More familiar faces on the blog today as I had the great pleasure of revisiting Leire and Graham’s family last weekend. I first photographed their gorgeous boys a couple of years ago when they were just 1 and 3 (take a peek at their first family photo session here) so I was really pleased to photograph them again, this time aged 3 and 5.

This time we started the session at home but also ventured outside, first in the garden of their St Albans home and then into the local woods for an adventure with their family dog Flash. It’s one of the first sunny days we have had in ages so we made the most of it, climbing trees and exploring the woods.

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I love revisiting families as the children grow. I first photographed Lisa and Stuart’s family a couple of years ago when their son Ewan was still a baby so I was delighted when Lisa got in touch a few weeks back to organise a family photo session in Harpenden. Not only has Ewan become a proper little boy (due to start school this year! where does time go??) but he’s now big brother to the adorable Lily.

The whole family was very relaxed (even their two family dogs!) and the session went so smoothly, thank you Lisa and Stuart for letting me photograph your family again!

Here are a few of my favourite photos from the photo session including this cute outtake I posted on my facebook page earlier today:

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This Christmas season has bit a bit of a whirlwind and I am slowly catching up with the blog! Some of you may already have seen picture from this great photography session on my facebook page, it’s about time I shared them on my blog too. A beautiful autumn morning in Holland Park with Alessia, Chris and their gorgeous children Luca and Serena.

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Maria and Vas received a gift voucher from their family as a present for the birth of their lovely daughter Georgia. I met them in their beautiful London home for a relaxed family photo session.

Georgia has just recently learned to walk and it was exciting to immortalise some of her first steps as she was gingerly making her way from Mum to Dad and back.

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You may have seen a sneak preview of this session on my facebook page – it’s about time I shared more! Here are some photos of two beautiful sisters and and their parents Jane and Dan. I had the privilege of spending the morning with them for a family portrait session earlier this month and the girls enjoyed showing me around their house and dancing on the beds. The weather was terrible so we stayed inside and made the most of the wonderful window light.

I have so many favourites from this session, here are a few of them:

Perfectly imperfect: I caught this one as the girls were falling backwards hence the unusual framing but I just couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it, I just love their expressions!

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I first photographed this gorgeous little girl for a baby portrait session last year when she was just three months old. She was so pretty and smiley, and when her mum contacted me again this month to do another session I was looking forward to see how her features and personality had developed. Here are some photos which have captured her mood on the day: sometimes playful, sometimes more calm and pensive and oh so pretty!

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I received the nicest email this morning from one of my customers! I had a session with her family last week and when I arrived at the house she warned me that their three year old boy E. simply hated having his picture taken. The only recent photo they had of him was taken by the school photographer in between two sobs…

I decided to leave the camera in my bag and simply play Mega Blocks with E for a little while until he got used to me. He was such a sweetheart and didn’t mind when I eventually got the camera out, in fact he seemed to quite enjoy posing for me! I feel very lucky that I can take the time to get to know the children during the session, it makes all the difference between the portraits I am able to take and the ones you would get in a quick studio session or at school. I also believe that photographing the children in their own home makes them feel more secure and comfortable.

“Dear Stephanie, Thank you, thank you so much for the photos. They are exactly how I wished them to be and you are a genius! We all really enjoyed the session and Ewan still talks about it now! He has never ever willingly allowed anyone but you to take his photo and you have captured his personality so well. Toby looks adorable (I am slightly biased of course!) and there are so many lovely ones of Stu and the boys. [...] Thank you again, Regards, EY”

Thank you EY for your kind message, you made my day!

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This session was a surprise birthday present from Karen to her husband Tim. I was really pleased to get plenty of good shots of their lovely daughter H as Karen had warned me she was normally very camera shy. Baby brother J, on the other hand, loves to pose and spent his time observing me with his big blue eyes or playing “row, row, row your boat” with his sister – plenty of great photo opportunities!

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I’d like to share some photos from a session I had last week with two beautiful little girls: J aged 2.5 and her baby sister C who is just 6 months old.

The original plan was to take mainly portraits of baby C to mark her 6-month “birthday” but it quickly became obvious that J enjoyed posing for the camera just as much as her sister.

This was a great opportunity to capture some nice sibling interaction and I am thrilled with how the photos have come out, here are some of my favourites:

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Last year I donated a photo package as a prize for a charity auction to raise money for the ABC in Watford. The ABC is a midwife-led birthing unit within Watford General Hospital and the midwives there have been wonderful during both my labours making the birth of my children a really positive experience.

Louise placed the winning bid at the auction and contacted me this month to arrange her session. I had the pleasure of meeting her husband and three lovely daughters last week and the session was very much about capturing the three sisters’ personalities and their relationship.

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