Our first ever au pair, after 2 years with us moved on to become a nanny for a lovely Spanish family in Clapham. I drove her to her new job and met her wonderful new employers, one of which I discovered was a wonderful photographer. We stayed in touch through Instagram (her feed is beautiful btw) and was delighted when she asked if I would review one of her packages – relaxed family photos in your own house.
Any mother who tries to snap her kids will know how rare it is to get a good photo with the combination everyone’s eyes open, good light and happy so I was happy to give Carla the challenge of getting some photos of all of us.
As soon as she entered our home, the magic happened and she managed to get the children’s attention with a very cunning knack of asking them to look for the frog in the lens (I think it was a frog – I was so enamoured with the concept I can’t actually remember the exact tactic.)
She new the hardest shot is the ones of all the kids together so she got to work on that whilst they were still in post breakfast high. (She likes to start early at about 9 so she can get there best hours before they get tired and hungry).
She said then what would work best is if we just pretended she wasn’t there and get on with what we normally do (ok, not washing up breakfast) but playing in the garden, doing a puzzle etc.
We then moved around the house and she conscientiously made sure that every combination of child/child & child/adult was covered, which she achieved seamlessly and calmly.
I was so thrilled with the session. Carla is a lovely girl to have around and having two children of her own is very natural with kids. She knows about attention spans and distracting to get the best out of the children and her photography skills speak for themselves in her photos. She is a very talented lady!
GIVEAWAY
If you would like to win a 30 minute photo shoot in the park worth £130 including five prints and images, head over to my Instagram to win!
How did you develop your passion for photography?
My interest in photography goes all the way back to Dad’s old film camera as a teenager, I remember developing my first roll of film in the darkroom at school and being amazed at seeing my creations appearing on paper! I continued with some street photography during university, but as happens so often, life and work just got busy and I put my hobby to one side for several years.
It wasn’t until my first child was born that I really started shooting again to capture every single little detail, first smiles, tiny hands and feet, I didn’t want to miss a thing! During each of my maternity leaves I learnt everything I could about photography online, and I haven’t put my camera down since! I like to think that one day my children will see their childhood, through my eyes, in my photographs.
What made you decide to do it professionally?
As I started sharing my photography on Instagram in particular, family and friends started asking me if I could photograph their families. I really enjoyed my first few sessions and creating those timeless memories that mean so much to me for others, so I decided to take the leap!
What’s your style?
My style is very natural, lifestyle photography, capturing the beauty of natural family connections.
Who do you love to photograph?
All families really, families with newborns, young siblings, mornings with grandparents, I enjoy photographing it all!
What is your pricing structure?
I tailor each family session to each unique family and love seeing each family’s personality emerge in the photo galleries I deliver. I do newborn and family sessions where I spend 2-3 hours of a morning with a family either in the comfort of their own home or outdoors.
The booking fee is £175 which includes the photography session itself, a pre-shoot consultation to get to know your family a little better and tailor the session to your unique family personality, a styling guide and recommendations to prepare both parents and children for the session for best results.
My photography packages start at £150 and I offer a range of options of prints, digital packages, frames and albums. Finally, I firmly believe in displaying photographs rather than storing them on a hard drive where they will be forgotten and won’t be fully appreciated, so I always include a post-shoot consultation to give guidance on the different options to best display your images.
With such a reasonable price for such quality results, if I were you I would get booking!
Carla’s Favourites :
Restaurant : Cambio De Tercio in South Kensington, for when I start missing Spanish food!
Hotel : I have to say that with such amazing houses on AirBnB, I rarley stay at hotels with my family anymore!
Website : Amazon! (does that count? It’s a life saver for me!) 😉
Shop : I love shopping locally and there’s a little shop in my neighbourhood called Lizzie’s, it’s become my go-to for buying all sorts of thoughtful little presents for people.
Holiday destination : My best holiday ever was on Safari in Botswana, my husband and I vowed we would do it again, maybe for our 25 year anniversary? 🙂
Parenting tip : “Patience, patience and more patience….and remember to have fun!”
No Comments