I met Sarah Jane exactly a year ago when she came for work experience from the South West College.  We have been pals ever since and work experience has now lasted over a year!! Seeing as SJ is heading off to Liverpool to College in September we thought it would be nice for SJ to grab some photographs with her parents (and Button’s the dog- of course)!!  I know these are the only family photographs that these guys have ever had taken and it means a lot for SJ. 

Laura & Roy are getting married in exactly 4 weeks- eek and, like many,  we have been waiting for the snow, which never came!  Instead we got a beautiful morning at Roy’s parents home, out country, in beautiful Kesh.  Roy pretended to be shy of the camera for the first few minutes but I think he actually really started enjoying the shoot!!  Laura is very excited about the wedding and her mum is even more excited!!  I can’t wait to see you all bright and early and ready to rock on the 24th, it is going to be a great celebration.

This is a story about the Pilot who met the Air Hostess or, as Cathy corrects me, the Pilot who stole her taxi during a training event in England!!  This was over 2 years ago and the rest is history!!  Although Cathy & David are both based in Belfast now, they chose to return to Cathy’s home town of Derry to celebrate their engagement photographs.Is it just me or does Cathy remind you of the Irish Folk singer, Cara Dillon?!  Cathy & David will celebrate their wedding later this year at the beautiful Lough Eske Castle in Donegal.  Watch this space!

Check out Tammy & Pete’s beautiful wedding at The Mill at Ballydugan,  on Style Serendipity.  Ciara O’Halloran recently launched her new wedding blog Style Serendipity to bring fresh ideas to Irish couples and also to promote the work of her string quartet Sound of Serendipity.  There is even a pre-loved marketplace where you can pick up wedding goodies that other couples are finished with- what a great idea!

Check out Ciara & Rob’s wedding on One Fab Day. The Irish Wedding Inspiration Website for all things pretty and quirky and different.

I am pleased to announce the release of our New Thank You Cards.  With our exciting range of Thank You Cards we can offer you a personalised design to send to your friends and family as a keepsake from your big day. The cards can also be used as Baby Birth Announcments, Wedding Invites, Save the Date, First Communion etc

The cards are available in a minimum pack order of 75 and come in a range of sizes in landscape, upright and square formats. They are printed on beautiful speciality card and can be personalised with your own message inside or left blank to allow you to hand write your personal message.  Each order comes with an equal number of  white envelopes included.

I received this beautiful little package in the post this morning.  In the virtual world of Twitter, Facebook and emails it’s always nice to get something in the post, even if I did order it myself, and so beautifully presented!and look what was inside…So who wants to be the first newborn to look ultra cute in this?!  I seem to be getting a lot of enquiries for newborn sessions recently and I often get asked when is the best time to photograph a newborn?  I find that the best time for newborn sessions is between days 1-10 when the baby is still in that cute, curled up stage.  What to wear I hear you ask?!  I think that because of the nature of the Portrait, newborns look best and most natural when they have no clothes on and only a few props eg teddy, dads strong arms, cute hat, family heirloom (I had a client with an antique silver baby rattle), baby bracelet, soft hammock/blanket.

An 8 or 9 week old baby  won’t curl up like a sleeping newborn. The newborn ‘sleepy stage’ is actually a great time to get those soft, tender, cute photographs. It is important for newborns to be sleeping because very new babies cannot make eye contact.  Any older and the baby starts becoming more aware of their surroundings so even when they appear to be sleeping soundly, moving them or even putting a hat on them can wake them.

I try to encourage parents to be included in some of the shots as quite often baby feels most comfortable with parents, it’s also lovely for the child to have a record of you with them at this time as they will never remember you at this stage of their little lives.  There is also a lovely bond to capture between parents and baby.

It is also important to choose a good time of day for your newborn.  I find the morning time works best for most newborns and after a feed is also a good time.  The photographs are also best taken using natural daylight and in the comfort of your own home where it is warm and familiar for baby.   It’s also much more convenient for mums and dads too!

I hope this helps anyone considering getting portraits taken of their newborn. Remember you can’t get these moments back.

S