What were you looking to achieve from your shoot with us?
I felt that now is the perfect time for our family to have one. We’ve been wanting to have a photo shoot for ages, since we had our last child, but we were waiting until the 2 youngest were old enough to understand what was going on and what was expected of them! There is quite an age gap between the five children and we wanted to have the photo shoot now before the eldest starts University in September. Now that she is flying the nest, it’s only a matter of time until they’ve all gone. September is going to be an emotional month for me this year! Abi leaves for Uni, Erin starts High School and Max starts Infants School. I don’t know how I’m going to cope!!
Tell us about your family
Abi, Conor and Erin are my children from a previous relationship and Max and Zoe are Ste & my children. Before we had the 2 babies we experienced 2 miscarriages. It was a devastating time for us both but it brought us closer together as a family. Ste has had a family experience like this before with his brother and his Mum. Abi and I have had a makeover experience but we’ve never had anything like this all together.
Why did you think that Bartley Studios would be right for you?
We felt that Bartley Studios were the perfect studio to help us achieve the look and style of photo that we wanted to capture, We didn’t want a stiff, forced, family portrait. We wanted a relaxed photo that showed a true likeness of us and the kids, and the family as a whole, on a regular basis.
What did you bring along to the studio with you?
We brought two memory bears with us that were a gift for each of the youngest children from a great friend of ours. We brought these as we wanted them to appear in the photos as they are teddies that the babies will always cherish.
Were you worried about any parts of the session beforehand and if so what?
I was concerned that, because there were so many of us, it would be too chaotic to get any decent photos. I worried that Max and Zoe would lose interest quickly and not do what was needed of them.
Tell us about the favourite parts of your experience and why you enjoyed them…
My favourite part of the whole experience, has to be when we came back for the viewing!!! The amount of effort Natasha put in to arranging the photos, adding music, the transition between photos and everything else was incredible!! The help Chris gave us, during the viewing, was invaluable. He helped us to decide which pictures looked the best and how to arrange them in the collection so that they looked the best they possibly could.
What advice do you have for other clients coming for a shoot with us?
The best piece of advice I would offer is to just relax and have fun. The staff at Bartley will ensure everything else runs smoothly.
What was your favourite image overall?
My favourite photo overall, was the photo of our 5 children together. Things are usually busy at home and we don’t always get a chance to get a great photo of them all together, happy and smiling at the same time.
I would just like to say Thank you to you all. The whole experience has been amazing and I’m so glad that we chose Bartley Studios to take our photos and help us to capture some precious moments between us all that we will be able to treasure forever.
If you are interested in coming along for a photoshoot yourselves, then please take a look at the following pages…