Buying birthday gifts for my Dad is always a tricky one. This year my Mam came up with the idea of a Mandy Charlton Family Photoshoot. Genius plan! It’s been a couple of years since we had some nice shots and Mandy always delivers with her natural, relaxed style. The girls are growing up fast. I will soon have a 10 year old. How on earth did that happen? It’s always lovely to capture childhood moments. Usually myself and Alan duck out of the photos and let the girls take centre stage. This time we thought nah… let’s get in the frame! As family bloggers we actually have very few photos of us as a family. One of us (usually Alan) is always holding the camera.
Rain, Rain go away
The British summer is always a tricky beast and an outdoor family photoshoot requires a dry and preferably bright evening. The first night we had booked it came with a day of flash flooding. Not ideal. The decision was made to move the photo shoot to the following week. Thankfully second time lucky was gorgeous summer night. Jesmond Dene was the perfect location to meet Mandy with plenty of parking and some interesting trees and backdrops. The session lasted around 30 minutes, ample time to get some great family shots.
What to Wear to a Family Photoshoot?
Mandy gets asked this question all the time, and the answer is to wear whatever you feel comfortable. For a summer shoot she advises again red and orange and they reflect the sun. We decided to be semi-coordinated and go for a white and blue colour informal theme. The girls put on their best summer frocks and sandals. Alan was instructed to have a smart boy haircut in preparation. I went with blue jeans and a white blouse.
Jesmond Dene Family Photoshoot
Mandy, accompanied with her lush beagle Holly Bobbins, was ready to meet us at the entrance of Pet’s Corner. Mandy immediately put us at ease and positioned us in the quirky tree while she snapped away. As we moved around the park, we did some family shots, individual shots of the girls and even some of me and Alan. I think the last time we had a photo of us together was at our wedding 12 years ago! The natural backdrop of Jesmond Dene is so pretty. Much better than the old white screen backdrops when we were kids.
Digital Photo Album
The next morning our edited album was available in a Dropbox. This is perfect as it means you can decide what prints to order from any online photo shop. In total there were 60 shots and we really were blown away by the quality of photographs. Deciding which ones to print will be the tricky decision. My Dad was so impressed with his birthday present and quickly made his order list. Mandy ticked our brief for natural, relaxed shots.
Mandy Charlton Family Photoshoot
Thanks so much to Mandy for her fantastic work and speedy turnaround. She really is very talented lady and it was lovely to catch up. Alan also managed to get some advice on vlogging cameras. No surprise he now has his eye on yet another gadget!
For details of her latest offers (she is running a summer holiday special) see her website.
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