Blog... - Portraits

I had the pleasure this week of taking some portraits of this beautiful little baby boy, Regan. He's just two weeks and two days old! He was a joy to work with, and despite changes of clothing and being (gently) posed into position he more or less slept straight through the whole two hour session! What a star!

I've put together a couple of montages from the session that really work well together. What do you think? Please do leave any feedback at the bottom of the feature.

Another miserably damp day here in paradise, so here's little Holly again to brighten things up...

Amongst the never ending April showers I met with Kerry and David at Clare last week to create some pre-wedding location portraits in the park.

Kerry and David are getting married at Kedington in June, and a wander around the park making lovely pictures as you go is a great way to really get to know each other and for couples to get comfortable in front of the camera.

Thank you Kerry & Dave for coming over to Clare last week, I really enjoyed the shoot and look forward to making more memories for you on your big day.

Here's a few of my favourites from the session...

What a wet and miserable week of weather we're having! Here's a little sunshine to cheer your day...

Location portraiture takes on many forms, and last week I had the pleasure of capturing little Toby's 1st birthday party here in Haverhill.

Toby's Mum and Dad had spent ages transforming the Hall into a party venue and family and friends soon filled the Hall to have fun with Toby. A great time was had by all and the images captured will be a great record to look back upon.

If you're having a family gathering/party like this one, and would like the event captured for posterity in an informal way please do get in touch.

Here's a montage of a few images from the party.

Carys & Dave will be getting married at Steeple Bumpstead in a months time, and just a few days ago and we were able to meet up at Clare to capture some pre-wedding portraits in the park.

Although it was late in the day we worked fast to catch the last of the lovely evening light, and the location helped achieve a great set of personal portraits for the couple.

Thanks for coming over to the park Carys & Dave, we'll have fun again capturing your wedding day too!

Here's a montage from the session...

I was pleased to learn that an image taken at my last wedding (Donna & Daniel) has been given a "Highly Commended" award by the editor of the online photography website ephotozine.com. Thousands of images are shared on ephotozine each week, and the award is great recognition of my work.

Here's the image that achieved the award.


ephotozine is an extremely popular online photography website giving advice and inspiration to photographers across the world. To see the image at ephotozine and explore everything on the site please click on the link below.
http://www.ephotozine.com/user/billydo-11296/gallery/photo/late-afternoon-sun----22554261

Now that Spring is here (or upon us at least?!) my location portraiture sessions are in demand again. In preparation for this, myself and a few other photographers took advantage of the opportunity earlier this week to work with a couple of experienced models, Loretta & Simon. We were all under the guidance of the renowned lifestyle photographer Michael Turner, and his advice and creativity was an ideal refresher for the months ahead.

Location portraiture sessions result in a selection of images that have a purpose; they tell a story about the subjects, and capture memories of the family at that moment in time. The sessions last at least an hour, and often longer. Bookings are now being taken, and if you'd to book a session or know more please see the Portrait page or drop me an email.

Here's a montage of a few of my images from this weeks session.

Little Holly's fifth birthday already and during a moment of co-operation(!) I managed to get a few images to remember the day.

Location portraiture can produce images like these in just a few moments. You need some nice soft natural window light, a fast lens to blur the background, and be able to act quickly to capture the moment. (I did also use a reflector on the floor but this probably wasn't necessary).

I'm always available for location portraiture sessions; just get in touch and we can make it happen!

Here's my little cutie...

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that you've all had a rewarding and relaxing time. I've had plenty of time to spend with the family this year but that doesn't mean that I've stopped taking pictures... here's a montage below of little cousin Rowan who looked so smart in his shirt and tie! It just took a couple of minutes to find a nicely illuminated area and and take this series of natural spontaneous images.

If you'd like a set of location portraits like these then please do get in touch. I usually spend an hour or so creating a variety of images, and don't forget that the family pets can be included! A change of clothing is always a good idea too - (for people, not pets...!) you'd be very surprised what a difference clothing styles /colours can make to an image.

Here's little Rowan...

A couple of weeks ago during that spell of damp foggyness (probably not a real word but I like it!) I managed to persuade Holly to take a trip to the park to feed the ducks, and of course another chance to take more pictures!

To be honest the conditions were poor for picture taking. It was about 3pm, really low light levels and as I've said, damp and foggy. But we had some fun! It does go to show that the great outdoors can provide portrait opportunities in any conditions. If you'd like some memories captured of your family on a trip like this, please give me a call.

Here's a few of my favourite images...

One of my appointments from last week was the visit of little Edward ("Teddy") and his Mum for some precious baby portraits before he got too big! What a little star he was too... he seemed to enjoy every minute of the session and apart from a couple of feeds he was always content and obliging.

If you would like your little treasure photographed in this style please do get in touch to discuss. We provide a warm, safe environment and have endless patience in order to achieve the images you desire.

As usual, here's a few of my favourites from Teddy's shoot...

I'm having a busy time at the moment with location portrait sessions at local parks and woods, and I'm trying to blog as many as I can to give everyone a flavour of what I've been up to and what can be achieved in the great outdoors.

This session from last week made the most of a glorious Autumn morning and Lucy and John and their beautiful family enjoyed being introduced to this local beech wood. The children were wonderful! Thank you for coming over.

At this time of the year it makes a glorious setting for location portraits, so if you'd like to book a session like this please contact me as soon as possible - we have to work around the weather and we need to make the most of what time we have.

As usual, here's a quick peek at a few that have caught my eye...

Location portraits at local parks, woods, gardens etc are proving really popular this autumn, and here we are with a summary of another shoot at Clare Country Park, this time for Kiera & Branham.

On our way to the park the late afternoon sun was replaced by gloomy clouds, but it didn't stop us being able to capture a good range of portraits. Kiera and Branham's Dad couldn't make our session, but Mum did and I managed to persuade her get her into a few shots too! Thanks Shell!

Here's a few of my favourites...

To take advantage of the bright early Autumn weather it was off again to Clare Park, Suffolk, a couple of weeks ago for a brief portrait shoot for my friend Andrew. With some new business ventures looming Andrew wanted a few up-to-date environmental / PR portraits and where better locally to capture them than at Clare Park?!

The changing woodland colours are getting better and better by the week and these Autumn scenes make such beautiful backgrounds for portraits. It's a great time to be a location portrait photographer...

Here's a few from the portrait session.

Autumn is upon us now and my trip to the local park last week for a family portrait session was rewarded with the first signs of Autumn colour. What a great time of year for photographers! And what a great time of year to have your memories captured in such a memorable way!

Here's an example of what can be achieved in the great outdoors...

Spent a little time this week with Laura to capture some portraits for her portfolio. Despite a showery afternoon we made the most of a bright spell to get some great shots, here's a few for you to see.

Donna & Paul are just two weeks away from their wedding but we all managed to find a slot in our diaries to meet up at Newmarket to capture a few pre-wedding images. It's hard to avoid horses at Newmarket and our shoot failed to prove otherwise as a nervy racehorse tried to make friends!

Pre-wedding shoots are a great way for a couple to get used to being the centre of attention and it really can ease a few nerves before the big day. It helps the photographer too as I can judge how the couple respond to some direction and consequently everyone should be a better position come wedding day. Thanks for your time and enthusiasm Donna & Paul - see you in two weeks time!

Here's a few of my favourites...

With only three weeks to go until their wedding day we managed to find a small slot on a wet Saturday afternoon to capture some lovely pictures for Bineeta and Amit. Those of you who are local to Cambridge may recognise the location, otherwise I'll keep you guessing!

Here are a few of my favourite images...

Photography is one of those subjects where you just never stop learning, and last week I booked myself in for another Society of Wedding & Portrait Photographers (SWPP) training days run by the highly respected and multi-talented photographer, Mr John Denton. We were also accompanied by a leading freelance model, Fredau Hoekstra, and a number of styles and techniques were experimented and refreshed.

Here's a few of my results, all quite different in their own right.