What questions should you be asking your family photographer?

What you need to know

Family Photography is not an easy profession - this is important and a privilege - I knowi I have to get this right as these moments pass so quickly. Plus interviewing photographers can be a daunting task. Regardless of if you are hiring Matt Trott Photography or another studio, we have created a list of questions to help you find the perfect photographer for your family

1. What is your primary style?

This should be your first and foremost question as this is the style of photography that interests you. My style is very much focused on a 95%/5% rule - 95% is candid documentary photos of you whilst 5% has a degree of posing (and by posing I mean we might engineer the situation, i.e asking you to walk towards me through a naturally well-lit area or occasionally asking you to position yourself near a window to benefit from the gorgeous natural soft light).

2. I have recently given birth and I am worried about how I will be captured in photos?

Let’s face it ladies your bodies go through so much when you give birth, It is totally understood that your first and foremost thought may not be one to appear in photos. However, the dilemma you face is that your little one is growing and changing by the day. Naturally, I take photos of your little ones by themselves - to capture all those beautiful chubby details - but having photos with you involved is going to elevate your pictures tenfold. My advice is the moment trumps all - this is the essence of what we are trying to capture, the beautiful moment in your family doing what you love. If there is something however that you are particularly conscious of then just reach out to me and let me know - I shoot in a style that adds heavy blur where i don’t want the focus to be and pin-sharp where I want the focus to be, so just let me know and i guarantee you will love the final output.

3. What are the best ages to have photographs taken?

The answer to this question really is whenever you want to! Typical stages for babies and children are:

1) The sleepy newborn stage where they are wrinkly and gorgeous (think about booking something in the first few weeks after birth for these) - often my clients will speak to me and arrange this pre-birth then, of course, I can be flexible depending on when the birth is!

2) 3 months - it feels like your little bundle has grown up so much. With photos taken at this age, they are smiling, holding those gorgeous little faces up and generally a little more robust!

3) 6 months - This development leap makes the little cuties realise that sitting still is boring and they start crawling and exploring – this makes for really fun, happy and very often hilarious photos.

4) 1 year - They start walking and the adventure really begins – photos taken once they are toddlers are brilliant and I simply love it. They are so inquisitive and adventurous it really makes for some creative and lovely photo stories! I’d say after this you could aim for photos each year until they are 4 or 5 then every few years after that. But honestly, it is when you want photos of them to treasure and remember – you simply can’t have enough!

4. But my house is far from picture-perfect - how will that affect the photos - should we choose somewhere else?

The answer is simply somewhere you and your family feel comfortable and have a connection with. That can be in a particular room of your home, your garden, the park, a local festival you go to every year, your annual holiday to the beach or simply baking a cake in the kitchen. Don’t worry about having the ‘magazine’ home or a home with loads of light and windows – rest assured the majority of the sessions you see in my portfolio were typical homes, not ones from Pinterest! The real, lived-in beauty is what makes your house your home – embrace it!

5. How do we get ready for the shoot?

Don’t worry! We will be planning this together! The first thing to do is to think about your family dynamic and fill out the questionnaire I send you on booking. This will give me an idea of how you’d like the session guided. We will then have a conversation and a good old chat about this and that and then we’ll get down to sorting all the details for the shoot – I will give you lots of time before any specifics are needed, but to be honest there really isn’t much for you guys to do apart from being there, enjoy yourselves and have a blast together!

6. What is the cost and do I have to purchase any?

This is the difficult bit. After seeing all the wonderful memories captured of your wonderful family you’ll be hard-pressed not to shout out “I want them all!!!” And that’s totally ok by the way! I’ll provide you with an online low res gallery which you can share with family and friends. This will be live for 7 days so you have a chance to really look through and immerse yourself in them and make the decision about which ones you’d like to buy…..or more usually which album or wall art you wish to display them all in. I have a variety of discounted packages you can choose which hopefully give you the best of all the worlds

7. Will you colour correct my images?

Yes Since colour correction is the basic post-production, it should be used on every single image. Many photographers will not colour correct any, or will only colour correct “select” images from your gallery. This means that you may have a lot of pictures where your skin tones are orange, yellow, red or even blue as the white balance is not adjusted in post.

8. How quickly will we see the images?

I normally shoot around 300 - 500 photos on the day! After I leave you I scurry back to my workshop and work my magic editing and whittling the photos down to about 50-75 of the very best photos which I believe tell a story about your wonderful unique family. I normally say photos will be back to you within 3 weeks but often this is a lot sooner.

9. How will we get to see the photos and where will they be displayed?

I will arrange a date and time with you before sending you a link to the slideshow and gallery. The slideshow and gallery will all be watermarked, you can then go through and select which package you would like which will then guide you through selecting which photos you want printed, downloaded, framed etc. E-Matt is very clever!

10. What should we wear?

What you normally wear is absolutely fine – you don’t want to be stuck in something uncomfortable as it will show, and ultimately your story is about all of you and what you choose to wear is a massive part of who you are, so stick to things you and your kids would normally wear. One rule of thumb – all line up and stand in front of the mirror before I arrive – firstly it gives you all a good laugh - I challenge any family that does this to not start looking at each other, pointing and laughing as you line up and puff out your chests like proud peacocks, secondly make sure you are not matching – too much of the same colour may not work well in all photos. It’s totally fine for the kids to do dress up for a proportion of the shoot too if they enjoy that. Try not to be too matchy matchy and if possible avoid big logo’s - they quickly date photos.

11. How long after the event will the album or wall art be ready?

Each piece of wall art will be delivered directly to your house 4-5 days after the order is placed through your online gallery. If you have chosen a package with an album then I will design that directly and will share with you an online version - you can then go through and make any amendments you would like - swap, add, delete. Once album orders are place and approved with the manufacturer it will take roughly 4 weeks to manufacture, verify and ship.

What should i buy for me and the baby for the birth?

When we were pregnant with our first child, my wife Sarah wrote a brilliant list of everything she felt was good advice and a must have for when baby arrives. When friends and family members have been pregnant we always send this list on to them as essential items and decided why not share it wider with our wonderful community. I’ll try and add links going forward as well.

For Mum

• Something comfortable and old to wear during labour - old nightie is ideal

• Something comfortable to wear in bed after birth - jogging bottoms and t shirts or vests that can be lifted up to feed in

• Maternity pads - We had these in the car, sofa and in bed - last thing you want to worry about when you get home is clearing up broken waters!

• Breast pads

• Copious amounts of lansinoh lanolin cream for nipples - a couple of tubes one for at home and one in your change bag - it is expensive (£10 a tube!) but well worth it.
  Wash things for the hospital

• Comfy cushion for feeding

• Lots of ready meals or easy to cook dinners plus lots of bread and butter - my wife ate a lot of toast as was really easy!!

• Cereal bars, oat biscuits or flapjacks for energy plus oats are good for upping your milk supply (don't drink peppermint tea once you start breastfeeding as lowers your supply!)

• Breastfeeding tops/dresses and bras (or could use a vest top underneath a t shirt which can be pulled down easily)

  
  
  For Baby:

• Vests and babygrows (that's all we put her in for first few weeks) they are easy and you don't want to complicate things with difficult clothes in first few weeks!!

• A couple of warm 'all in ones' - i would maybe wait and see what weather is like - will need them from oct onwards though I'd say.

• A hat - 1 should be fine as doesn't really get dirty

• Lots (two big packs for first few weeks) of newborn or size 1 nappies - we used pampers but lots of other brands out there, Don't buy hundreds as they start to go up to size 2 after a few weeks/first month etc

• Muslins - about 10-15 of them as you will go through them, great for mopping up sick etc but also lightweight blanket and swaddle

• Newborn sleepbags or swaddle blankets (get summer ones so tog 1 or thin) I'd get a couple of whatever you use as you'll be washing them a lot!!

• Cotton wool, two plastic pots for topping and tailing, sudocream for any light nappy rashes or redness, bepanthan (barrier cream) and metanium (nappy ointment in yellow tube) for harsher nappy rash - use tiny smear of metanium over it then put barrier cream on top, lots of nappy sacks. I find it easier to have two of everything - one for home and one for the change bag.

• A mild baby bubble bath and soap for when they are ready to bath - few weeks, child's farm or lansinoh eco baby is really good

• A couple of towels as they wee on them a lot and you will be washing them!!

• Baby bath -

• Bath thermometer

• Moisturiser if their skin is dry - again child's farm do a good one and is great for sensitive skin but if he gets eczema there are lots of different creams out there and every baby reacts differently, we used zerobase

• If they get cradle cap a plastic bristled brush and 'mustela' shampoo is good (buy on Amazon)

• Dummies - mam are good ones in pots which are easy to sterilise in microwave. I'd get one set (2 pack) for the day and one set for night which glow in the dark so you can find them - they do ones for newborn up to 6 months and are orthodontically approved. You don't have to use them but good to have to hand just in case. Try to stop them using them at 4-5 months.

• Calpol (baby paracetamol) (sugar free) for after first jabs, dentinox for teething, Ashton and parsons teething granules for teething too (don't use these until they are a couple of months old but good to have them) infacol for colic, coilef has also been recommended but we found a cranial osteopath the best results ( I can give you details if you need them)

• A baby thermometer which checks their temp - the digital ear ones are best which stay green for good temp then red for too high or too low

• We didn't use a monitor for a couple of months but good to get one ready, ours has a room thermometer on which is useful to help you know what to dress them in at night.

• Bouncy chair and play mat plus an arch or something to go over them with toys on it as for first few months they are on their backs staring up!!

• Best newborn upwards toys are the Lamaze ones - they do all sorts but the firefly is popular, we have the unicorn, mouse, dolly, donkey and the old firefly!!

• Car seat, cot, pram, change mat (I did find having on a table useful as hurt my back and knees it being on the floor!)

• Couple of blankets

• When they start teething you will need a few bibs but not for a couple of months
  If you go down the bottle or expressing route you'll need bottles, steriliser, bottle brush - I would get same brand steriliser as bottles so they fit - although we used dr browns in end to reduce air getting in, they fitted in the Tommee tippee steriliser, but you can get microwave steriliser bags for them. You'll also need breast milk storage bags - best ones I used are boots own label.

Photographing your little ones through the years

For parents of new little ones I guarantee someone - at some point- will tell you “they grow up so fast”. They do grow up quick, something funny that happens today may literally not be there from tomorrow as they just stop.

The sock monster picture i have on my about page - one of my favourite pictures of my daughter - she used to do that all the time, then one day she just stopped - I don’t know when that happened, it wasn’t as though she signposted it or announced she was “going in a new direction”, she just stopped. I have the memories captured for ever though - i have them printed and up on my wall and they will be there forever.

I have a few clients that order repeat shoots - normally around birthdays - as they want to record how their little ones grown up over time and most importantly to be part of the photos too - how many of the thousands of photos have you got on your phone include all of you together - I bet it’s a tiny fraction.

So if repeat shoots are something that interest you then just let me know and i can walk you through everything we offer.

The perfect lifestyle family photo shoot

Blue eyes.....Baby's got blue eyes....

Wow - the first time I meet baby Grace i was absolutely mesmerised by her gorgeous blue eyes.  Even though she's just five months old you can tell she will grow into a gorgeous little lady.  

Now what can i say about Max - he absolutely loved having his photo taken - he was an absolute superstar and did everything that was asked of him - he couldn't quite believe I was only year older than him ;)  - he was adamant I was in my 30's??

I meet up with Emily, Rich and family on a cold January Saturday morning (I think we had a sunny day one time this month right?)  - but inside their house it was nothing but smiles - I can't remember Grace crying a single time - perfect customer.

I absolutely love doing these types of shoots - it's these sorts of moments when you are all snuggling up on the sofa or all lying on the bed that you never get caught on camera and all you have are your memories - that's why I love doing these natural candid shots - it's real life, real emotion - real memories.

It's been an absolute pleasure, beautiful family

p.s. Did I mention Grace's beautiful eyes?