Simon Kemp | Baby, Children and Family Photographer | Reading, Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey and London

Family Photography in Reading

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:26:19 +0000

Andrea and Paul recently called to introduce me to their beautiful baby Olivia, she is an absolute sweetie eh? As always, I prefer to photograph at my client’s homes – everyone is more relaxed and when baby Olivia is grown up I hope these photographs will bring back happy childhood memories because of the location and backgrounds.

Some favourites from the home photography session in Reading, Berkshire

Children’s Portrait Photography | Hook, Hampshire

admin — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 17:26:08 +0000

The time was long overdue for a portrait of my two beautiful children Albert and Evie. It was a beautiful spring day here today so the Mrs. and I thought it would be great to head out for a brief portrait session in the sunshine. As you might expect, getting 14 and 10 year old siblings to sit together for more than five seconds was a job in itself :) Albert particularly has a standard teenagers disdain for anything like this so I consider these photographs a victory! I’m a huge fan of having something beautiful to hang on the wall so I photographed with this in mind. I’ve always thought how nice it is to have photographs of your children on the wall in a room you use a lot. It’s lovely to see them there whilst they’re out at school all day. No, honestly :) – but then my two are very well behaved ~~most of the time.~~

Hampshire Family Photography

admin — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:01:08 +0000

Here are some favourite family photographs from a portrait session in Dogmersfield in Hampshire. Barbara and family were wonderful to work with and, as we discussed at the time, it’s not everyday that a family of this size gets together in one place that it’s a wonderful opportunity for some irreplaceable family photography.

It was lovely to photograph some smaller family groups as well as everyone together. I photographed the children individually as well which is nice to do as it gives the parents a wider choice of images for the wall.

Family Portrait Photography in Three Mile Cross, Reading

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:55:59 +0000

I love photographing families at home and on location, as I’ve written before many times, the photographs have much more meaning photographed at home and in the garden than in the sterile confines of the studio. That’s not to say studio photography doesn’t have it’s place, it’s great for newborn baby photography for example and for when location portraiture isn’t an option for one reason or another. I love that the children are more relaxed in their own surroundings and this means their personalities come to the fore as they are comfortable in their own surroundings. Here’s a case in point – I was asked by Angela and Martin to photograph little Zara (who I last photographed as a baby and her new sister Cerys at home in Three Mile Cross near Reading.

Little Zara was a bundle of energy and we got some great photographs as I chased them around the garden. Here’s a few that caught my eye as I was editing the session.

I love the colours of the background fence here, they have a great, weathered look that goes well with Zara’s clothing.

Little sister Cerys does a spot of pruning.

The two sisters. Zara posing beautifully (I’m sure I’ve seen that pose in a Victorian story book) and little Cerys – just a fraction too shy to leave her dad’s arms for very long.

Can you tell Cerys loves having her picture taken? :) I noticed that the colours of the plant pot matched her outfit quite well so I had her stand here for a photograph.

Thanks for looking!

A family portrait at home

admin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:19:50 +0000

This is Thomas, son of Louise and Steven. We photographed the family in the garden a couple of weeks ago. Even though the summer had started to slip away, we pretended it was sunnier and warmer than it was! I love the way his little blonde curls pick up the sunlight and know his mum and dad will treasure these pictures in the years to come.

Baby Photography | Reading, Berkshire

admin — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:21:30 +0000

This is baby Daisy, Mike and Becky brought their beautiful brand new baby into the studio for some photographs to commemorate her arrival in the world :) Here are a couple of favourites from the studio photography session.

Family Portrait Photography in Farnham, Surrey

admin — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:11:19 +0000

For everyone who thinks it’s difficult to get your family together for a family portrait, Vanessa and Valerie managed to assemble all fifteen members of the clan together at the same time in the same place! As is often the case a family photograph was something they had all been meaning to get around to for years. Congratulations to the ladies for getting everyone together, clean and scrubbed and presentable! It’s such a rare time that everyone is together in one place, a family photography session is a great idea to commemorate the event. It was a pleasure to work with the family today as we created some great photographs in their garden in Farnham. We had the large family group expertly printed and framed and it looks fantastic on Valerie and Roger’s wall. Even though the family is spread far and wide, it’s a great reminder of everyone, children, parents and grandparents.

Vanessa sent me a lovely card after the event “Just a note to say many thanks for the wonderful picture…I helped Dad put up the portrait on Tuesday night and it looks stunning…”

The Family Portrait

The grandparents – they started this whole thing :)

A couple of individual family photographs

Thanks for looking at my Farnham family photographs.

Pet and Family Photography | Reading Berkshire

admin — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:20:10 +0000

This young lady is called Olivia…

This young lady is called Inca!

Andy and Suzy brought their two girls to the studio for some family pictures today.

Everyone was happy to be photographed and we got some lovely family pictures…

…perfect for the day when Olivia is taller than her Mum and Dad :)

Children’s Photography | Reading Berkshire

admin — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 21:22:01 +0000

Dave and Libby got married at Wentworth Club in 2004 and today it was great to see them all again and to photograph their two boys, Tom and Joe. The boys were great, and although it took a little longer than usual to chase them around the studio we ended up with some great photographs. Here’s a couple of my favourites.

The boys

Young Joe – I love the expression in this photograph.

A little bit more of a relaxed look here for Tom. I love this photograph though – you don’t necessarily need big smiles with studio portraits.

Family Portraits | Henley On Thames

admin — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 09:13:52 +0000

With children’s portrait photography I always believe it’s a mistake to try and get the kids to be anything other than themselves. I think it’s a priority to let their personalities show through. Today I was in Shiplake, Henley on Thames to photograph James and Amanda’s family. I’ve known James and Amanda for many years – since before the kids came along – and it was a pleasure today to photograph the children in their home. I’ve written before about the differences between studio portraits and portrait photography on location in the home suffice to say, the kids look pretty relaxed here, and, perhaps more importantly, look like they’re enjoying the portrait session. If you would like to organise a family photography session at home, please drop me a line.

Here’s a few favourites from the session.