Family Photography

Alistair contacted me about doing a Guest Post on NHM. 

So, what are Lifestyle Portraits?

A big hello to all the readership of North Hants Mum and an even bigger thanks to Louise for asking me, Alistair Jones (aka Ideal Imaging Photography, http://www.idealimaging.uk.com), to write a little piece about the Lifestyle Portraits that I have been providing for babies, children and families across the region for the last few years.

So I hope you enjoy this overview and if you feel suitably inspired don’t miss the special offer I have for you at the end!

So let’s address the question – what are lifestyle portraits? Well, in short they are professional photographs of you and your loved ones captured away from the confines of a studio and either in the comfort and familiarity of your own home or out on location in stunning settings, the choice of which is only limited by our imagination.

As with any portraits session, first I’ll take the time meet my clients and find out a little bit about them and their families, the personalities involved and what they all like doing together. All this info is key for lifestyle portraits because we can then agree the location and style the shoot accordingly. For example it could be in the context of the family home and garden (particularly important for newborns), out on the bikes, with the horses, on the beach, a favourite park, a National Trust property or perhaps in the grounds of one of the luxury hotels that I work in collaboration with.

One of those hotels is Tylney Hall Hotel in Rotherwick whom I have been enjoying an on-going partnership with in providing their guests with ‘lifestyle photography breaks’ (http://www.tylneyhall.co.uk/tylneyhall.co.uk/lifestyle-photography-break) – full board overnight stays incorporating a photo shoot with me around the gorgeous grounds featuring the magnificent Italian Terrace.

Here’s a portfolio of some of the work I’ve produced there:

http://www.idealimaging.uk.com/photographic_experience_breaks_at_tylney_hall.html.

As with so many of the locations I shoot regularly at, Tylney Hall is perfect for lifestyle portraits all year round – carpets of daffodils and bluebells in the spring, sweeping lawns and water gardens for the summer, the vibrant reds of the maple trees in the autumn and the weathered textures and colours of the rustic stonework in the winter.

Here’s a lovely testimonial I received from a recent lifestyle portrait session at Tylney Hall:

 “We had a wonderful day with Alistair at Tylney Hall recently. My eldest daughter said “We should have more fun days like that” and my youngest daughter’s smile told a story itself! When the photos arrived, we were amazed by the beauty of what had been caught. It made it very difficult to choose as we loved all the photos. Capturing moments in time of our family was what we wanted, Alistair caught those moments and surpassed our expectations”

– GLENDA BULLOCK

Whatever the venue, the lifestyle shoot is very informal, interactive, fun and relaxed. For ‘family sessions’ I allocate a good couple of hours, eliminating all concerns of time pressure. Children won’t be forced to provide the perfect smiles in the first 2 minutes but, rest assured, they sure will after some time running around, interacting with me and generally settling in. A variety of different settings will be explored and used in order to add variety to the photographs and maintain interest (particularly important for the little ones!).

The resulting images speak volumes. What I mean by that is that beyond the beautiful smiley faces there’s so much more depth and context to the portraits with the interesting background colours & textures and unique expressions which are so familiar to you now but you will want to capture forever more. These portraits reveal the true personalities of all those involved.

All in all Lifestyle portraits are all about creative and stylish, yet honest and timeless, photographic records of you and your loved ones that will hold so many more memories for you than perhaps the average portrait ‘grabbed’ in the studio. Indeed I’m very proud to say that my work was recently highlighted by VOGUE Magazine in their December 2012 ‘Tot Shots’ feature.