Sarah Legge Photography 2023 - Surrey Wedding Photographers

FAMILY PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER

“I specialise in beautiful, natural, family photography, capturing the cheeky essence of your little ones and the special bond between parents and children.”

My approach is known as ‘lifestyle’ photography. I don’t place babies in jars or on miniature rocking horses but prefer to photograph them cuddled up in blankets or simply held in parents’ arms being adored. Likewise, I don’t expect 3 year olds to sit on a stool in front of a white background, and am very happy chasing them around your kitchen or playing hide and seek in the woods.

I’m now the mother of two small boys (who are delicious and exhausting in equal measure!) which is so useful for this job!

I’m so busy with wedding photography that unfortunately I can only fit in family shoots during the week at the moment.

NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHY

I do newborn photography sessions at my clients’ home (I travel up to 45 mins from my home in Englefield Green, including Wandsworth where I used to live).

Birth dates are, of course, pretty unpredictable, so contact me and tell me your due date and I’ll try my best to accommodate your little arrival when they decide to turn up! The best time for classic newborn photos is in the first 10-14 days after birth before they lose that lovely curled up look. Otherwise I suggest waiting til 12+ weeks when they’ve got lovely and smiley.

If when the time comes you don’t feel up to having some photos done we can always reschedule e.g. for some first birthday photos.

FAMILIES & CHILDREN

I offer photography sessions in your home (within about 45 mins of my home in Englefield Green, Surrey) or on location (e.g. in your favourite park, or Windsor Great Park) to capture spontaneous, fun pictures of your babies/children at play.

Between us we can work out a good venue – for babies a simple double bed with a white duvet cover often works well (I tend to get in close and work with a narrow depth of field so the background isn’t hugely important – there needs to be good natural light though), whilst your garden or a local park provides the space to run/toddle around for older toddlers and children.

As with my wedding photography, I aim to be as unobtrusive as possible. I’ll give some direction where required, but there’ll be no forced, unnatural poses, and certainly no dodgy false library backgrounds like in my old school portraits!

FAQS

Should the shoot be inside or outside?

For children up to about 18-24 months old I recommend photographing inside – the light’s more controllable and they don’t need to be bundled up outdoors clothes. Once they’re properly on the move (and certainly over about 3 years old) then outside is often nicer – the backgrounds can be better and there’s more room for them to run and play. However, if you’ve got a lovely house, inside can work well too with older children.

Dad holding child in the air among the trees.

Do you have a studio?

Nope – my style suits natural surroundings (plus in my experience, children don’t love sitting in front of a white background for an hour!), so I do most of my shoots at my clients’ homes (within about 45 mins of my home in Englefield Green, Surrey). This works well because, as well as being convenient for you (apart from the tidying!) it’s a nice familiar environment for the children, plus the background is meaningful to you. Alternatively we can go to a common or park (see question ‘Inside or outside’ for more info on that issue!).

Eek, you’re coming to do a shoot at my home – how should I prepare?!

Window light is beautiful for photographs (light’s more important than background). I tend to base baby shoots in the lightest bedroom in the house (loft conversions are often great), and for older kids playing near a window/french doors can be lovely. I’ll advise on the best spot when I get there (but call if you’d like to talk through in advance). Please tidy up a bit if you can. I tend to focus close up on the kids’ lovely smiles and the background will be blurred so the place doesn’t have to be pristine, but it’s MUCH better if a bit of clutter is cleared away. For baby shoots it’s worth putting on a plain duvet cover, removing dressing gowns from the back of your bedroom door, tucking away the alarm clock etc…although we can quickly do this together when I’m there if we need. I’m pretty slovenly at home so I promise I won’t be surprised if the house is a mess!

Help – what should we wear?!

A few tips…

  • The most important thing is for the children to be happy and comfortable – however beautiful an outfit is, if it’s uncomfortable it’ll make the child grumpy, and we want to avoid that where possible!
  • Choose a colour palette (or a favourite piece) and arrange coordinating outfits (not too ‘matchy matchy’). For example everyone wearing soft blues and pinks looks lovely, or using a main colour such a blue with a splash of an accent colour like yellow can look great.
  • I generally encourage mums to cover their upper arms as too much skin can be distracting, but wear what you feel best in.
  • The photographs will be on your walls for years to come so go classic and avoid cartoon characters/big logos or text.

Textures, patterns and layers photograph well (as long as they co-ordinate with each other) and have fun with accessories if you want!

Brother and sister kneeling in the woods amongst autumnal leaves.

How does a session work?

My sessions are really relaxed and my clients generally find them surprisingly fun! I normally start photographing the little ones by themselves and then get the parents involved. I capture you all interacting, and having fun. Having the children there is a great distraction so even parents who don’t love being photographed tend to find the process painless!

What happens if my baby/children don’t behave?

Parents often worry about the little ones playing up and the shoot being a disaster, but I’ve photographed hundreds of sessions and we’ve always got some lovely shots. I expect half the time to be feeding/bribing/jiggling but that’s fine – we don’t need a huge amount of time to make lovely images. My biggest advice is to avoid asking children to smile at the camera, and threats to behave themselves – have fun and be silly with the kids, and work with me to get natural smiles! Distracting them with tickles or funny games tends to work better then telling them off….and certainly it’s worth relaxing any normal rules you’ve got (apart from don’t hit the photographer!) for the hour of the shoot. I’ve got two unruly little boys myself so I won’t be judging parenting skills!

MORE INFORMATION

Behind the Scenes

See me in action at a family shoot

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