What do you want to see in your images? Ramblings of a Newborn and Family Photographer in Stockport, Cheshire

As a parent, how important is it to you that your child smiles for the camera? I know myself just on an average day I will whip my mobile phone out several times to take videos or photos of my children as they are doing something super cute or funny. Sometimes I will ask my eldest child to smile for the camera. Why I haven’t given up asking I will never know! After potentially 5-10 takes I will have exactly 5-10 photos with either a super cheesy smile where he looks borderline evil; something completely blurry because he  has moved or alternatively he has a ‘strained smile-gritted teeth-eyes facing the opposite direction look’ which I ultimately end up deleting!!

So what’s the solution?

Do we spend too much time obsessing over the perfect picture or a perfect smile? Should we encourage our children to be more autonomous…existing in the here and now and leave them to smile and look at the camera as and when they choose to and not because we have told them to for the sake of a photo?? At the end of the day, is a forced smile really a smile…and if forced…is this a memory we want to preserve? Are we trying to preserve a time in that child’s life for us to look back on fondly, for example their 1st birthday? Or are we capturing a time in a  specific moment that happened without prompting, where they are naturally existing or playing  in that particular moment. Then… ‘click’…(smile or no smile) that memory is preserved. A different kind of memory

I have no definitive answer or advice on the back of these ramblings….just merely thinking out loud…

I love a smile. A smile can say a million different things. A genuine happy smile, a cheeky smile, a nervous-half smile, a polite smile, an embarrassed smile to name a few. However, I’m going to go against the norm and say that my absolute favourite images aren’t the ‘posed’ and smiley ones. I absolutely love the natural images……the frown on a child’s forehead as he’s lining up his toy soldiers or the little fat rolls as he sits there in just a vest! All equally amazing moments to capture for keeps (in my opinion of course). I love too the macro shots that I try to include in my shoots where possible, which are really close up pictures of your child’s lashes, lips, fingers or toes! Little bits of your child you so quickly forget as they so quickly grow.

So here…just for you are some lovely macro shots that I just love, love, love!

Another photographer’s work that I absolutely adore is Bianca’s from Bumps Baby Beyond. Bianca is a newborn, baby and cake smash photographer in Whetstone, Leicester. Check out her page and have a look at some of her wonderful work.