So, I met Karen Skidmore (from Can Do Can Be Small Business Marketing) some 12 months ago at the Grow Your Business event, here in Guildford. For most of that time I have been trying to convince her to allow me to do some updated headshots for her, and have also been trying to convince her that they don’t need to be done against a white background!

But what do you do when your subject is adamant that she wants images against a white background because she herself is convinced that it’s best like this for social media purposes ?? Well, you do it her way …. first … and then, you do it the proper way, and show her the results … and wait for the reaction.

In this case, the reaction was, “Put that white background away and delete all those photos. We’ll do it your way!”

Now, I’m not telling this story to sound smug, but to explain that sometimes you need to actually see something ‘in the flesh’ so to speak, to realise that there is an alternative to what you thought. As a photographer, I get these little creative visions sometimes, and it’s the relationship I have with my subjects that allows me to gain a good enough level of trust so I can try something different for them – and produce pleasing results.

So, my new brief with Karen was no longer a white background, but a darker, warmer & uncluttered background which would make her face stand out well in small images which will be used for social media – email, facebook, twitter etc She also needed shots with her facing a certain direction, hence the “to the left” & “to the right” pair of images too.

We were somewhat challenged by the cold & dark clouds which threatened rain at any moment, but managed to get a lovely set of images that really allowed Karen’s personality to shine through. This is most important when it comes to these types of images – one cannot simply snap away and take a nice picture; it needs to be engaging!

Here, then, is the new Karen !

Thanks for being open to the suggestion, Karen, and I hope you like them!!

With a massive number of shoots over the last few weeks I have so many things to post, and I hardly know where to start. So, I am going to go straight for a shoot I did yesterday for the amazing Elizabeth Cairns.

We had the most amazing headshot session, mainly in Gunnersbury Park. I used to go to school just around the corner from here, so it was a trip down memory lane for me. It was a very sunny day, and I usually like to be able to have far more control over my headshot lighting. However, I was up for the challenge. Elizabeth’s brief was for some natural shots in a place where she feels she’d be at her best – namely out in the open. Elizabeth runs a very successful life coaching company called Amovita and so the images needed to portray happiness and positivity.

She was so easy to photograph and made my job positively simple. I think we managed the brief, so here are my faves from the session:

I am loving the mix of colours and vibrancy in these images. I haven’t had so much laughter in a shoot for ages! Hope you like them, Miss Cairns, and looking forward to seeing you soon!

Last Sunday was a very new experience for me. I was commissioned to shoot for a hair salon in Frimley called Capella. They are having a complete rebrand along with a new website, and so needed some imagery for that very purpose.

So, on Sunday, eight of us (two models, three stylists, two assistants and I) trundled along to a photography studio in Surrey for the shoot.

This was the first time for me shooting in a studio on commission, and so I was pretty nervous at the thought.

Studio photography is a whole different monster to my usual style of naturally lit wedding and family photography, and whilst I’d had a little play earlier in the week, nothing could have prepared me for Sunday’s shoot.

The great thing about Fashion Photography is that you can pretty much do what you want and nobody can tell you that it’s wrong – it’s all about your own interpretation, and if people like it I guess that’s great!

Anyhow, on to the shoot. The girls from Capella had spent some time thinking up some hairstyles and outfits for our lovely models, and so the rest was down to me. I’d spent some time of my own thinking about how I wanted to approach the day and just went with it, to see what happened.

My faves from the shoot are here:

Yep, those are 100s and 1000s!

Rather looking forward to the next studio visit now !

This weekend will be a really new experience for me. I’m booked into a studio in Surrey for a Hair Salon Fashion Shoot – something I have never tried before! More on that next week, once the shoot has been completed. In preparation for our fashion shoot, I visited the studio today with my friend Annie, and we played with the lighting setups to make sure I knew exactly what I was doing.

It’s always good to stretch the boundaries and experiment with new things. It’s what keeps life interesting, and what keeps you moving and evolving – very important to keep the boredom at bay! I wanted to try something a little different, with lighting and posing, so we just had a good old play.

Here are the best of today’s session.

I’m really looking forward to the weekend !

This morning I spent a smashing few hours with the lovely Kerrie, who was in need of some headshots for the new website which will be promoting her counseling service.

Like many girls I meet, Kerrie was very nervous about having her photograph taken – certain photo frames around the house depict her quite literally hiding her face behind someone else in the shot! There’s nowhere to hide when you are the only person in front of the camera though, so after feeding her some of my home-made banana bread we got to work …

No idea why on earth she hides though, looking as lovely as this:

… and it’s always good to have a few laughs as well …