This month I was asked by a client to do a photo shoot with two goals;
- to take some photos of her daughters for use as Christmas cards, and
- to take a family portrait.
I had worked with this client last year, when she had asked for a casual portrait with her daughters that she could give to her husband as a present. The result of that shoot was this…

So, after sitting down with the client this year, and discussing things, we decided that photos of the girls in white and sometimes with some angel wings, would look lovely for the Christmas cards.
They also decided that they would stay with the look of blue jeans and white T-shirts for their family portraits. In additions, they wanted the portrait to be relaxed and casual, showing them all as they really are, rather than trying to pose everyone. A formal pose would have been especially “interesting” with the two young girls.1 The relaxed approach is much more fun, and has the added bonus of keeping young people in a good mood for longer.
With the brief established, we all headed to a local forest and spent an very enjoyable hour playing and snapping. And, here are some random examples of the results…
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- I find formal sittings way to stiff for my liking, and I am often amused by the stress levels surrounding shopping centre portraiture, where the kids are screaming and unhappy.[<<]








