The Portrait People Blog

Book Project - Important Ordering Information

2010-11-12T01:40:00.003Z

For anyone wanting to ensure copies of the book before Christmas you need to be ordering pretty quickly! We ordered our copies on the 1st November and they are estimated delivery 12th November. They were shipped from the US and currently clearing customs at Stanstead. To avoid disappointment, please don't leave it until last minute!

Portrait Of A Generation by Andy Hopkinson & Sharon Malone : The Portrait People | Make Your Own Book

Our First Book Is Published and Ready To Order!

2010-11-01T21:51:00.002Z

We've finally finished the Candlelighters book and it can be viewed and ordered from the blurb website using the link below. We didn't get enough response through to enable us to have the book printed and published in Asia in bulk as we had originally hoped but didn't think it was appropriate to keep those who have particiapted waiting any longer whilst we tried to get more families through. So the cover price of the book is more than we had originally anticipated. To compensate for this however we have included a lot more than one photograph of each child or family and we hope that you will agree that this is a lovely book to own and perhaps give to a loved one for Christmas - we know we've ordered a few copies for our own family Christmas presents.

We hope you like it! We're really pleased with it. Thanks to all those who participated and who helped along the way.

Here's the link:

Portrait Of A Generation by Andy Hopkinson & Sharon Malone : The Portrait People | Make Your Own Book

Candlelighters Book Project - Exciting News!

2010-10-29T01:07:00.002+01:00

The book is written, designed and going into production! We're hoping it should be ready to purchase within the next two weeks.

It's been a long haul for us with a lot of mixed feelings about this project but the families we have met and photographed along the way have been lovely - thank you. We didn't have as much response as we had hoped to the project despite spending an awful lot of our own resources, besides the giving of our time etc. on PR, Postcards and posters printing, advertising.

More news on this later though!

Watch this space and we'll update it with ordering details very shortly.

What A Little Cutie! Our Latest Newborn Photo Shoot

2010-07-06T11:57:00.003+01:00

We had the absolute pleasure of photographing little baby Reagan in our studio this week. Reagan is only a few weeks old and I'm sure you'll all agree she's a little cutie!

Reagan's mum - actually it's "mom" because she is from the states Candice was very well prepared for the shoot and came along with the most beautiful little headband and hat that she had been sent from a photographer friend in the US.

Newborn and baby photography in the US is big business and I have to say we are very influenced by the best of them. When it comes to using props such as crochet hats and baskets, cocoons, even slings like the stalk may bring the US photographers are streets ahead of us over here in the UK. In fact it's rather diffult to source good props over here in our experience - for our baby hats we have had the pattens sent from the US and had one of our grannies make them for us!

We hope that we can make a difference to how babies are photographed over here. We have changed the way we shoot newborn sessions so that they take a lot longer (usually around 2 - 3 hours) and during the shoot the baby will be awake, sleep and generally very chilled out. The whole experience is designed to be minimum of stress and maximum of pleasure for the parents. We hope that Candice and Dad Jake found this to be the case for little Reagan's photo session.

So - on with the pictures! The three we've selected here are three of our favourites but the whole shoot can be viewed on the slideshow.

Apologies if any You Tube ads come up along the bottom of the show - just click them away if they do!

We wish Candice, Jake and Reagan well and look forward to welcoming them all back to our studio for more photos as the family grows!

Babies In Hats!

2010-06-22T14:23:00.005+01:00

Inspired by my all time favourite baby photographer from the US, here's a few recent pictures of our latest craze - "Babies In Hats".

Our Very Last Book Project Shoot - Fountains Abbey

2010-06-11T17:56:00.007+01:00

I've been so looking forward to sharing these pictures from Fountains Abbey. We had a really nice time shooting them with Amy and her family. It was a glorious hot day and as it was half term we took our new grand daughter - who was only 10 weeks old along with her mum and Uncle/my son together with a picnic. We sent Andy on ahead of us to meet up with Amy as it was so hot and we followed to arrive roughly at the time we expected him to have finished with Amy.

It was a great afternoon except for the fact that we had another shoot booked in after Amys (Amy was booked at 1pm with the second shoot being booked at 3pm). Unfortunately the second shoot family didn't turn up. So we walked around the grounds of the Abbey looking for them for an hour in the seering heat, thinking we had missed them and then went to get everyone ice creams to cool off before finally giving it up as a bad job at 4.30pm.

All of the money donated in lieu of the shoots has gone directly to Candlelighters. When the book is printed we will have paid for all the design work, layout and production costs of the book - so the more pages that have been purchased the more money this has cost us to do.

When people don't show or cancel a shoot at the eleventh hour it is not only Candlelighters that lose out on the lost donation but in real terms it actually costs us quite a lot. Our time to us is money. The chances are that another family would have wanted that appointment slot - we are very busy with appointments and half term weeks are always premium booking times. We have things to do all the time and sometimes work silly hours just to keep on top of the workload so to give the time freely and then have something like this happen is a double whammy.

We have learnt one or two hard lessons along the way with this project and although it's with regret we will not be running any similar projects in the forseeable future. Charity, as they say, really does begin at home.

Candlelighters Book Project Now Closed

2010-06-07T16:06:00.007+01:00

Well we've finally done our last ever shoot for the Candlelighters book project. It was last Wednesday at the beautiful Fountains Abbey, near Ripon. I will be blogging some pictures from that shoot as soon as the family concerned have viewed them.

We're just finalising where to get the book from since it will be much smaller than we had originally anticipated and had quotes for. As soon as we know more we will be contacted the families who joined us in our efforts to raise money for Candlelighters with details of how to order the book. I will also be blogging on here details of the book once we know more.

Meanwhile here are some of Andy's favourite pictures from a recent shoot at Knaresborough Castle:

This Is What Happens When People Talk....

2010-05-15T17:58:00.005+01:00

....we get more bookings! The phone rang....the voice on the other end said "You have just taken some pictures of my friend and her family and I'd like to book in too...." We love it when this happens (obviously!) because these are the best bookings to have. Not only have the come from a personal recommendation but it means that the person coming for the portraits already know what our style is like and they like it. In this instance Karen and her family are friends with Mandy in the previous post.

I love the following two shots, not only because of the symmetry in them but also because they really shows how well matched Karen and her husband are - right down to the shoes on their feet! Who says being a great photographer is down to people watching? It's a lot more than that....you could say it starts from the bottom up!

Why Mandy's A Bit Dotty!

2010-04-14T18:13:00.008+01:00

Before anyone thinks we are being rude - we didn't say it - Mandy herself did. She's a little bit dotty! To be honest she has every reason to be that way. With a beautiful daughter like Evie and a brilliant Dalmation dog - who unlike a lot of Dalmations we have met was very well behaved - called Kia.

The day before they came for the shoot Evie had just taken her first steps and Kia had helped her to stand up! No kidding! Evie repeatedly stood up and took hold of Kia to help her to balance. Kia seeming to understand that she should move stood perfectly still for her. It was lovely to witness the trust between the two of them.

Welcome To The World To Bella!

2010-04-14T18:04:00.007+01:00

We had the pleasure of photographing Bella as a bump and Bella as a newborn recently!

We love photographing newborns and Bella was no exception. During the time she was in the studio she hardly cried, almost (well - ok - it was "only" wind and we do know that!) smiled at Mum and loved to snuggle up to Dad.

Parents Keith and Laura have every reason to be proud of their beautiful new baby - she's just about perfect in every way!

Congratulations to you all - we look forward to photographing Bella again very shortly as she grows.

Candlelighters Book Project - Last Call For Bookings!

2010-04-13T20:45:00.002+01:00

As per the previous post we are about to close the books on any Candlelighters Book Project appointments. So if you want your child to be included within this book you need to contact us by the end of this week please.

After this week the book will be going into the design studio and then onto the publishers for production.

Candlelighters Book Project - An Update

2010-04-12T16:30:00.005+01:00

As we have seen the first daffodils of spring appear it reminded us that it is now a year since we started on our Candlelighters book project. We had a couple of people who asked us to wait until this spring in order to take pictures of their kids either walking (where they were too young) or in a similar place to their cousins.

We are very sad to report that we haven't managed to secure anywhere near our target number of bookings/shoots for this project as we had hoped. In fact if we had simply donated the amount of money we have spent promoting the project - which includes having postcards printed and distributed, paying for the services of a PR agent in order to get the project off the ground, paying for press advertising in different areas and having other publicity material printed to just name a few things we have done then the charity would, ironically have received a greater donation. All the money collected for the places in the book for the shoots has been paid into the Candlelighters bank account. Our time has been freely given as per our original promise and some of the shoots have taken precedence over our "paying" customers as they were weather dependant.

Along the way however we have met some very inspirational people - one which springs immediately to mind is Dan Dickinson from Bridlington - who is I believe a shining example to us all as to what can be achieved even against all the odds. We wish Dan and Caroline every future happiness and sincerely hope that Dan continues to make the amazing progress he has made in his fight against Leukaemia so far. A volunteer from Harrogate Candlelighters who must also have a mention is Susann Mick. Susann has stood out in her efforts to help us to make the scheme a success - and for that we thank her.

So, as the first anniversary passes we are drawing a line under this project now and are scheduling into the studio editing program the design time necessary to design the book. Due to the low numbers of participants the book will not be produced in the original numbers we had anticipated and the final cost is yet to be confirmed but we are planning to have it made from an online site where you will be able to order your copies directly. As soon as it is designed and available to order we will be writing to all the families who have supported the scheme with details of where they can order their copies.

To the families who did participate we hope you enjoyed the shoot and like the pictures we choose for you for the book. Thank you for your support.

Lastly an update on Jacob - Andy's son - who was the inspiration behind us embarking on this project. He continues to do well in his residential school placement but this year has been a very difficult year with him health wise and he's been in hospital a lot for a variety for different reasons. On three occasions we have come very close to losing him altogether. We thank God for each day we have with him and pray that there will be many, many more to come. We would like to thank Hull Royal Infirmary for their excellent care (specifically accident and emergency and paediatrics) over him and New Options, Barton upon Humber for the continuing day to day care and love they show to him. Some of the people whose names we don't know will never probably know what a difference they have made to our and Jacob's life as they went about their day to day duties at work. Thank God for the Carers, Doctors and Nurses, the skills and intuition that they have which have all this year served to keep our son safe. May God bless you all "real good".

It's A Green Thing! Grandma's Little Treasure.

2010-03-27T13:27:00.008Z

Lizzie-Anne's first studio photo shoot. We don't very often get to show pictures like this because the parents often ask us to keep them private, so it makes a nice change to show how creatively we photograph newborns. Hope you like them!

For those who would like to know a session like this normally takes around 2 - 3 hours and requires some patience. Expect to feed your baby whilst you are with us (we have a separate room for privacy). Expect dad's to take their shirt off at some stage - there is nothing more emotive than flesh against flesh in these pictures - as I'm sure you will agree.

A session like this costs £95 for the studio time and editing (no picutres included) a bump session can be added for £50 and after the two there is an option to purchase a special "Bump to Baby and Beyond" acrylic which has 4 x 4" pictures on it for only £100.

We discourage older siblings from attending the newborn session because it takes some time for the photos to be taken as we are working to the baby's schedule and not ours. We find that under 5's often get over excited and bored during this time which in turn has a knock on effect to the session and parents can find this stressful. We are more than happy to arrange a further photo shoot to include siblings (cost £50 for the session) and would suggest that this take place from 3 months onwards. Pictures from the sibling session can be included in the acrylic Bump to Baby frame if you wish.

The full session pictures can be seen here: Lizzie-Anne 4 days old.

New Beginnings

2010-03-25T01:44:00.006Z

Well the last few weeks have certainly had their ups and downs for us but yesterday saw us at an all time high.

The reason was the safe arrival of our first grand child (yes, I know - we're far too young to be grandparents!)Lizzie-Anne. She made her entrance into the world at 09.42am at Harrogate District Hospital weighing in at 8lbs 14 1/2 - no mean feat for our daughter Natalie who is petite.

Here are some of the first photos of our precious little bundle:

What's In A Name? Quite A Lot Actually

2010-03-10T19:17:00.001Z

What’s in a name?

Unfortunately quite a lot at the moment if you are my friend and fellow photographer David Calvert.

David has just discovered this in light of the recent stories run in the daily papers suggesting that Jon Venables (who was convicted of murdering Jamie Bulger) was going by the name of David Calvert. Since then David’s photography site has had over 50,000 hits. Normally we’d be thrilled that his site is so popular, but at the moment he is obviously very concerned.

As his colleagues we are doing all we can to help David disassociate himself from this dreadful story. He is in no way related to David Calvert of Fleetwood, who has also been highlighted in the press and is in no way connected to the tragic case of Jamie Bulger.

David, 46, is a national award winning photographer and his business David Calvert Photography, based in Hertfordshire, specialises in family and child portraiture. David has our complete support in these difficult circumstances and we hope very much that they pass without impact to him, his own family or his business.

Special Valentines And Makeover Party Photography Offer

2010-01-10T18:08:00.005Z

We are this week launching a dedicated Makeover website.

To celebrate the launch of the new Makeover site (the link will not work until the site goes live!). We have some very special opening offers:

Why not have a Make Me A Model Hen or Teen* Party?

A fabulous pampering session for you and THREE friends!
Each girl gets a makeover and her own Fashion Photo Shoot.
Same day viewing of your images to keep the party atmosphere!
A glass of Bucks Fizz on arrival and £25 each to spend in the viewing room.
Bring along extra friends for just £25 each!
A 10” print of the group for the organizer!
Special launch price of just £175!

* Please note that any girls under 18 need to be accompanied by an adult to any photoshoot we conduct.

In conjunction with our Yorkshire Wedding Photography business FNS Weddings we also offer "boudoir" photography.

Valentines Offer on our fabulous Boudoir Makeover!

• Experience a liberating 2 hour boudoir shoot with a makeover.
• A 20”x16” canvas wrap (worth £385) and a DVD slideshow (worth £125)included.
• Amazing limited offer price of just £199! SAVE £510!

Candlelighters Book Project

2010-01-10T17:48:00.004Z

A little update about the Candlelighters Book Project. We were aiming to have the book done and printed before Christmas. When we came to designing the book however it's clear that we still need a few more families through on the project to make it a decent book worth having.

Several things have affected the progress of this project - most notably the "recession" and the British weather.So we have decided to extend the deadline a little in the hope that more families will participate and support this initiative. What we can't do however is pump anymore of our personal resources (other than time) into the promotion of this project.

Because we run a successful wedding photography business (we are in fact one of the leading Yorkshire Wedding Photographers - see our site www.fnsweddings.com for what we do) we have been able to support the Candlelighters project in this last year by paying for publicity material, newspaper advertising, PR agencies, time and travelling expenses to location shoots across Yorkshire etc.to promote the scheme however realistically in the present economic climate we can no longer afford to do this.

With this in mind we are also happy to include any photographs taken in our studio in the book - so if you have had a shoot with us recently and would like to buy a space in the book for your child/ren (with ALL the proceeds going to Candlelighters for the space you have purchased) please get in touch. Equally if you would like to participate in the scheme and are happy to travel to our studio in Boroughbridge for your shoot please get in touch.

If we include studio photographs within the book then that opens the scheme up to photographs taken whatever the weather and we don't need to wait until summer to get more participating families. So, if you know of anyone who may like to participate in this scheme please ask them to get in touch to arrange a shoot.

Our Gift To You - Revisions To The Candlelighters Book Project.

2009-07-05T13:16:00.008+01:00

These last two weeks have been amongst the most difficult we can remember - Jacob (Andys son and my stepson) has been sick. Very sick. It has been frightening as we have watched the Doctors, baffled by his condition, fight to find the correct treatment to hopefully make him better. On one occasion he had to be resuscitated. We are by no means out of the woods with him and it is frightening sometimes when we stop to think about that fragile thread which keeps him with us. In short we know exactly what it is like to live with a sick child.

We thought when we embarked on the Candlelighters book project that this was a wonderful way of raising money for a charity and cause about which we are passionate. It is - there is no doubt about - that and for our friend in Australia who runs this exact same scheme every year the project is a runaway success - each year he raises from this one project over $10,000 for "Make A Wish Foundation". He is applauded for it again and again in his locality and press. We are finding however - be it the British culture or what I'm not sure - that our efforts have been met with "suspicition" and our integrity has been questioned.

Why are we doing this? (because we are passionate about Candlelighters and what they do). Are we making money from the book itself? (No - it is highly unlikely that we will even break even - the book is costing us literally £000's to be produced and printed). Why are we not including any free pictures - surely they cost us nothing?! (Our time is valuable and our skill in producing pictures which go on to be family heirlooms is priceless. The cost to us in real terms of other "paying" customers which could have taken the place of the free shoot, our time editing and travelling, the cost to produce the book, the cost of PR'ing the scheme, advertising costs for the project, the many hours of design time for the actual book and you have a figure of a real cost to us we estimate of around £700 per shoot.We are not prepared to include extra other than the time and the page in the book, we would question how many others would be as generous as this even). Shouldn't you be offering this free to us as we have a member of our family who is sick? (Whilst this would be a nice sentiment and we do shoot for free for families who are struck by illness on occassions due to all the factors in the previous response this is simply not viable this time round - the whole aim it to raise the money for Candlelighters, if we don't collect any money for the page in the book who loses out? The child won't have a page and Candlelighters won't have the donation).

The media on the whole, with a couple of exceptions, have been equally as unsupportive and questioning of our motives for running the scheme. Having spent years and years building up an honest and transparent business with many, many satisfied and delighted clients we simply cannot afford to have our integrity brought into question like this. So, sadly, we have decided to change the way we are running the book project. The effect on the amount of money raised will be we fear devastating - but none the less we will raise a reasonable sum to add to what we have already achieved. So the project from now on will run in this way: we will continue to offer the free location shoot, viewings of the photos will take place at our studio by appointment and instead of making a contribution to Candlelighters for the page in the book at the outset we will offer clients the option to purchase a space (not guaranteed to be a page) in the book in exchange of a minimum donation to Candlelighters of £25. The book will only be produced when we have enough spaces sold to make it a viable production - clearly it will take longer to fill spaces than pages. It is ulikely now that the book will be published before Christmas - although we will do our best and for those clients already booked and paid on the project we are looking at the possiblity of producing a mini book.

But let's not forget here the value of our "Gift" to you. The gift being our skill in creating beautiful photographs - which we have no doubt whatsover wil be precious. A photographer friend in Lancashire also running this project has met with similar comments and has withdrawn from the project because of that and also because she was involved in a car crash and is unable at this present time to fulfill her commitment for the book. The car crash brought with it a reality check. She realised that she had been avoiding having family photographs taken because she didn't like the way she looked - mainly due to her size. I feel like this too - so can completely identify with her thoughs on this. But for her the reality is that should the unthinkable have happened just now when she crashed her car and her children - aged 2 & 7 - be left without a mum there is no lasting record of her to keep her memory alive in the form of photographs. It is unlikely that her two year old son would be able to remember what she looked like in a few years to come. How sad is that? She has booked a family shoot with us and we look forward to creating something really special for them all in August. But to sum up the extent of our gift to you I'd like to finish this post by quoting another photographer friend:

This weekend I watched my father in law die. Over two days I sat with my wife, her sister and their step mum in a room in a hospice watching his breathing get shallower and shallower, his colour change and eventually his last breaths come. Two days before he was drinking gin and tonic with friends (he was ill, lung cancer which had spread, he knew it was terminal and had made his peace, but the change in those final days was dramatic).

When we got home last night, my wife went to three places to look for some photos of her dad. Our wedding pictures (two months ago he had walked her down the aisle), her sisters wedding pictures and his own wedding pictures (to their step mum).

The importance of what we do isn't measured by the respect we get from our peers. I can honestly say I couldn't identify a single pulitzer prize winning picture, but I can vividly recall a picture of me sitting in my toy box holding onto a car wheel pretending to drive around the garden. The importance of what we do is measured by the impact it has on the families we work for.

Yesterdays newspaper is todays chip paper, the brochure for a new product or service fades within a couple of years. I can guarantee families will still be looking at your pictures in decades.

It makes you think doesn't it? What we do and offer isn't expensive - it's priceless.

Something Different!

2009-05-28T15:43:00.010+01:00

Just a few pictures for a small personal project we've been working on this week, as if we didn't have enough on! Along the same lines as the Book Project, but with a distinct Arts and Sports theme, the project aims to portray children/young people from the region participating in their "passion" - be it ballet, cricket, playing the trumpet or gymnastics - to name but a few in a location showcasing the beautiful Yorkshire landscapes we know and love.

So arts, sports and culture but in "different" locations. See what you think....

This is more from the complete shoots apologies in advance at the small picture size - it's the best we can manage when uploading to the blog!

Our thanks to "the cast" (in order of appearance): Natalie, Sam, Chris, Danielle and Rebecca. The pictures were shot on location at Plumpton (sometimes called Plompton)Rocks and Hunmanby Gap.

Not Easy To Get To - But Worth The Trek! (Candlelighters Book Project)

2009-05-06T01:19:00.002+01:00

Chris, Danielle, Emily and Rebecca at Thornwick Bay.

A Breezy Day By The Sea (Candlelighters Book Project)

2009-05-06T00:53:00.003+01:00

The Easter holidays found us on the East Coast - as you can see from the previous post about Dan in Bridlington. A few days earlier we had been in Filey with Beth and Kathryn.

As I posted previously Filey is a special place to me and holds many fond memories. We only went in a very small part of it with Beth and Kathryn however - in and around Glen Gardens and then down the steps to the beach at the end of the bay. The tide was high though and so we didn't actually go onto the beach.

Kathryn was a delight to photograph - always smiling and very willing to pose when we asked her to. Beth was a little more self conscious and I think she would rather have been anywhere else other than with us having her photo taken that day! As soon as the session finished she was off to meet her friend for a sleepover.

It reminded me a little of myself at a similar age on a holiday with my parents in Colwyn Bay, Wales. I kept a diary and wrote in it "A boring day" and the day after..."Another boring day...." I was difficult to keep amused. My mum and dad had brought us along with my Aunt and Uncle and their children of similar ages to myself and my brother and sister on an activity holiday. The highlight of the whole holiday was when I signed all the adults up for all the in house sports tournaments they were running that week - which included bowls, golf and tennis amongst other things. They were all mortified! My mum won the tennis tournament though and I was very proud of her (still am!) and we still have the trophy to this day. We all laugh about it now. Perhaps Beth will lament about the shoot one day and smile.

Dan Leaves Us Standing At Bridlington (Candlelighters Book Project)

2009-04-19T16:06:00.004+01:00

This young man is Dan. You may have seen Dan before as he has been one of the "stars" in the Candlelighters newsletter in the past. Dan has done more than most to help to raise money for Candlelighters and he has a very special reason why...

Four years ago Dan was diagnosed with a brain tumour. His treatment involved a life saving operation. Unfortunately that life saving operation whilst it has saved Dans' life has left him at present unable to walk unaided. As we saw on the day of the shoot as Dan took off at a great speed (scaring the life out of myself and his mum Caroline as he swerved very close to the cliff edge!) Dans' legs are not paralysed but he is experiencing problems with his balance. So Dan is aided by his trike.

Boy - can he move on that trike! He is also fearless it seems - his trike had one flat tyre which wouldn't inflate (depsite Andys best efforts) and so when he turned the trike automatically began to tip over. Dan wasn't in the slightest bit concerned but my heart was in my mouth more than once, I can tell you!

The prognosis for a full recovery for Dan I understand is good and last year Dan raised money for Candlelighters by walking around his local football pitch - aided only by one person at each side of him. His courage and stamina are amazing. We were priviledged to make Dans' acquaintance and even more honoured to photograph him. We're only posting a few photos of him here for mum Caroline to see before her official viewing, after which if she is in agreement, we may post a slideshow of the entire shoot. Well done Dan - see you again soon!

A Wedding At Hazlewood Castle Part 2!

2009-04-19T13:56:00.004+01:00

We had Tom, Christine and their parents to an "official viewing" of their wedding photographs and album plan this morning so I am able to post a few pictures from day two - which was also my birthday! We really enjoyed our two days with Tom and Christine and hopefully we have exceeded their expectations (which were high to begin with) with their photos and album design. So without further ado I'll let the pictures do the talking!

Dad right after he had given Christine away:

One of my favourite pictures of the day, Christine looks simply stunning:

Chinese Lion Dancers:

First Dance:

Last but not least some "Wedding Art" pictures:

My personal favourite from the day:

Freya In Valley Gardens Harrogate (Candlelighters Book Project)

2009-04-04T19:29:00.009+01:00

We thought that we'd show you a complete set of pictures from a Candlelighters book shoot in this post. As said in previous posts the actual picture for the book will not be chosen until we are putting the whole book together as the pictures need to sit together and compliment one another. So this delightful little girl is Freya and her images were created in Harrogates' beautiful Valley Gardens. Once again many thanks to Freya's family for a superb shoot but as you will notice the real star of the show is of course Freya!

Thank You To The Following....(Candlelighters Book Project)

2009-03-31T21:13:00.006+01:00

Whilst it's impossible to thank everyone who has helped us all at once we'd like to give a special mention to the following people:

Green Hammerton and Helperby Doctors surgery for displaying and distributing postcards (Boroughbridge - our own surgery would not even put one on display - "against the practise managers policy we are told").
Finesse Fine Furnishing Boroughbridge.
Morrisons Supermarket Boroughbridge.
Bloomerang Florists Boroughbridge all of the above have displayed posters and given our postcards where they can.
Great Ouseburn Post Office (Boroughbridge - who actively promote another local photographer agreed reluctantly to put up a poster in the lowest possible and most obscure place and then took it down and binned it when we had gone - they claim they left it up a week - but seriously - binning it? Unbelieveable!) I have to say that I'm pretty upset by this - the poster could have been put to good use elsewhere. I suspect that they have never experienced the trauma of having a very sick child with cancer or even second hand with any friends or relatives.
Kara Rose from Kara Rose PR who has worked tirelessly along side of us to help us publicise the project.
Kim from SANDS in Stamford Bridge for helping us to distribute more postcards and newsletters - we're hoping we may be able to raise some much needed money for Sands next year if this years project is a success.
Val Atkinson for helping to spread the word also.
Sue Scott from SP Childminding in Great Ouseburn, again for distributing postcards.
The Scouts and Methodist Chapel at Ripon for helping us get posters in and around Ripon.
Westgate Frames in Ripon - again for helping us distribute post cards.
A big thank you must go to the Holiday Inn, Harrogate who have generously provided some prizes of family Sunday lunch for 4 for some newspaper competitions to raise awareness. What can we say except thank you once again?
Paul and the team from the Harrogate District Directory - who have kindly agreed to distribute 12,000 postcards for us to homes in and around Harrogate over the coming 4 months.
Chrissy Kay for spreading the word in her "neck of the woods" and with various online friends she has made since we photographed her wedding. She is our one and only follower of the blog so far - keep up the good work Chrissy. To everyone else we need more followers - please register to follow the blog so we can increase awareness via the net.
Susann Mick from Harrogate Candlelighters who has worked with us to set up this project and with whom we continue to liaise. Susann was responsible for ensuring we got a mention in the Candlelighters newsletter - thank you Susann!
To Easingwold Lions and in particular Lion John Lancaster for supporting the project with a reduced price advert in their forthcoming brass band programme.

There are many others who have helped - you know who you are - but I'm still going to try to write regular posts with updates as to who is helping (& in the odd case who is not!).

Stepping Stones At Gargrave (Candlelighters Book Project)

2009-03-31T20:11:00.009+01:00

Well here we are again with more from Bethany's shoot at the stepping stones at Gargrave - which for those of you who don't know is a stones' throw from Skipton. There are two sets of stepping stones at Gargrave but I think it's fair to say that these are the more accessible ones.

Now that Bethany and her family have seen all the pictures we are able to post a few more without spoiling any surprises. I've picked a few fun ones. Bethanys mum said right from the off that she would end up falling in the water but we still didn't expect it! It happened twice as you can see! She was jumping across the stones at one point though!

Doesn't this face just say it all? It was flippin' freezing in the river according to Andy! He was wading in it too - as you can see from the previous post about this shoot. This particular picture is of the second time Bethany choose to step off the stepping stone - just why she did it is anyone's guess!! One minute she was there having her photo taken, next she was in the water!! In fairness her mum did tell us that she would end up "falling in". This was more of a wobble off than a fall in though. She did it rather gracefully I have to say - just stepped down into the water as if she was entering a swimming pool!

In the next three pictures we have a bit of a sequence going on. This was the second time she stepped into the deep as it were!

These next two are my personal favourites from the shoot however, I think Bethany looks just amazing to say how cold she was and on the second one you can clearly see what a good sport she was and that she was enjoying herself too.

Once again a big thank you to Bethany and her family for supporting our book project. Not only have they been for a photo shoot but Bethany's mum Wendy has distributed a vast number of postcards for us within her work and personally spread the word to many, many people.

A Wedding At Hazlewood Castle! (Part 1 - Part 2 in Three Weeks!)

2009-03-25T19:28:00.008Z

Now for something a little different - here are some pictures from a wedding we photographed at the weekend at Hazlewood Castle. All weddings are special to us but this one was "different" because Tom and Christine chose to have a small, intimate, civil ceremony at Hazlewood on Friday with just their very close family in attendance. On Saturday they had a formal blessing by Rev. Ian Walton in the Chapel at Hazlewood and then a wedding breakfast and evening reception.

These are the photographs from Friday, I will post Saturdays once Christine and Tom have seen them - upon their return from honeymoon in around 3 weeks time. The wedding part of our business (which is run totally independently from the portrait side) is showcased on our dedicated weddings website: http://www.fnsweddings.com/

Christine loves anything sparkley and her room was dressed with crystals and butterflies. We thought it only appropriate to photograph the rings with some sparkle too!

The Victoria Room - where the ceremony took place - was decorated with lots of candles.

Christines' mum came down the stairs ahead of her and said "Tatiana" - which is Queen of the Fairies. This was so appropriate for how Christine looked.

I love these pictures because they show the closeness between Christine and her mum:

The wedding ceremony:

Finally - a little time for Christine and Tom to be alone (apart from us of course!):

Candlelighters Book Project - Frequently Asked Questions

2009-03-18T23:05:00.008Z

Ok so I'm noticing that we are getting asked the same questions over and over again so thought that the blog was the ideal place to answer them as we seem to have quite a following going on with many people setting Google alerts to "Candlelighters". So here we go...

Q. Are There Any Free Pictures With The Shoot?

A. No - sorry. Because we are totally funding the production and printing of the book ourselves and this is costing literally £000's (several thousand actually) we are not including any free pictures with the shoot. Included is our time for the shoot and the viewing our design skills for the best presentation of your child/rens picture in the book and the page in the book itself.

Q. Do We Get A Free Copy Of The Book?

A. Sorry - the answer to this is also "no" for the exact reasons as outline above.

Q. Do We Get To See The Pictures After The Shoot Before The Book Comes Out?

A. Yes - of course - we will invite you to a viewing session of the picture at our studio in Boroughbridge. Due to the logistics involved it is unlikely that we will be able to offer the viewings "on location" although we will try to accommodate families with special needs/circumstances where possible.

Q. Can We Purchase Pictures From The Shoot Afterwards?

A. Yes - and of course we sincerely hope that you do as this will help us to put some money aside for the book production costs. The viewing session will be your ONLY opportunity to purchase extra prints however.

Q. How Soon After The Shoot Can We View The Pictures?

A. We aim to have the pictures edited and ready for you to view within a week where possible but we are going to need to be very structured in booking viewing appointments to leave enough free time for actual shoots. We may need to look at offering evening viewing appointments in order to get through our target of 200. We would ask you to be flexible with us and work with us on this one.

Q. Do You Keep The Pictures From The Shoot?

A. We only guarantee to keep copies of images actually ordered during the viewing session and the one which is selected to go into the book.

Q. Can I Choose The Picture For The Book?

A. No - sorry - the book has to have a certain look and flow to it. This means that we have to be really careful when planning the book about what pictures are placed on which pages. We will of course endeavour where possible to put your favourite image in the book but there are no guarantees of this.

Q. If I Want More Than One Picture To Appear In The Book Can I Buy An Extra Page?

A. Of course. There may however be occasions when we have taken a "sequence" of pictures which we feel should appear together in the book. If this is the case then your child/rens page may have more than one picture of them on that page. If however you would like more than one actual pages in the book for your child/rens images to appear then additional pages are available at the standard cost of £50 per page.

Q. I Would Like My Child To Take Part - What Do I Need To Do Next?

A. There is some paperwork we need to complete prior to the shoot. I can email this to you in a PDF format for you to print and return to me along with your cheque of £50 per page, made payable to "Harrogate Candlelighters". We will send you an official receipt and contact you to arrange the shoot date and time - if we have not done this already!

Q. Can I Pay Over The Phone By Credit/Debit Card?

A. As this money never touches our bank account, no, sorry we can't take payment this way on this occasion.

Q. I Don't Have Any Children Or Grand Children To Take Part In The Book But I'd Really Like To Try To Help Your Efforts - Is There Anything I Can Do To Help?

A. Thanks for asking! Yes - there are a couple of things! Firstly we need help to raise awareness of the project and our aims and to keep the momentum going - so please, spread the word! We're told that if we get a lot of people following the blog that this will raise it up the Search Engines and then more people will hopefully become aware of what we are trying to achieve and participate. So please - register to follow the blog at least! Secondly we have 8,000 postcards to distribute briefly outlining the project on one side and with a take part contact form on the other if you are able to distribute any of these for us in your area please email me with how many you think you can shift and I will glady post them out to you. My email address is: sharon@theportraitpeople.co.uk Great places to distribute these are schools, nurseries, childrens play barns, churches, after school clubs/activities such as Dance Schools, Karate Schools, Scouts, Brownies, Rainbows, Beavers etc.

Q. Can We Purchase Copies Of The Book, If So At What Cost?

A. The book cover price will be £35 per copy once it is printed ready to distribute but early indications are that the book will be sold out before it goes into production. We are however taking pre-paid reservations for the book at £30 for one copy or £50 for two copies or multiples thereof. There is a limited edition print run of only 500 copies - so if you think you would like a copy or two you do need to pre-order them at the discounted price very quickly. Due to the cost involved and to retain the exclusivity of the book we will not be producing any more than the initial 500 copies. To put this into perspective, this is less than 3 copies per family - so to reiterate do get your order in early if you wish to guarantee one or more copies. We only accept reservations for the book on receipt of full payment as outlined above.

Q. What Prices Do You Charge For Extra Photographs If We Want Them?

A. We have a whole range of different prices and display options available for your images. In order to keep everything as transparent as possible a brief version of our price list is posted below - so you can make an informed choice about your likely spend before you come to the viewing of your pictures. We have put together some special "collections" for the book project in addition to our usual price list. We hope that there is something to accommodate every taste and budget. Click on the image to view it full screen (otherwise you won't be able to read it!). Just a word of warning here - if you want to continue reading after viewing the price list full screen use the back arrow otherwise it will take you away from the blog when you close!

Q. Will You Be Doing This Again Next Year?

A. We have already been approached by a couple of charities with requests to offer this project to them next year. As long as we manage to get close to breaking even on the book production costs as possible and get through the number of shoots we are aiming for we will consider running this project again next year. Much of the success of this project depends on the support and willingness of the charity to help us to raise awareness and secure the number of portrait shoots we need to maximise the amount we are able to raise for them.

The photographer in Australia - Tero Sade - who has inspired us to embark on this project has run the same project in Australia for 10 years now and during that time raised over $10,000 Australian Dollars each year for the "Make A Wish" Foundation in Australia. We would very much like to enjoy the same level of success. He has also gone on to inspire other photographers such as ourselves to offer such a project to childrens charities - so all in all he has made a real difference to the lives of disadvantaged children across the world. Since starting out on this "journey" we have already been contacted by 4 other photographers across the UK who have heard what we are doing to ask how to get started on similar projects. We hope it will continue to grow like this but without the support of "Joe Public" it will not happen. Thank you for reading this far. Together we CAN and WILL make a difference to the lives of literally 'ooo's of children and their families.

Well that's enough from me for one post I think but if you have any questions that I haven't answered above please do email me: sharon@theportraitpeople.co.uk

It's Not A "Wet Wellie" Book - Honestly! (Candlelighters Book Project)

2009-03-16T17:27:00.007Z

I thought I'd post a different view of one our book project shoots today - just so you can get a good idea of what happens "behind the scenes" as it were. We do "suffer" for our art sometimes - as you can see from the picture below of Andy knee deep in the freezing river to get the perfect picture of Bethany for the book. These were taken on the stepping stones which cross the river in Gargrave, near Skipton.

We only "discovered" the stepping stones when we photographed a wedding in Gargrave followed by a beautiful reception at nearby Coniston Hall and the couple concerned requested a photograph of the bridal party on the stepping stones. That was in September - much warmer than March!

This particular shoot was a little out of the ordinary in that Yorkshire TV had told us that they were coming to film it - if nothing more newsworthy hit off - for their regional "Calendar News". So we arranged to meet Bethany and her mum slightly earlier than the TV crew were expected and decided to get the shots we needed in the bag before we had TV cameramen in the background etc. Unfortunately something they thought was more exciting did crop up and so they didn't make it to our shoot but that didn't stop us having fun - although I think Bethany was a little disappointed not to have made it onto TV on this occasion.

They have asked us for a list of dates and times we will be elsewhere so that they may show up but this is not at all straightforward for us as we do need the parents permission to have their child appear on TV and it also involves the crew interviewing the parents about the project - plus it can be a bit daunting for the child involved. We have photographed Bethany in the past for a Childrens' magazine cover and knew that she would be the perfect child to cope with all the attention without getting giddy or stressed about it.

So here below we have the set up used for the shoot. Bethany was to walk across the stepping stones (in this case with a brollie as it had begun to rain!) and Andy was to get his shot showing the river meandering off behind her. The flashgun you can almost see on the tripod in the middle of the picture on it's own was to kick a little bit of light back onto Bethany's face ("fill flash" is the technical term) to avoid her eye sockets etc. looking dark.

Here's just one of the resulting pictures (not that you can see her eyes for all that hair!). This picture was taken just prior to Bethany falling into the river! When I say falling in she didn't actually go right under or anything dramatic like that more stepped off/missed the stepping stone and ended up with the water going over the top of her wellie boots! With this picture we've also put a desaturated effect onto it for those of you who have been asking if all the book has to be in colour. These are only a selection of the shots we took and the one I think we are going to choose for the book isn't included here but I don't want to spoil the surprise for Bethany and her mum and dad before they see all the pictures at their viewing session - which isn't booked in for a couple of weeks yet.

Here we are with Bethany and her mum Wendy trying to pull her boot off in order to empty out the water! Just following this we had the most amazing hot chocolate (supplied by Wendy) and as Bethany said "My mum makes the best hot chocolate ever!" We'd have to agree with her there!

We spent a little more time with Andy and Bethany competing against each other to see who can skim a stone furthest across the river. Andy won and I'd be dead meat now if I didn't mention in passing that he managed to skim his across the river to hit the bank at the other side! He mentioned it at least half a dozen times on the way home so I'm guessing it was one of the highlights of his morning along with shooting Bethany - which was one of the highlights of our week last week!

Our thanks got to Bethany and Wendy for being the most brilliant "sports" with the shoot - which with drizzle and falling into the river proved to be a bit cold and wet for all of us! So sorry the TV crew didn't show - hopefully one of them might see this and think what a good time they missed!

We Get Wet - But It's All In A Good Cause! (Candlelighters Book Project)

2009-03-08T15:18:00.006Z

Well it rained and we got wet - but not as wet as little Scott here! He had great fun getting wetter than just the rain - as you will see further down this post!

We made a day of it on Saturday - with a quick bite to eat for Scott and his older brother Rich in Thornton-le-Dale (the fish and chips there are amongst the best around!), a cup of hot coffee for us and off we went. Just as we were entering the Forest it started to rain. We've been asked before "what happens if it rains?" well the answer is if we can we still go ahead with the shoot. After all rain is part of what makes our beautiful county so lush and green isn't it? Wait for sunny days and we may not get through the 200 shoots we are aiming for in order to make our £10,000 target.

We were in Dalby Forest (as some of you will know from reading previous posts to this blog one of my favourite places). How it has changed however since I was there last time! Firstly the entrance fee for the Forest Drive was £7.00 this time. It was considerably less last time. So if you are planning a visit there it's probably a good idea to plan a lot of time there to make the most of it. There was less big equipment in the main childrens play area too. But the families who were there were all having a great time and the beautiful scenery around the area is just breathtaking.

So we took our wellies (we had brought with us a change of clothes for Scott in the car and change of shoes for all of us) and off we set down to the little stream near the play area right in the middle of Dalby Forest. Scott is the son of family friends of ours - hence why he was travelling with us. Scotts older brother (now 18) has in the past been diagnosed with cancer and treated at St. James's hospital. Candlelighters provided a holiday for Scott and his family and so when they found we were raising money for Candlelighters in this way Scotts family were keen for Scott to take part. It's very special organisation to them as during some of their darkest hours Candlelighters made a difference (Candlelighters registered charity number is:1045077).

So, without further ado we'll let some of the other pictures do the talking!

This last picture shows you what a good sport Scott was - and how much he enjoyed himself. Boys will be boys as they say...!

Raising £10,000 For Candlelighters - We're On Our Way!

2009-02-23T17:00:00.005Z

Well we have made a start - and slightly ahead of when we expected to have enquiries!

This is the power of the internet for you - a family from Filey had a google alert set up for anything containing "Filey" in text, when I wrote about the project and mentioned that we were planning to visit Filey google alerted them and now here we are planning to meet up on Tuesday 7th April - in the childrens Easter holidays.

So if there are any other families with google alerts for Filey, Robin Hoods Bay, Scarborough or Whitby then we are in your area on the 7th April - please email us to arrange an appointment time: sharon@theportraitpeople.co.uk

Filey is actually another of my "special" places although it has become a little commercialised of late. When I was younger we used to spend a week during the summer holidays there every year at a flat in Rutland Street and then laterly in a static caravan mum and dad bought on Collins caravan site. We used to love the walk from the site, across the railway and down the little lane (I forget it's name now) down to the quieter end of the beach by the golf course. I also worked in Filey for a little while whilst I was undertaking a college course in Business Studies/Travel & Tourism. I was sent to the then Hylands Hotel (it's now a retirement home I believe) and used to frequently come back there on weekends when they had functions on and work as a waitress - I've waltzed around their dance floor during "ballroom dancing" weekends a few times as a "young lass"! Not that I can waltz at all - but no-one seemed to notice or mind! I think we made the numbers up for some of the groups there.

Isn't it funny how things turn a full circle? My favourite places to frequent used to be Sterchis for the hand made chocolates and the Brown Room for their lovely fish 'n' chips but now when I take my children to Filey my daughter insists we stop at the little outside cafe at the Cobble Landing and have a mug of hot chocolate with Marshmallows and Flakes. She took me there for mothers day last year! We had a lovely day even if it was a bit on the chilly side on the front.

Whilst I'm on with the reminiscing - one of the memories from my childhood which has never left me is that of watching my dad, asleep in a deck chair on the beach whilst the tide came in around him from the sea wall above him. My mum thought it would be funny to wait and see how long until he woke up! It wasn't until his shoes started to float that he did. There was a crowd on the top watching him. It was funny. Fortunately he took it all in good spirits. The love of Filey has never left him either and he goes every year to the Fisherman's Festival and has frequently won a trophy, he also claims to sing (although we all dispute that since he's tone deaf) in the Filey Fishermans Choir.

Candlelighters registered charity number is: 1045077

Help Us To Raise £10,000 For Our Favourite Charity!

2009-02-20T01:43:00.007Z

We realised a few weeks ago that it would be possible to raise a decent amount of money for our favourite charity with a very simple scheme. It's a charity book project. The charity in question being Yorkshire Candlelighters (registered charity number: 1045077) - who you can read about by following the link below:

http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/ellisconderappeal/page6.phtml

Basically this is how it works....

We are looking to photograph 200 families (kids only 0 - 15 years) this year. Each family will complete a nomination/registration form for each child to be photographed and pay a £50 (per family) registration fee. All of the £50 goes directly to Candlelighters - never touches our bank account at all. This way our administration is kept to a minimum. For the registration fee we will photograph each child in an "environmental" portrait setting - so not in the studio - unless of course they are a baby. Each child photographed will then feature in a book to be called "Children Of God's Own County - A Portrait of a Generation 2009". If a child is from a single child family then their £50 will get them a page to themselves, if they have siblings then they will share a page with the other children from the same family. So basically £50 "buys" a page in the book. Our target is to photograph 200 families before mid September and in doing so we will raise £10,000 for Candlelighters.

A little bit more about the book - we envisage that it will be split into 5 chapters - "Children from the Dales", "Children from the Moors", "Children from The Coast", "Children from York" and "Children from Harrogate". We're aiming to have some fun out and about taking the pictures and areas in which we intend to visit for the environmental portraits include for the Moors - Pickering (with of course Steam Trains!), Dalby Forest (my personal favourite place to hang out), perhaps Goathland and maybe even Grosmont or Egton Bridge. For the Coast we intend at some point visiting Whitby (the Abbey and the Whale Bones have got to make for great pictures!), Robin Hoods Bay (we have plans for the Rock Pools there!), Filey, Scarborough and maybe even Flamborough Head - if we can find a family from Flamborough or close by. For the Dales we include Ripon, Masham, Bedale, Leyburn, Pateley Bridge, Skipton (we'd love to feature the stepping stones at Gargrave!) possibly Bolton Abbey, Studely Royal and Fountains Abbey, along with the obvious well known places but this is probably the area we are least familiar with - although we do love Aysgarth and Malham area. York - we think will be mostly around the Museum Gardens and river area. Loads of scope there with fantastic backdrops and easy parking close by. Harrogate - Valley Gardens, the Stray and some of the old streets around town. The book will include some landscape/fine art images of our favourite beauty spots from each area along with a little text/information about the area.

So why Candlelighters then? Well the answer is quite simple. Our son, Jacob, who is a special needs child also suffers with Haemophilia and this necessitates us taking him to the Oncology Department at St. James Hospital several times a year to meet with his consultant and check everything is ok with his anti bodies in his blood levels etc. Each time we visit we find it incredibly emotional as we see children and families struggling to cope with the devastating effects of childhood cancer. Candlelighters support these families and the unit. We understand that the unit is shortly moving to Leeds General Infirmary and Candlelighters are currently raising funds for a new playroom and play equipment in the new unit and also a brain scanner which will enable early detection of brain tumours in children. This is life saving technology - the earlier the detection of any childhood cancer the greater the chances are of survival.

If you would like to take part in this project please contact us to arrange your shoot. Our contact details are: sharon@theportraitpeople.co.uk, telephone number: 01423 323776. We do not include a copy of the book or any photographs from the shoot but both are available for purchase, if you wish, afterwards. At the time of writing the cover price of the book is not yet fixed as we are still gathering in quotes for the printing.

Sarahs 18th makeover shoot slideshow

2009-02-10T23:49:00.002Z

Due to popular demand, heres the rest of Sarahs pictures...Turn up your speakers!

Sarahs' 18th Birthday Makeover Shoot!

2009-02-10T11:22:00.000Z

Well here is where I get to feel old. My niece - Sarah - was 18 this week and I remember the day she was born as clearly as if it was yesterday. It was snowing and my mum and I jumped on the first train from York to Edinburgh to go and see her, along with my sister Viv in the maternity hospital. It was a life changing moment for me when I first held the sweet smelling little bundle in my arms only a few hours old for it was then that I realised that I really did want children of my own and not the career I had been so busily building for myself - which was not in photography.

Life has dealt Sarah a few cruel blows along the way but she has dealt with them all with her happy to lucky personality and gritty determination to not let things get her down. I really admire her inner strength. One of the hards "crosses" she has had to bear became apparant when she was around 4 years old...

She developed what looked like a bruise on her chin. It didn't go and following the nattering of a worried grandma Viv took her to the Doctors. After much testing and examinations Sarah was diagnosed with a very rare condition which meant that the muscles and bones in the affected area were wasting away/hardening up. In Sarah's case it was all down the right hand side of her face. There followed years of weekly trips to the hospital for blood tests and chemotherapy as the specialists tried different things to help her condition. Not once did I hear her complaining. Sarah went on into her teens to be an excellent dancer and only then did I pick up that she was at all conscious of her looks - when her dance school put on dance shows Sarah had to fasten back her beautiful long hair and this exposed the side of her face, usually kept hidden, which was disfigured.

The best the specialist could offer for Sarah was when she stops growing (i.e. around 17 - 18 years old) that they would do reconstructive surgery and fit implants. That happened a couple of months ago. Even that has not being a straightforward procedure for Sarah however as one of the implants, fitted into her chin has repeatedly become infected requiring antibiotics and now the specialists have reluctantly decided that she has to undergo surgery to have it removed again. So any readers of this blog who are religious please pray for her!

My birthday present to Sarah was a makeover shoot - designed to show just how beautiful she is. Andy took the photographs and I think from here I'll let you all judge for yourself what an amazing niece I have.

Special People In Life

2009-02-10T10:54:00.000Z

Every now and then we come across what we would describe as being one of lifes' "special people". There aren't many of them around - so when we do meet one they really stand out.

Amy is one such person. We've had the pleasure of photographing her twice now - the first time on her own - shortly after she had got married and the second time with her beautiful daughter Bo.

Her first pictures formed part of an exhibition of many of our award winning images which was held in "Alberts" Restaurant in Harrogate http://www.albertsharrogate.co.uk/ and everyone commented on them - she had a very unique "look" about her in the pictures. They were all "low key" images - i.e. shot on a dark background and had a bit of a moody feel to them (not like Amy at all!).

Her second pictures were taken only last week and showed a very different Amy as she played with Bo - who was delightful. We had a great time trying to coax smiles from Bo and some great expressions from her along the way.

Teens With "Attitude"

2009-01-27T14:42:00.000Z

What do you do with teenagers who have "attitude"? There's a fine line we find between being independent and funny or having "attitude".

Now attitude in itself isn't always a bad thing is it? It could just mean that they have bags of style and this leads to a certain kind of attitude and confidence which shouldn't be knocked. But how do we as photographers capture that attitude that goes to make them who and what they are and not just reflect the mood of the moment?

Well - we make the sessions fun for a start, we encourage them to have a big input in how they are portrayed. I think we got the balance exactly right with this young lady. She's beautiful in a young, fresh kind of way but not in a wishy washy way - and we wouldn't dream of using the word "beautiful" around her - not cool! She loves to chat to her friends on facebook, bebo and myspace and wanted her friends to see her looking "different" and of course "gorgeous" - but again not in a wishy washy kind of way (still not cool). We gave her pictures from the shoot for her online friends to see. We do this when asked - provided they mention where they got the pictures taken we're happy!

The outside two pictures were maybe intended to shock mum and dad. Mum was at the shoot (we had a makeup artist there too) and I'm not too sure she liked the smudged lipstick and mascara look but when it came to the viewing these were the pictures chosen to go together which she thinks most refelct her daughter as she is now - bags of "attitude", strikingly beautiful and in her own way radiant.

We love the picture choices and how they go together. Her friends love them too. Mum and dad love them. They have pride of place in a modern perspex frame in their lounge. Not a bad days work considering it was "uncool" to go to a photographers. Now she is the coolest kid around.

A Little About Our Profile Picture...

2008-12-29T02:41:00.001Z

For those of you who don't know him this is Andy. It's not a portrait picture of him per se - just a snap shot taken on one of our evening forays together where we were shooting for pleasure - our pleasure that is.

It's the "shooting for pleasure" trips which result in virtually all of the fine art pictures you see on our website. Shooting for ourselves as opposed to for a commission helps to keep us focused and fired up with fresh ideas to try in the studio.

I especially like this picture of Andy because it shows him looking up almost as if he's looking for inspiration - or could it be wondering what the hell the brolly is meant to be doing for him? He doesn't look comfortable with the brolly (he hates them in real life - prefers to get wet!) and he's trying to work out how to hurry me up with what I was doing. What I was doing at the time was trying to persuade him to prat about whilst I took some "dragging the shutter" pictures of him to create an almost "ghost like" effect. I'm a people watcher and for anyone the same as me you will be able to read into Andy's stance and body language that he's getting a bit impatient and wanting to be off - or at least take the camera off me for the next shot! The graffiti on the wall I think adds to the picture.

Now here's the thing...below is the picture which was the next shot. It shows "The Sundowner" pulling away from Scarborough Station last summer on one of it's few steam hauled trips from York to Scarborough. It's really hard not to wax lyrical about Steam Trains and photographing them. We have in the last couple of years been really fortunate to photograph a wedding on the North Yorkshire Moors railway. The photographs are always atmospheric. It really was an almost magical era when Steam Trains were around. The photograph below is available to purchase from our fine art range as a limited edition signed print.

The Portrait People Site Goes Live!

2008-12-28T02:30:00.000Z

It's an exciting time for us here at "The Portrait People". After many months of planning, streamlining and working with some of the nicest people around "The Portrait People" (TPP) is about ready to launch.

So what is TPP all about? Well the simple answer to that is it's all about you, us and the way we "see" you. Our belief is that there is far more to taking a picture/portrait - call it what you will - than simply pressing the shutter release on the camera at the right time. That is the easy part! Seeing the individuality of the subject and then translating this into an image which totally reflects the personality of the subject - that is a skill which is not just knowing how to place your lights in order to achieve the "look" you want but it also comes from within. In short it is instinctive. It is intuitive and it is a gift in the same way that taking a group of notes and making a symphony is a gift. Some of us can play the notes given the music, others can compose the music but very few of us can create a symphony.

Like a symphony our photography here at TPP is mostly designed to be viewed in monochrome - although as in other genres of art there are exceptions. Presentation options are designed to allow the images to breathe and speak for themselves. We hope when the viewer looks at our images that they read into them their own interpretation of the picture. The baby on the initial slide show for example - is it simply a picture of a newborn baby or is it a family portrait? The parents are certainly there in the picture supporting their baby in equal measure with caring hands. To us it was far more than either of these two suggestions - it depicted exactly the position the baby held in the family at the time the picture was taken. She was newborn, she was of course supported by both her parents but most of all she was the centre of attention. The first child of the family, the first grandchild and very much in the spotlight. That is how we "saw" it anyway. What do you see?