Vicki Knights Photography - Surrey family photographer, Surrey baby & child photographer

Our family holiday to Singapore & Indonesia....in iPhone pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:29:00 +0000

We have just got back from an amazing 2 weeks in Singapore. Both mine and Karl's best friends live out there...weirdly they didn't know each other but moved out with their other halves on the same week in 2009! We went to see them 2 years ago...you can see our photos from that trip here. Back then we just had one child between all of us, and 2 years on we have 4! Each of them had a baby at the end of last year and then we've had Sammy since then too. But luckily it didn't stop us doing anything, and we had a jam-packed fortnight doing tons of exciting things. Having 2 kids was slightly more of a challenge on the flight home though...we quickly learnt that walking a lively 1 year old up and down a plane for hours on end in the middle of the night ain't much fun!

I did take my DSLR with me, but since I got my iPhone 4S a few months ago I just love snapping away with it. The camera is fantastic and I love the editing apps you can buy. So most of the time I just took photos with my iPhone rather than lugging my camera around with me. I did like the camera on the iPhone 3, but it just wasn't quite fast or sharp enough for my liking. So when we were out on a family day trip without my camera, I used to spend the day wishing I had it with me. But now I just pull my phone out and snap away! And you'll notice that I appear in a few of these photos too...so easy to just turn it round on yourself and your kids so you actually appear in your own family photos for once!

To be honest, I haven't printed out photos from my new iPhone yet, but I created these montages for our family album so I'm looking forward to seeing how they look printed.

All of these are edited just using apps in the iPhone, most of them with Snapseed, Magic Hour and/or Instagram (many thanks to my photographer friend Maz Hawes for recommending the first 2 apps!)

That's the beauty of shooting with my iPhone, I just edited them when I had a few spare minutes on holiday. Saves so much time! And I backed them all up to Dropbox every couple of days so I knew they were safe even if I lost my phone. I did also took loads of photos with my DSLR while we were away, so once I've had a chance to go through them and edit them I'll post them on here.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at some of our holiday snaps!

Headshot session with Janne Ford from My Heart and Home

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:17:00 +0000

I was really pleased when Janne from My Heart and Home booked a headshot session with me as I knew she hated having her photograph taken, and I love showing women how great they can look! We're so used to seeing very unflattering photos of ourselves taken in dodgy light with compact cameras, that we think that's what we really look like. But once people see photos of themselves in the right light, with the right background and taken with a flattering portrait lens that actually shows your features how they really are, they are always very pleasantly surprised. And of course you need a friendly & experienced photographer to make you feel at ease too. :-)

Look how great Janne looks in her headshots....

Janne has been a fantastic supporter of my business since we met on Twitter last year. I did a commercial shoot for My Heart and Home last summer with some gorgeous girls wearing beautiful nightwear (and it was one of my favourites shoots of the year) and she also came on my photography workshop for creative business owners last autumn. And we have something very exciting that we're planning for later this year....I can't wait!

Saturday's photography workshop for parents at The Medicine Garden in Cobham

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:48:00 +0000

On Saturday morning, I had the pleasure of teaching these 8 lovely mums how to take great photographs of their children.

It was freezing cold so we didn't spend long shooting outside, but luckily it was cosy and warm in the studio! I can't take any credit for the image on the left hand side of this montage. Polly, who is the lady kindly modelling for the headshot on the right, borrowed my camera for the shooting practice and this is one of the shots she took...very impressive!

It seems they all had a great morning judging by the comments from the feedback forms:

"Friendly, fun and I've learnt so much in one morning. The best thing is that it's not confusing but it works! I'll be sure to tell all my friends. It's the best £100 I've spent in a long time."

"It's been a fantastic way to spend a morning. Thanks so much much. I can't wait to get started."

"Really inspirational workshop..."

Thank you ladies for being lots of fun to teach!

I'm really excited that my new workshop website is very nearly ready to go live....watch out for a blog post all about it very soon!

A lovely Storyboard Frame

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:21:00 +0000

I managed to grab a few shots of this lovely frame before it went to it's new home! I never got round to blogging this family shoot which took place at the end of November in Esher Common, so I thought I would share this Storyboard Frame with you as it really shows the story of the shoot. From the beautiful mist on the common when we first arrived to the lovely laughing Rufus at the end of the shoot.

Storyboard Frames are without a doubt the most popular product I sell, which is fortunate as it's my favourite too! I love knowing that the families I photograph have the story of their session up on their walls to make them smile every time they walk past it!

Business headshots of Robyn & Neal Hatley

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:39:00 +0000

I had the pleasure of meeting Robyn for the first time last summer...she is full of energy and smiles and describes herself as a serial mumpreneur! Just hearing about all of her businesses and projects makes me feel quite exhausted! One of the businesses she runs is called Mums the Business which helps mumpreneurs to promote their businesses and attract the right clients. If you are a mum in business do check out her website. She booked 2 of my headshot sessions, 1 for herself and 1 for her husband.

Here are some of the headshots I took of Robyn at Harts Boat Yard in Surbiton. The b&w shot on the left is right at the end of the session as we were having a coffee and a chat. I love the fact it is exactly how she looks as she's chatting to you!

Robyn's husband Neal is a well-known rugby player who used to play for London Irish and now coaches their youth academy. Unfortunately it didn't mean much to me but Karl was very impressed when I told him who I had been photographing that day! Apparently he is the most capped player of the premiership ever...I don't know much about rugby but even I'm impressed with that statistic! Neal only had professional photos of himself in his rugby kit, and needed some headshots of himself looking a little more formal now he's a coach, but still relaxed and natural. I think these fit the brief!

And then, as couples never seem to have any photos of themselves together since their wedding day, I took a few shots of them together. We can't quite remember what I said to get such big giggles in the left hand shot!

What a lovely happy couple they are! The eagle-eyed amongst you might spot that Robyn was also on the photography workshop I ran a few days after her headshot session, she certainly overdosed on me that week!

Friday's 'Photography for Parents' workshop at the Medicine Garden, Cobham

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:23:00 +0000

I had my 2nd 'Photography for Parents' workshop of the year on Friday and we had a beautiful sunny day for it and a lovely friendly group!

I was really touched by this comment from one of the feedback forms:

"Vicki, you made the workshop fun and informative. It is a real skill to be able to condense such a potentially complex topic into half a day. I am amazed that you managed it so well - it seemed an impossible task with all of the different cameras and personalities. Yet Vicki, you did it beautifully. Well done and thank you so much."

Feedback like that just make it all worthwhile! And I've already had emails from some of the group saying that they were practicing over the weekend and can already see a huge difference in the photos they are taking.

I announced a 'Photography for Parents - the next stage' workshop in May on my Facebook business page last week and it's already sold out! This workshop is for anyone who has previously attended my 'Photography for Parents' or 'Photography for Creative Business Owners' workshops. Please let me know if you are interested in attending this workshop in the future (I will probably be running another one in the autumn) and I'll email you before I announce the date so that you don't miss out. And please like my Facebook page to be one of the first to hear about future workshops and special offers.

And I'm very pleased to say that my new workshop website is nearly ready! It's taken a lot of hard work, but the design is now finished, and I'm writing the content in any spare minute I get. I'm hoping to have it live in March (and now I've said publicly, I have to stick to it!)

A family photo shoot in Richmond Park

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:26:00 +0000

Do you think that the winter is a bad time for a family photo shoot outdoors? Well hopefully this session will change your mind! I really like shooting in the winter, and you already know how much I love spring and autumn shoots. The summer is actually one of my least favourite times to shoot, which you may think sounds a bit strange (especially as I LOVE the summer generally!). The reason is that to get this lovely low light in the summer, you really need to have the shoot at around 7-8am or after 7pm...and having kids myself I know that those times aren't exactly convenient! However, in the spring, autumn and winter, the sun is low in the sky for most of the day, so we can have the shoot during much more sociable hours!

This shoot took place in Richmond Park at about 10am one December morning.

What a gorgeous family they are! I delivered their order to them this week which included a stunning big canvas wrap of the black & white image on the top left.

The lovely couple are getting married later this year, so we took the opportunity to get some engagement shots of them.

I hope this shoot has demonstrated to you that it really is possible to get gorgeous images no matter what the season. I think I'm going to send future clients this link if they don't think the winter is a good time for a family shoot outside!

Headshot session with Rona Wheeldon from Flowerona

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:34:00 +0000

I am going to be sharing with you a number of headshot sessions over the next month. I took the decision in April last year only to do headshots in Jan & Feb when the weather isn't as nice for outdoor family shoots. I found a wonderful location for the sessions which is around the lovely Harts Boat Yard Pub between Surbiton & Kingston; it's nice and private with some great backgrounds and light. I had a great morning last Wednesday photographing some very interesting business people; it made a refreshing change from chasing toddlers round parks!

My first session was with the lovely Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona. Rona is a very inspiring business lady; around a year ago she decided to follow her passion after many years in the corporate world. That passion being flowers. So she started a beautiful blog (designed by those clever guys at Flourish Studios) which has been incredibly successful, and she also now has a regular column in Wedding Flowers magazine. The headshot that she was using was about 4 years old so she thought it was about time to update it!

I am very envious of her glorious curls....makes my straight flat hair look very boring in comparison! Rona wanted the photos without a coat on as her brand is very summery and bright, and she was an absolute trooper doing the whole shoot with just a thin jumper on a cold January morning!

Rona has chosen her favourite images from our session and I can't wait to see them on her blog!

Three years on... {family photo shoot in Bushy Park}

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:25:00 +0000

2011 for me was definitely the year of returning customers! And it was great to see this lovely family again 3 years on. Here they are with their 5 month old girl 3 years ago back in January 2009.

And now that gorgeous little blue eyed baby is a big sister! Here are some images from our photo shoot in Bushy Park on a rather grey November day.

I had lots of fun chasing them around the park and tickling them with my reflector (the kids not the parents, that would be slightly odd) It was so lovely to see them all again and to meet the new addition to the family!

Headshot session with Caroline Macleod-Smith from Style Bureau

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:47:00 +0000

As my Jan/Feb headshot sessions start tomorrow (I have 12 of them over the next few weeks!) I thought today was a good day for me to share this headshot session I did just before Christmas.

Caroline has recently set up as a personal stylist and is loving it! She desperately needed some professional photos of herself for her new website, so I came to the rescue!

I possibly would have hated her for being so attractive and stylish if she wasn't so damn lovely to go with it!

I wish you lots of luck with your new business Caroline, although I don't think you will need it....

Learning, planning (and socialising!) at the SWPP convention

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:10:00 +0000

I spent a fantastic few days at the SWPP (Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers) convention in London over this past week. On one of the days I attended a boudoir workshop by a fabulous US photographer Joe Cogliandro in a lovely hotel opposite Buckingham Palace. I don't currently offer this type of photography, but I think it's really good to do something different once in a while to keep you fresh and inspired! I really enjoyed it and I love the way Joe shoots boudoir. There is nothing tacky about it....it's all about capturing the woman how she really is and making the shoot (and therefore the images) as authentic as possible. No unnatural posing or heavy retouching. If I did offer boudoir, this is definitely how I would do it! Here are a few of the shots I took on the day. You can see more images that I took on the day here on my Facebook business page.

I spent the other couple of days attending talks, leafing through gorgeous albums at the trade show and socialising with all of the lovely photographers I have met through Twitter and Facebook over the past few years. I remember the first time I went to this convention 3 years ago, I just stood around on my own like Billy-no-mates wondering how everyone seemed to know each other! But now, thanks to social media, I didn't stop chatting to people which was lovely.

I've got a really busy month ahead with lots of headshot sessions which start this week and a couple of photography workshops. I also still have lots of family sessions to share from the end of last year so check back soon!

Three times the fun

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:26:00 +0000

I did this mini shoot with a very good friend of mine just before Christmas. Alison was in my NCT group when I had Harrison, and after having our boys we quickly bonded by talking about our little bundles of joy who just refused to sleep through the night! Alison then went on to have Archie and I had Sam 8 months later. And now she has just had her third gorgeous little boy!

After a bit of a traumatic birth and a stressful time afterwards in hospital when Arlo developed an infection, he was finally home and I got to go round for a little cuddle. I wanted to capture Alison's 3 boys together at this special time and here are the results.

We quickly realised that trying to get a newborn, 2 year old and 3 year old to pose in the same photo was more of a challenge than we thought! But we did manage to get some lovely natural shots of the 2 older boys looking at their new baby brother. I've included one of the outtakes from the shoot at the bottom right, when Archie wasn't that keen on having his photo taken! I never delete photos like this, as in years to come, they are the ones that you will look back at and laugh at (and of course pull out of the album when he has his first girlfriend round!)

Congratulations Alison & Ant....your boys are just lovely and you should be very proud. I can't wait to see them all grow up!

My first workshop of the year

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:19:00 +0000

On Saturday morning I held my first 'Photography for Parents' workshop of the year which was attended by 8 lovely mums.

You can see a little sneaky peek of my new workshops logo on the bottom left here; I love it! I decided to drop the 'Oh Snap!' name that I started with, as I think it was just confusing people. After chatting to some of my past students, they said that they just told their friends that they had been on a photography workshop with Vicki Knights....so I've made it really simple, and I'm calling the workshop side of my business 'Photography Workshops with Vicki Knights'. I hope you agree that it makes much more sense!

I'm really pleased I've added the short demonstration to the workshop where I show how I approach taking headshots. I think it really helps the group to get a deeper understanding of everything we go through in the workshop such as light, composition and of course the camera settings.

I have another 2 workshops in the next month, and I'm really looking forward to teaching lots more parents the joy that comes with being able to take great photos!

An autumn family photo session in Wandsworth Common

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:01:00 +0000

Happy New Year to you all! Although, what a miserable morning it was to kick off the work year...I imagine there was lots of grumpy faces on the way to the train station this morning! I thought this sunny, happy session was the perfect way to cheer us all up, and a great shoot to share on my first blog post of 2012.

We held the session on Wandsworth Common in mid-November. It was the first time I had done a shoot in this location and it was the perfect morning for it; beautiful low sun and stunning autumnal colour everywhere. And of course a lovely, smiley family were the cherry on the cake!

The family have ordered a Storyboard Frame which is going to look stunning as well as a gallery canvas wrap, mini brag book and lots of gift prints. I can't wait to deliver everything to them in the next couple of weeks.

If only everyday were as sunny and colourful as this one....sigh.

Thank you to all of you who sent me get well messages after my New Year's Eve post. The antibiotics worked a treat so I'm now back on my feet again thank goodness! I haven't been that poorly since I was a teenager.....it made me realise just how much I take my health for granted. I'm stocking up on multi-vitamins now to build my immune system up so it doesn't happen again!

Goodbye 2011....

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 07:32:00 +0000

Happy new year....I hope your 2012 is filled with lots of love and laughter. Here are just some of the smiley faces I had the pleasure of photographing in 2011.

Vickix

PS. I am currently laid up with a nasty bout of sinusitus and a chest infection. Great timing eh! Especially as we've had to cancel friends coming round for dinner tonight :( So please bear with me if I don't respond to your emails with the speed I usually do. I'm keeping everything crossed that I am back to myself for my first shoot of 2012 on Friday and my first workshop next Saturday. Thank goodness Karl is off work at the moment as he is doing everything for the boys so I can rest; I'm very lucky to have him!

Looking back at 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:09:00 +0000

I wrote a blog post at the same time last year, looking back at 2010 and wondered how 2011 was ever going to match up. But you know what? I think it has!

Those of you who work for yourself will know that it's sometimes it's tricky to push yourself forwards without a manager breathing down your neck. Although it sounds a bit odd, this blog is my virtual manager. It keeps me motivated as I know I need to constantly be thinking of new ideas for my business, and consistently producing great images because I'm going to be sharing them with everyone on here! It's only when I look back through all of my blog posts from the year, that I realise how much I've done. Here are some of my highlights from 2011, some business, some personal.....

The launch of my headshot sessions in Jan & Feb. I met so many wonderful business mums and built some great relationships just through doing this special offer. It's amazing to see where something simple can take you!
My big boy, Harrison, turned 3 in February and I did a special dinosaur-themed shoot with him to mark the occasion
I ran my first 'Photography for Parents' workshop in February, and then went on to run 4 more throughout the year
I wrote a personal post about how I needed to address the balance in my life back in April. And then from July onwards took on less shoots so I could get the balance back in my life. It's been good although I'm still struggling to turn down business! Here's to a more successful work/life balance in 2012!
I announced a new collaboration with a personal stylist
My baby boy Sam turned 1 in June
We had a couple of lovely family holidays in the UK, first to Corfe then to Whitstable....next year we're going a bit more exotic, but the UK is great for holidays when you have small kids!
I did some lifestyle nursery photography for the first time in July
One of my favourite shoots of the year was the commercial shoot for My Heart and Home at the Medicine Garden in Cobham
I ran two photography workshops for creative business people in September and taught 16 business owners how to take better photos of their lovely products
I did a special shoot with my own family for my parents' Ruby wedding anniversary
I was lucky to get some great editorial coverage in the Sunday Express, Essential Esher, an interview with West London Mum and some guest blogging for Flourish Studios.
Karl and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary in October and I shared some embarrassing photos of us as kids
I did mini sessions for the 1st time this autumn and they were a big success (and luckily the sun shined for us!)
And finally, we had our very own family photo shoot!

Phew, I feel quite exhausted just reading through these! None of this would have been possible without Karl patiently listening to me rant on about new ideas and allowing me to disappear off to shoots every Saturday morning, my Mum for doing a 130 mile round trip every week to help look after the boys, and my Dad for keeping my accounts in check!

It looks like 2012 is going to be just as exciting (& hectic!), with my headshot sessions in Jan/Feb, lots of sold out workshops in the diary, my spring mini sessions in March and I'm very excited about a workshop that I'm attending in May with one of my favourite photographers!

To all of my wonderful clients, family & friends; thank you so much for your support this year. I'm very lucky to have you all. And to all of you lovely families who I had the pleasure of photographing this year....thank you for choosing me as your photographer.

There is just one final thing to say and I'll leave that to my gorgeous boys.....

....and a very happy new year! I hope you all have a fantastic time with lots of mulled wine, mince pies and bad jokes out of the crackers.

Vickix

Toddler photo shoot in Richmond Park

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:58:00 +0000

I really loved this shoot; gorgeous autumn colours, an adorable little girl & lovely parents make a winning combination!

I felt that this image deserved to be shown in it's full glory, hasn't this little lady got the most striking eyes?

The family ordered some big multi frames (which look so gorgeous I'm seriously considering not delivering them tomorrow just so I can hang them in my own house!) and lots of accordian albums to give to family members around the world.

Look out for my blog post next week which will have a review of my year and a the result of my Christmas card shoot with my boys.

Ruby wedding anniversary shoot in Bushy Park

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:55:00 +0000

I had a great time with this lovely big family last month. Jodie attended one of my 'Photography for Parents' workshops in Cobham in the summer and then afterwards booked a photo shoot as a surprise for her parents for their Ruby wedding anniversary. They were such a relaxed family and lots of fun to photograph (as you can probably tell from all of the smiles!)

When future clients ask me how they should dress for big family shoots, I'm just going to send them this blog post! Their outfits look great together; co-ordinated without being too matchy (made up word I think!) The lovely anniversary couple have ordered a huge multi-aperture frame with 5 images from the shoot which is going to look stunning.

I've done a number of big family shoots this year for 60th birthdays and Ruby wedding anniversaries....you can see the others here, here and of course my parents Ruby anniversary shoot!

I have one or two more shoots to share with you before Christmas, then I'm going to make myself have a little break from blogging over the Christmas break (and yes I do have to make myself as I'm weirdly addicted to it!)

Family photo shoot in Bushy Park

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:53:00 +0000

It was so lovely to see this family again and see how their little boy has grown. I first photographed him back in January last year when he was just a baby. Here is the lovely Oscar as a baby....

You can see the full blog post from that session here.

And here he is now....

He has turned into an adorable and rather cheeky little chap! The family have ordered a gorgeous storyboard frame, a session album and lots of prints for Christmas.

I have a few more sessions to post before Christmas and then I'm hoping to find time to write a review of the year like I did last year, although I'm not sure I'll have time to post all of my favourite images from the year... there are so many I don't think I could choose! This time of year is so hectic isn't it; along with processing lots of client orders, I've still got a couple more shoots to do before Christmas and lots of presents to wrap. At least we've ordered the turkey so I can't forget that!

A lovely family of five

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:02:00 +0000

I met up with this lovely family on a rather grey Friday afternoon in Esher last month. Their smiles and laughter more than made up for the lack of sunshine!

We had a lovely time running around in the leaves and playing peekaboo behind trees. I was rather jealous of the little lady's tutu though, oh to be 3 years old again!

Announcing new spring mini sessions in Surrey

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:11:00 +0000

I ran mini sessions for this first time this autumn and they were such a success that I'm going to do them again! I am going to wait until the Spring so that it's a little bit warmer (here's hoping anyway!) All of my sessions are now fully booked until May (I couldn't believe it but I've double checked and they're definitely all booked!) but I have kept one Saturday morning free in March so that I can offer mini photo shoots to 4 different families.

All of the images in the montage above were taken in March this year. Now I can't guarantee daffodils or cherry blossom (it's a challenge these days to guarantee what will be in bloom when) but I'm hoping we'll be lucky with the daffs! Here are all of the details.....

How are mini sessions different from a full custom session with you?
The mini sessions will last 25 minutes in length (my custom full sessions last from 1-2 hours). In my full sessions we normally take a walk and shoot in lots of different spots for variety, whereas the mini sessions will take place in one set spot. After a mini session, you will get around 15 fully edited images in an online gallery after your session, including family shots and individual shots of your child/ren. After a custom full session you receive around 40-50 fully edited images.

If you just want photos of your children and don't want to be in them yourself, that's absolutely fine as I will then spend the mini session photographing them (like this mini session).

What can we expect?
You will be greeted by my colleague and then directed to a special spot which I will carefully choose for the best light and scenery (hopefully a gorgeous display of daffodils!). I'll photograph you all having a lovely time together and I will also spend some time individually with your children and get lots of great shots of them on their own too.

A spring mini session is perfect for you if:
- you are looking to update your existing family photos
- you are wanting to try out lifestyle photography for the first time and see if it's for you
- you want to buy the session as a present for someone special (I have lovely gift vouchers available!)

A full custom session would be better for you if:
- you have more than 2 children. I need more than 25 mins to do your lovely big family justice!
- any of your children are particularly shy or wary of strangers. During a custom session there is no rush and I'll give them all the time they need to warm up to me.

- or the opposite, any of your children are a little hard to tame! If you don't think your child will sit still for a second then it's probably best to book a full session!

- You have a baby who isn't yet sitting up independently.

When are the mini sessions? The morning of Saturday, 10th March 2012. There are four 25 minute slots available at the following times: 9.15, 10.00, 10.45, 11.30

Where will they be? The mini sessions will take place in a carefully selected spot in Surrey which will be within a 20 minute drive of Esher/Kingston/Teddington. I can't give the exact location yet as I need to find a spot nearer the time which is looking lovely! There will be car parking within a 15 minute walk of the mini-session location so be prepared for a little stroll to get there. You will be sent exact location details in the week prior to your session.

Can I see the results of the last mini sessions you did?
Of course! You can see the results from them here, here and here. And here is a testimonial from one of the families....you can see their session here.
"The mini session was lots of fun and felt very natural, which came through in the photos. Vicki is a real talent, capturing not just wonderful photos but memories that will be treasured forever."

How much are the mini sessions? The price is £250 per family which includes the following:
- email questionnaire sent to you beforehand so that I can find out more about your family
- 'what to expect' guide giving tips on what to wear and how to brief the kids!
- 25 minute mini photo shoot in a gorgeous location in Surrey
- secure online gallery with 15 fully edited images live for 7 days
- a beautiful gift box delivered to your door containing four 8x6" gift prints of your chosen images and the same high resolution images on CD ready to print

The normal price for the above package would be over £500 so this offers considerable savings. You are welcome to order additional prints and products but you are under no obligation to do so.

How do I book? Please fill in this contact form and say which time slot you would like ideally, then I'll send you an invoice for the £100 deposit to reserve your session. Sessions will be allocated on a first come, first served basis and won't be confirmed until payment is received.

And what if the weather is bad?
If the skies are grey, then that's no problem and the mini sessions will go ahead. If it is raining then I don't have any availability to reschedule in the following weeks, so I will refund your deposit in full, or you can put it towards a custom session with me in the future.

Please do drop me an email if you have any questions at all.

Update on workshop availability

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 07:47:00 +0000

There has been a flurry of workshop bookings over the past week, so I thought I would quickly update you on my availability for next year. I think a lot of the new interest has come from the recent review in Essential Esher which is great; the power of a good testimonial eh!

My first 4 Photography for Parents workshops are now fully booked, so the next available workshop date is Saturday 28th April. I also have a Photography for Creative Business Owners workshop on Friday 9th March and there is plenty of availability on that date at the moment.

I am still working on my new workshop website which will make life much easier for you as you will be able to see all of the information about the workshops, photos, testimonials and be able to book all in one place. Until that's ready, please continue to book your place here on MakeMe Workshops website.

I am also going to be announcing a follow on workshop for everyone how has already attended my Photography for Parents workshop and is itching to learn more....details to follow very soon!

So, how many of you are putting your decorations up this weekend? We put ours up yesterday and I just love having twinkly lights everywhere, it's made me feel very Christmassy! I thought I would just share with you this outtake from my Christmas Card shoot with the boys. Harrison couldn't look less merry if he tried! He was sulking because he wanted to be holding the 'Christmas' board that Sam had. This was just a test shot, but then when I looked at the photo on my computer when I got home I loved it!

Toddler photography in Bushy Park

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:33:00 +0000

This shoot certainly gave me my exercise for the day! This gorgeous little lady just wanted to run and explore so I had a great time chasing her around with my camera. We occasionally got her to stay still in her Mum's arms, but only with lots of tickling!

The family ordered a couple of lovely big frames including this gorgeous storyboard frame.

Melanie and Martha moved to Malta this week (try saying that after a glass of wine!) and I want to wish them all of the luck in the world with their new life out there. It was a real pleasure to meet you both.

Autumn mini session in Esher Woods - part 4

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:56:00 +0000

Here are the results of the 4th and final mini session that I held in Esher Woods in October. It was with this yummy mummy and her 2 gorgeous boys. These boys were like a like comedy duo, I had such a giggle with them!

At the end of the session we were chatting, and we realised the boys had gone very quiet. I looked behind us and saw the boys were sitting in the wigwam and were getting stuck into the contents of the goody bags which I'd hidden in the woods. I sprinted over to get these shots of them. So cute!

If you missed the other mini sessions, you can see the results here, here and here.

As these mini sessions were such a success, I'm going to be holding some Spring mini sessions on Saturday 10th March. I'll be announcing all of the details in the next couple of weeks so make sure you check back as there are only 4 slots available and these Autumn ones sold out very quickly!

Crazy hair

noreply@blogger.com (Vicki) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:00:00 +0000

I had a shoot last month with this lovely family in their home in Addlestone, Surrey. I think it's fair to say that this little girl has the the best hair of any baby I've ever seen! Apparently they literally get stopped in the street with people commenting on it!

This family have already booked their next family shoot with me in the lavender fields next summer; I do love it when people plan ahead (I also booked our own family shoot 10 months in advance!) I'm really looking forward to seeing how this little lady has grown, and if her hair is still as cool as it is now!