Mini portrait sessions for kids and babies in Wimbledon

Have had a bit of a blogging break for the last couple of weeks because I’ve been desperately trying to re-design my website before the kids break up for Easter. Nearly there – the perfectionist in me has a few more tweaks to make before the new Sweetheart Studio site goes live… But in the meantime I wanted to announce some lovely mini sessions I have had booked for a while at Gooseberry Bush Cafe in SW19. These will be taking place on Thursday 10 May from 2-5pm. I am really excited about the sessions because it’s such a lovely location. I have done lots of photo shoots there before and it’s light, airy – and I can personally recommend the whoopie pies for sale in the child-friendly cafe downstairs! The cafe also sells a fantastic range of cards, gifts and baby products so you can browse before or after your baby session.

But back to the portrait sessions… I thought you might like to see a photo of the studio to see how lovely and light it is…

Because it has windows on two sides it is light enough for me not to use a flash, unless it’s a studio-style session like the one I will be doing on 17 November – watch this space for details of a Christmas-themed portrait day!

Here are some of the images from portrait sessions I’ve done over the last four months at Gooseberry Bush.

 As you can see, whether it’s a session for babies, kids, girls, boys or beautiful bumps, it makes a lovely location…

You can see further examples of photo shoots at Gooseberry Bush here https://sweetheartstudio.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/beautiful-bump-maternity-photography-in-wimbledon/ , here https://sweetheartstudio.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/baby-portrait-session-in-wimbledon/ and here  https://sweetheartstudio.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/family-photo-session/

The sessions will last 20 minutes and start at £100 for the session with five 6×4 prints. I also have some other fantastic packages available for this session which I will blog about later in more detail since I have to go and pick up a very excited Easter-bonnet-wearing daughter from school now…

Session times are 2pm, 2.30pm, 3pm, 3.30pm, 4pm and 4.30pm. Please get in touch for further details or to book…

Headshot photo shoot in Kingston upon Thames

I spent a lovely afternoon on Monday with Hilary Nicholls. She is the very talented face behind frockchicks.com which offers personal styling and wardrobe busting for both men and women. Hilary was in need of some new headshots and photos for her website which is about to undergo a revamp. Although the day started off cold and foggy, by the time we had chatted over a coffee about what Hilary was hoping for from her photo shoot, the sun was shining and the fog had cleared. Despite having a spooky moment straight out of Hitchcock’s The Birds when the wind caught my reflector and made it flap about causing the (what seemed like) hundreds of pigeons nearby to suddenly take to the air all around us in panic – and the rather unwelcome gift that one of the pigeons then deposited into Hilary’s bag –  we had an enjoyable couple of hours down by the river and in lots of the stores around and about Kingston.

Hilary from www.FrockChicks.com Blog template by @BirdesignEtsy

I hope you can see from the photos what an enjoyable photo shoot it was and also what a great sense of style Hilary has. You can sample her talents for yourself because she will be appearing at an exclusive Frock Chicks shopping day in White Stuff, Kingston (by All Saints Church) on Thursday 22 March where you can book a free personal shopping session with her and let her work her magic. Visit the Frock Chicks website for details of how to contact Hilary at www.frockchicks.com or see in store for details.

I just wanted to share one other photo – my favourite from the day…

FrockChicks.com headshot photo shoot by Kingston Bridge

If after seeing these photos you feel that you would like some updated photos of yourself to use on your website/Facebook page/Twitter profile or LinkedIn then please get in touch. I take the photos on location using natural light and, since I hate having my own photo taken, I try to make it as stress-free as possible so that you can relax and we get natural images of you looking like your normal self rather than a stiff passport-photo-type pose. My headshot sessions are £125 and include a half-hour photo shoot and a password-protected gallery of images from which you can choose your two favourites which are presented to you on DVD. Please call 07711 087636 for details.

Happy St David’s Day – announcing Spring Mini Photo Sessions

Happy St David’s Day! It seems like the perfect time to announce my spring mini photo sessions. I’ve been a regular visitor to some of the beautiful local parks lately studying the daffodils (!) because I didn’t want to book up too far in advance and find that there weren’t any out , but I think that in the next week or two they will be looking very lovely indeed. So what better time to book a spring mini session?

These short and sweet sessions are mini versions of my normal portrait sessions and offer a considerable saving on my normal price list. They are suitable for children, couples or families and will last 30 minutes (full portrait sessions usually last up to two hours).

These sessions cost £220 which includes

the shoot,

a selection of images from the day uploaded to a password-protected online gallery which will be live for seven days

and your choice of five images as 8x6in prints and on DVD so that you can print as many copies as you like (along with resized images for you to share on Facebook).

All come beautifully wrapped and presented. I am planning to do them in Richmond Park, but please contact me for further details on 07711 087636 or at jo@sweetheartstudio.co.uk… The sessions will be on Friday 9 March from 9.30am to 12noon and on Saturday 24 March from 9.30-12noon.

The autumn mini sessions I did back in October were very popular. I realise as I write this that I haven’t posted any photos from them yet which is very wrong. Here are a couple of tasters…

oh, go on then, here’s another…

Please get in touch if you would like to book a mini session. With Mother’s Day just 17 days away it could be top of your wish list (or your husband’s shopping list!)…

Beautiful bump – maternity photography in Wimbledon

Last week I shared some of the newborn photos I’d taken of baby Josh http://wp.me/p1ntWt-3L and promised to post the photos of his mummy with her beautiful bump that I’d taken a few weeks before so here they are…

Bump shoot in Wimbledon

The photo shoot took place in January on a beautiful sunny day at Gooseberry Bush Cafe’s studio in Wimbledon using natural light. See their website at www.gooseberrybushcentres.com. I love doing maternity photo shoots, especially when I’m lucky enough to meet the baby when he or she is born. As a mum, I know how precious it is to have photos of your bump too because although the nine months your tummy is getting bigger and bigger seem like a long time, in no time at all you forget what it was like to have a lovely bump. I wish I had nicer photos of my own bump, but as usual was taking the photos rather than being in them!

Please get in touch if you would like to have a bump shoot. You can have it in the comfort of your own home or at another location such as Gooseberry Bush if you’d prefer. Or why not get some of your antenatal group together and host a bump party where you can share the cost of a photo session and all get some beautiful bump shots. Please contact me for details of portrait parties or if you have any questions on 07711 087636 or at jo@sweetheartstudio.co.uk

Welcome to the world – newborn photography in Colliers Wood

Today I had the pleasure of photographing gorgeous baby Josh who is 8 days old so here are some sneak peeks from the session. It was a very relaxed shoot and it was especially nice to be invited to photograph him since I had done a bump photography portrait session with his mummy in January.

I will post images from that shoot in the next few days, but for now meet the very laid back and happy baby Josh….

Family photo session in Wimbledon

Just wanted to post one of the family sessions from last Saturday at Gooseberry Bush in Wimbledon. We had a lovely time, complete with heart-shaped balloons (more of those to come in a seasonal blog post next week), building blocks and games of hide and seek.

This is the first of the sessions I will be sharing. I don’t usually just show black and white images, and there are lots of colour ones in the online gallery for this family, but I thought it would be nice to show my favourite black and white ones from the day. If you haven’t been to Gooseberry Bush it’s worth a visit. As well as having a studio where they do yoga and antenatal classes amongst many other things, they have therapy rooms and a lovely cafe full of beautiful things to buy and delicious home-made food (there was a lot of face wiping before these photos were taken after the little stars of the shoot had sampled some of the cakes and biscuits on offer there). See the website at www.gooseberrybushcentres.com

I have lots of blog posts from lovely sessions to share and will be posting soon about some special spring sessions (thought I’d wait until this cold snap is well and truly over so that we all feel more like contemplating some time outside).

black and white family photo shoot in Wimbledon

Baby photography in Surbiton six months on (continued)…

I love being asked back by families I’ve photographed in the past to take more photos and it’s lovely to see how their babies and children are growing up. In my last post featuring gorgeous baby Viola I promised to blog some images from her newborn shoot alongside some from her portrait session at six months old, so here they are. I think you’ll agree that she makes a very beautiful subject…

Viola - still loving London at six months old

and some with Daddy…

 

 

Six months on… Baby photography in Surbiton, Surrey

Back in June I photographed the very beautiful Viola as a newborn so was delighted to be asked back to take some more photos of her as an even more beautiful six-month-old girl in December. I know they say time flies when you’re a parent (and I’m constantly surprised by the fact that my own baby is now nine and nearly up to my shoulder) but the changes in those first two years are so dramatic. So following this blog post I’m going to put up some photos from baby Viola’s portrait session in June next to those from December…

 

Baby portrait session in Wimbledon

As promised in my last post, here are some images of the very gorgeous Joseph. I did a photo shoot with him in December in the lovely studio at Gooseberry Bush, Wimbledon (www.gooseberrybushcentres.com). At just 12 weeks old he was a natural in front of the camera, very placid and happy to have a few changes of outfits (which is more than can be said for some of my older portrait clients!)

His mummy ordered some lovely mini albums for family Christmas presents and some of her favourite images on DVD too (which come on a personalised DVD beautifully presented in a Sweetheart Studio case and box)…

Mini portrait sessions at Gooseberry Bush Cafe, Wimbledon

Come along for a mini portrait session - book a slot now!

Have you discovered the lovely Gooseberry Bush in South Wimbledon yet? If not, have a look at their website http://www.gooseberrybushcentres.com/ The cafe/gift shop is well worth a visit and upstairs there are treatment rooms with visiting therapists offering a range of treatments including nutrition advice, homeopathy and osteopathy. They also have a beautiful studio in which they hold a range of classes including pilates and ante- and post-natal sessions.

I have done several photo shoots now in the Gooseberry Bush studio – bump, baby and family – and it’s a lovely location because the light is so beautiful (and you can have a cup of tea and piece of homemade cake before and/or after!). Following the success of my Christmas mini sessions there (see below, but will blog about them in more detail later this week) I will be there again doing 15-minute mini sessions on the afternoon of Saturday 4 February from 2-5pm.

So if you’re organised enough to be thinking about Mothers Day (it’s on 18 March so not that far away…) some up-to-date photos would make a lovely gift for a mum or grandma. Or if you would just like some photos for yourself but don’t want a full two-hour portrait shoot, then why not book a slot. And please tell your friends too. You might think that 15 minutes isn’t long enough to get a lot of different shots, but it’s plenty of time to get a good variety. You can see package prices and details below but please get in touch if you have any questions on jo@sweetheartstudio.co.uk I should add that these packages offer a big saving on my normal full portrait shoot price because they are mini sessions.

Prices and packages for Gooseberry Bush mini portrait sessions 4 February 2012

Slots are going quickly so please get in touch to book soon!

Oops – nearly forgot the sneak peeks I promised from previous sessions. Here’s just a taster of images from a bump, baby and family session in the Gooseberry Bush studio…

A taster of past Sweetheart Studio sessions at The Gooseberry Bush

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