TIPS FOR MAKING A PHOTO SESSION WITH KIDS EASIER

No.1 - What time is good for them??

Schedule your photo session at a time the kids are generally in good form.  If it would normally be their nap time / lunch time don’t change their schedule to squeeze in with us; grumpy kids won’t want fussed over!  If you have booked in at a time and their routine changes it’s not an issue don’t stress, just let us know and we will try our best to work something out.  We want everyone to have an enjoyable experience!  

No.2 - Snacks

Who wouldn’t want the chance to get some of their favourite snacks?!  They are a great way to keep kids happy and content.  Avoid messy foods like chocolate, crumbly crisps or orange vegestix - got to keep those gorgeous outfits clean.  Mini marshmallows are always a great shout!

No.3 - Change at the studio 

We know you have probably spent weeks choosing the perfect outfits for your little ones.  So the last thing we want is for something to happen to it on the way to the studio (explosive nappies or car sickness happens when you least expect it).  Just bring the kids is their normal clothes and there is plenty of time for them to get changed into their outfits at the studio.

No.4 -  Tell us about them!

We send out some information gathering forms to help us prepare for your photo session in advance.  Fill it out as accurately as possible and we will use this info to make the kids more at ease.  What are their favourite songs and we can play them on Alexa in the studio.  Do they love princesses or superheroes?  Let us know what they like and we will make their time in the studio fun for them!

No.5 - Reschedule if you need to

If your little one is teething or you think they are coming down with something please contact us and we will reschedule the session.  The last thing we want is your kids to be unhappy or uncomfortable in the studio and we want to be able to capture the best family photos we can for you. We are parents too so know what its like when our kids aren’t feeling their best!

No.6 - DON’T STRESS

Kids pick up on your mood!  We have had to actually put parents in the naughty corner during a session and the child found this hilarious (the photos were fantastic).  Don’t stress about your child ‘misbehaving’ we love children with a bit of character. Don’t forget too that most wee ones have seen very few people because of the pandemic, so coming into a new space with new people may mean it takes a little while for them to come round. If all else fails Caroline is a bit of a magician with Photoshop and she can do head/ body swap edits to make sure you get some great photos!   

AVAILABILITY

We have limited availability for the rest of the year so if you’re thinking of booking a photoshoot with the kids get in touch as soon as possible to secure your space in 2021

My "Why"

People over the years have asked me why am I a photographer, why do I love it so much & why is it so important to me.

I first wrote this blog back in Oct 2018 after returning from a photographers retreat in Donegal & a workshop in Belfast. I was inspired by two very talented photographers who got us thinking about our “why”. Why do we take photographs for others? You would think that this would be a fairly easy question to answer. But a lot of soul searching was needed to give the true answer to this question.

I first attended the Learning To Fly retreat in October 2015. Whilst listening to the very talented Paula O’Hara about her photography journey I had my lightbulb moment. I realised then why I love doing what I do for other people. It originally took me 3 years to put “pen to paper” and another 4 since then to update it but with National Adoption Week coming to an end today I thought it was the perfect time to update my story.

Rewind back 41 years. Back to 1977 - 3 years after I was born. In 1977 my life changed in its entirety & for the better. I was adopted by Sean & Sinead - aka mum & dad. They hadn’t been able to have children of their own &, thankfully for me, they decided to adopt. I grew up in a happy house, full of storytelling, imagination, creativity. We didn’t have much money back then but that didn’t stop my brother, sister & I enjoying our childhood. I have this to thank for my own creativity and imagination when it comes to working with kids in the studio for my themed shoots. It brings me back to my dad telling us about goblins trying to get us as we drove up Slieve Gullion in a clapped out old Renault 5 called Clarissa. Those goblins were the exhaust needing replaced but it was so much more fun for us thinking we were trying to escape the goblins while searching for fairies.

As I grew older I suffered from a real identity crisis. I didn’t know who I was, where I fitted in, who I looked like, where I was born, what time I was born at……. This really affected me in my teenage years, & with the help of my mum & dad I started the long journey in trying to trace my biological parents when I turned 18. I came across brick wall after brick wall. Dead ends everywhere & it was soul destroying. I felt so strongly that I needed to find them to find me.

I went to counselling at my local hospital with the loveliest of ladies who helped me get my head around my adoption, talking about the feeling of rejection, the feeling of not belonging anywhere. We talked about what would happen, if I traced my biological parents & they didn’t want to see me or the opposite if they did want to be part of my life. My mum & dad, whilst having their own fears about me tracing my biological parents, were such an immense support to me through that time. I was so angry with the world and I know I put them through hell at times with how I treated them. I needed to lash out & like a lot of people it was the people who gave me the most love that I lashed out at.

When I was 19 I did trace my biological father & met him & his family which was a really positive experience then. But I still had no idea where my biological mother was. Over the next 5 years I kept looking and due to a chance encounter between a lady who worked in welfare at the time I was adopted and my granny I finally met my biological mother - I was 6 months pregnant with my own daughter. It was at this time that I received the only picture I have of me as a baby. A lot of my questions were unanswered, meeting my biological mother didn’t automatically give me my identity like I thought it would. I really struggled after my eldest daughter was born 3 months later. I had severe postnatal depression which the doctor likened more to battle fatigue/ PTSD as I had gone through so much.

My brother had a daughter a year before me & when her & Becca grew older I could see how alike they looked. She had the same colour eyes as me & Becca. This might seem trivial but to me it meant the world. Finally I looked like someone, had the same features as they had. This was the start of me realising that I did know who I was, I had my own wee family & that meeting biological parents wasn’t what was going to give me my identity.

My photograph of me as a baby helped me so much - finally I knew what I looked like. I did get the information about what time I was born at & where but they didn’t really make any difference.

It was only while listening to Paula back at that retreat in 2015 that I realised this photograph was my “why”.

I love capturing special moments for my families and my couples whether its in the studio or on their wedding day. I love it because it makes me feel alive, it makes me feel that I am creating something special that families will look at down the generations, I love it because I am giving them & that child something that I didn’t have until I was just about to become a mother. Something that will show that child how loved they are, how important they are in their families lives. How amazing a gift that is to be able to give to people! I am so fortunate that I found photography when I was 39 & going through a really rough time in life (or maybe it was photography that found me).

No matter what you do in life capture your children, capture you with your children, print the images & display them so that your children know how much they mean to you, that they know exactly where they belong. My mum & dad took me to a studio after I was adopted to capture our adoption photographs. 45 years later they are still called our “adoption photographs” & take pride of place on the wall in my parents home. I love those photographs as I can see how loved I felt, how happy I was to be with mum & dad. But I love them even more now that I have the one baby image of me.. the life before I came to mum & dad.

I suppose I should really show you me seeing as you read so far:

Meet me:

Thank you reading through my ramblings. Thank you to the Learning To Fly photographers retreat, to Jay who brought his idea to life, to Paula for allowing me to open my mind & my heart fully to find out my “why”. Thanks to Rob who also brought his idea to life with Burn Workshop & to Nadia for getting us to question our “why”

I love the fact that I get to do this as my “job” now, creating memories for children and their parents. Maybe we all have to go through hard times to truly find ourselves.

The most important thank you goes to my mum and dad who have made me the person I am today, for giving me a chance at being the best version of me that I possibly can be… love you both xx

For those who are considering adopting a child, no matter what age that child is, you are doing something so selfless that will make such a difference in that child’s life. I know that I wouldn’t be half the person or parent that I am today without mum & dad. They instilled my values & morals, my drive to do my best no matter what I am doing, how to see the argument from both sides & how to just be a good person. Adoption will have its difficulties too, there is no doubt about that. I no longer converse with my biological mother, having finally let go of the toxicity caused by that “relationship” My biological father passed away last year & I finally felt like I could close the book & move on with my life properly. But things that happen in your childhood have a funny old way of resurfacing when you least expect it. Most people who follow me will know I took up cold water dipping this year and lo & behold issues from my early childhood bubbled to the surface. I’ve gone through some therapy this year which really helped me release a lot of how I was feeling about my adoption & in turn has helped me overcome a lot of my fears and anxieties

This is an image of me - taken just after therapy - engulfed in the waves at Ballygally. If I told you that I never put my face in water, not even in the shower you would have never believed me. I suppose our journey of self discovery never really ends… once you figure out one thing another takes its place. I feel so fortunate that my “Why” has led me to be doing such an amazing job, photographing newborn babies, children, families and brides and grooms throughout Northern Ireland and in my cosy wee studio in Larne, Co Antrim; something I hope I can continue to do for many more years to come.