange over Sands in the background.
Winter is the best time of year for these types of portraits. They have strong colours from the sun lighting the landscape and adding a golden glow to the bare trees and dying grass. The dramatic skies, with clouds laden with rain and sun as yet another weather system crosses the country, add their own drama to the scene.
Each season has it’s own distinct character and the atmosphere of winter is completely different to the other seasons. Winter portrait sessions can be unpredictable and we don’t always know exactly what we’re going to end up with. And that’s part of the fun.
They’re always dramatic. Whether it’s bright sunlight across misty fields, heavy cloud, snowy scenes, or that flat light that winter days in the UK are famous for, the one thing they all have in common is that make they all make gorgeous portraits to display as wall art in your home.
Portraits like these work at their best as large frames and canvasses as wall art in the main living areas of a home. The examples below show how the photos look when displayed in bespoke frames.
Pet portraits with a Beagle called Storm
Beagles are busy dogs! And Storm is a busy beagle! Storm’s owner Kim wanted a portrait session of Storm as wall art for her living room. With pet portrait sessions (and small children) we normally start with a cuppa and let the pets get used to me being around. Once they’re calmed down and decided I’m not very exciting we’ll start the session with some games and playing. This gives me some great action shots and helps them settle down for some sitting or lying portraits. And then it’ll be time for walkies!
We went to Shakerley Mere Country Park for the second part of Storm’s session. With Storm being a busy and inquisitive Beagle we couldn’t let her off her lead as she’d run off as soon as she picked up an interesting scent. I know it’s cheating but we removed Storm’s lead in Photoshop whilst editing the photos.
If you’re interested in pet portrait session please get in touch through the contact page or call us on 01925 471091.
You can find out more about our pet portrait photography here.
Winter portraits in the Cheshire countryside
Why have a portrait session in winter?
A rainy November morning isn’t most people’s first choice for an outdoor family portrait session. Most people think of warm sunny days as being best and that’s often true. I’ve found that winter portraits have a character and atmosphere all of their own. I did this family portrait session last winter in Little Bollington near Altrincham. I have no idea why I haven’t blogged about it yet. After taking the usual portraits of mum and dad and their son I spent some time photographing their son and their chocolate labrador.
Small children and their pets always make great photos. When you have a very young child who is old enough to take the dog for a walk, and when the dog is a bit older and quite gentle those photos take on a real significance. It’s like you can feel the relationship between the dog and his master.
The old sluice gates made a really good backdrop for a quick set of three photographs. The reason I chose them was because of the textures in the wood and the foliage in the background. Finally, I wanted to show how these photographs work beautifully as sets of three framed photographs positioned close to each other. Unusually, this set of three works equally well in colour and in black and white. While they work well in this example, this isn’t always the case.
Emma & Chris’s summer Lancashire wedding
Last summer had some interesting weather but we had some great days. One of my favourites was Emma and Chris’s wedding. The ceremony was held at St Mary’s Church in Horwich. It’s always interesting to see how people bring different ideas to their weddings. Read More
One little man and his dog
Back in July I did a family portrait session for young family in South Cheshire. Their two year old son had recently been given a Jack Russell puppy and the two of them played together throughout the session. While I was getting the family ready to do some photographs in one of their fields, I noticed their son and his dog running along one of the tracks in the wheat field. They were oblivious to what he rest of the family were doing and I couldn’t resist taking this picture when I saw them.
This is one of my favourite photographs from a busy summer. Although you can’t see his face, you get the sense of freedom and the innocence of youth… and the bond between one little man and his dog.
You can find out more about our family portrait photography on our family portraits page.
A Summer Wedding in Warrington
Last June, We photographed Debbie & Anthony’s wedding at St Elphin’s Parish Church and The Fir Grove. It was a lovely sunny day with quite a strong breeze, which you’ll see in the photos Debbie and her veil. This was the first time I’d photographed a wedding at St Elphin’s, Warrington’s Parish Church and it was only the second time I’d been in the church. (The first time was to meet Rev’d Wilson to ask about taking photographs at Debbie & Anthony’s wedding). Although it’s in the middle of Warrington, it’s a beautiful church with natural gardens and mature trees that make a perfect setting for statement photographs of a bride and groom and for casual and formal groups.
Debbie and Anthony chose The Fir Grove for their wedding reception. It’s small and lovely hotel in Grappenhall with amazing quality food and really lovely staff which makes it a perfect location for wedding receptions in Warrington.
Tilly – the smallest dog I've ever photographed
Tilly is the smallest dog I’ve ever photographed. She’s a Malchi; that’s a cross between a Maltese Terrier and a Chihuahua.
She’s also totally adorable but a bit of a prima donna. Pam, her owner, told me that she had this habit of getting in Pam’s handbag if she thought Pam was going out. So that was going to be on the shoot list wasn’t it.
Being a pet photographer especially in Lymm, is great for me as I get to photograph so many different shapes and sizes, and breeds of dogs every year. As more new breeds are invented (like Cockerpoos, labradoodles, cavichons and so on) I’m building a portfolio of Cheshire’s top dogs.
I love pet photography for many reasons. It’s very different from photographing adults, but not that different from photographing very young children.
You can hardly tell them to do anything so it’s more about creating situations where they (hopefully) will do what you want. That way you can get the shots that you know your clients will love and will want to have on their walls.
It was a fairly damp November morning but the rain held off for long enough to get a really good selection. Here are a few from Tilly’s pet portrait photography session.