Review 2016: Studio 1314

Recently I saw some pictures that Jaz from Caterpillar Music had of her family that the team at Studio 1314 had taken. They were so gorgeous that it reminded me that I needed to get some more pictures of our family taken.

Lucy and Wayne run Studio 1314 and I met Lucy at one of my NHM Networking lunches. So when I mentioned to her that I’d like to get some pictures taken she very kindly suggested we do a Review for them.

I cannot praise Lucy enough. The whole experience was sooo lovely and relaxing and I am beyond delighted with the final pictures!!!

Lucy and Wayne are also very kindly offering a Special Offer just for NHM Readers, which is listed at the bottom of this post.

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Pre Session briefing with Lucy

I had a twenty minute call with Lucy about a week before our shoot and she asked me some questions and told me what to expect. She advised us to bring lots of changes of outfits, especially for Miss NHM, and some items that reflect our personality (You can see one of the final pictures on the banner of “Louise nhm Smith” on Facebook).

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Photo Shoot at Studio 1314

The Studio is based just past East Stratton which is about 15 minutes drive from Hatch Warren Sainsburys.

We followed the signs to East Stratton and the studio is on the other side of the village on the left hand side. If you follow the postcode it’s very easy to find.

The site of the studio is beautiful as you can see below:

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I was really surprised at how big the studio is. It’s HUGE and that’s without even seeing the Viewing Room!

It’s a really big space with lots of seating and you can easily fit up to 15 people in the studio, so it’s a perfect place if you wanted to do a big family shoot.

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When we arrived Lucy asked us to take our socks off, offered us drinks and then we got started. There was music playing in the background which gave the shoot a real party feel and Miss NHM kept wiggling to the music, on and off camera! lol.

I loved that we could spread out and not have to worry about having out outfits all over the place. We had about 15 different outfits with us!! Thankfully there is a private changing area if you need it.

Lucy was one of the most relaxed photographers that we have ever worked with. I don’t know if it’s because Miss NHM is older not but we barely had to get involved, apart from helping with outfits. I also don’t know if it helps that Lucy has a three year old daughter of her own, so she knows how to interact with children.

Miss NHM really enjoyed asking Lucy questions and following her directions and if you see some of the final pictures, you’d think that Miss NHM was a professional model!!! (not that I’m biased of course! lol).4

It was really nice that Lucy wasn’t constantly shouting Miss NHM’s name to get her attention, but was interacting with her and just going with the flow of whatever Miss NHM wanted to do.

It was a 90 minute shoot which really took the time pressure off. Lucy said that if it’s a newborn shoot they allow 2 hours!

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We ended up with lots and lots of different pictures that all capture an element of Miss NHM’s personality in all her different outfits.

I even liked the ones that Lucy took of me and Mr NHM and I HATE having my picture taken! :-D.

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Miss NHM normally gets fed up after 20 minutes of a photo shoot but we really enjoyed it. Even Mr NHM commented on the way home that he really enjoyed it, and I didn’t even prompt him! :-D.

Reviewing the pictures

A few weeks later (our fault cause we have such busy diaries!) we went back to see how the pictures came out.

We LOVED them!!!!9

They are absolutely BRILLIANT photos that were WAY better than I expected.

There is a separate viewing area which even had popcorn, biscuits, Mr Men tissues, colouring books and even a play area for the children to play with whilst we looked through the pictures!

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There was a massive screen in the viewing room and we spent about an hour going through them whilst Miss NHM amused herself with the colouring, trying to snaffle all of the popcorn and playing in the play area. She really liked seeing pictures of herself too!

Lucy has a tablet that she uses instead of a mouse which helps her move the images  around directly on the screen and both Mr NHM and Miss NHM were really intrigued with this. It also made it really easy to decide which pictures we wanted printed.

Special Offer for NHM Readers

Lucy and Wayne are also very kindly offering a very special offer for NHM Readers. (Thank you very much!!!)

The first 5 people to contact the team at Studio 1314 and book before April 2016 will receive a  Free family photoshoot and 2 mounted 7×5 inch prints of their choice.

This would normally have a value of £150.

This offer is ONLY open to the first 5 people who book and ONLY available to NorthHantsMum Readers. Yay! 😀

Facilities on site

  • Tea and coffee facilities
  • Toilets in the studio
  • Changing room area with a baby changing stand (loved this!)
  • Plenty of free parking
  • Occasional Groupon Offers
  • Pets are very welcome for photo shoots too

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Final Thoughts

We are absolutely delighted with the final pictures. I can’t stop raving about them!

Lucy and her husband Wayne have thought of everything! It definitely is the little details that count.

It was by far one of the most relaxing photo shoots we have ever had. It was a really lovely experience, a lovely studio and we were really impressed!

You can find out more about Studio 1314 at:

Website: www.studio1314.co.uk

Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/studio1314photography

Disclaimer: This post is a review of Studio1314. Our photography shoot was supplied free of charge for the purposes of the review. I was not expected to write a positive review and any opinions expressed are my own. 

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