Birthday Photography

How we work

A first birthday is about ninety minutes of ceremony and three hours of family, and the photographs people keep almost always come from the second part. We stay for both. Nobody is asked to cut the cake twice, and the child is never made to sit still for a picture.

We work close and quietly. Small children read a large camera and a bright light as a reason to stop what they are doing, so we keep both to a minimum and let the party carry on around us.

What we photograph

The decorations before anyone touches them, the guests arriving, the cake, and the part nobody plans — cousins under the table, a grandmother holding the baby while the room sings.

Family portraits are the one thing we direct, because everyone wants a copy and nobody wants to organise it. We take them early, while the child is still fresh and everyone is still in what they arrived in.

Booking

Most families book two to four weeks ahead. Weekend afternoons in the winter months fill first, so tell us the date as soon as the hall is confirmed.

If the party is at home rather than a hall, say so when you enquire. It changes what we bring and usually makes for better photographs, not worse.

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