We had the pleasure of photographing the Mukami’s at their beautiful home earlier in April.  Ify and Keith’s son Max turns 7 this year and he goes to school with Louise’s sons Mikey.  These two are good friends and Mikey even asked if he could go with when he heard mom is going to Max’s house    (I just love the way kids think, don’t you?)

Ify had emailed us some photos of Amercian President Obama and his family taken studio and at their house and all of the poses we’re just so laid back and relaxed. 

Ify and Keith’s house has the most beautiful garden with gigantic trees, it looks like it could almost be a public park.  We started off with taking family photos inside the house on a nice comfy couch just to get them all used to being in the spotlight   If you look at this photo below both Keith and Max are concentrating so hard that they’re sticking their tongues out.  Like father like son hey! From there we moved outside with a picnic blanket and had all of them just casually sit or lie down and we just snapped away…  I always say that we’re almost like the paparazzi in the sense that we usually take more than enough photos ( I think after a family shoot I average roundabout 180-200 photos and Louise roundabout 350-400 photos, and all of this in one hour…)

We love photographing at peoples home’s!  Kids tend to be really shy and don’t like to be confined.  Add to this the studio lights and the unfamiliar lady with a camera and you’ve got one difficult situation.  When photographing kids in their natural environment they are much more relaxed and the photos are much more spontaneous photos like capturing the absolute delight on their little faces when they’re being chased around by dad or the excitement of being  twirled in a circle around and around by mom!

Natural lighting also plays a big role in photography.  If you have a big garden with lots of shady spots then that’s great, otherwise just try not to schedule your shoot for the middle of the day but rather later in the day like 3 o’clock.  Otherwise you could even keep an eye out for a park close to where you live and just have your photos done there.  This will give you the option to play games like kicking a soccer ball about, throwing a frisbee and just running around. 

As a new mom of a newborn baby it ’s always a little busy and a mission to take the baby anywhere, so we offer a solution for your newborn photography.  We now also come out and do your newborn shoot in the comfort of your own home which might make the experience much more relaxed for you.  We just love photographing newborn babies, any kids actually  .  As Louise always says, when do what you love, you love what you do!!

Riani