Monday 16 December 2013

One cold and frosty morning...

When I first photographed this little princess, she was only 2 months old -click here to see my favourites from that session. When we met for the second time, she has grown so much and It just had to be extremely cold that morning, and she braved out the cold and was having a great adventure. She saw a castle, a cave, saw a dog and played in the leaves. She was full of smiles and had a great time, until she was tired, cold and hungry! Just like it happens to babies. Here are some of my favourites from that session - all smiles and excitement!



Tuesday 10 December 2013

Owl decoration craft

I have come across this brilliant idea and thought I would share it with you!
You would need some empty toilet paper rolls,  paint (not watercolour) and some paper for the wings. All you need to do is to bend the top of the rolls to make the ears and to stick them together. I have used duck tape because then we could paint over it. We have painted a lot of paper rolls at the same time and let them dry, then the next day finished off everything else.

I love seeing those owls on our Christmas tree and kids can't wait to give them as gifts from them! I hope you can use this idea! Happy crafting :)

Wednesday 13 November 2013

Autumn walk

Thinking about it, it's the third blog post in a row featuring sessions with families I have worked with before. This one is also happens to be my good friend and the last time I have photographed her family was about a year and a half ago in the bluebells! Turned out the timing was just perfect, because a little man decided to make an appearance just a few days after the session, 3 months before he was supposed to! He is the most friendly and happy little boy and such a joy to be around.



Tuesday 5 November 2013

Apple and an apple tree

Once I photographed a beautiful newborn girl under an apple tree (click to see the session!). 2 years later the little girl turned into a big sister and I was privileged to photograph her again, this time together with her new little sister. And both times the apple tree had ripe red apples - what an amazing timing!


Tuesday 29 October 2013

Halloween fun

We normally bake a lot of gingerbread for Christmas but I have bought 3 Halloween shapes this year and we have started early! I have also stopped a simple way to make a gingerbread man into a Halloween themed. So I'm sharing these with you!
It's a great activity idea for kids - it's like a play dough, you roll it out and use the  cutters, but the fun doesn't finish there. Because you have a biscuit to eat at the end of it!

































We have been using gingerbread recipe that I love, though I'm not even sure where I got it from anymore! This time I have used wholemeal flour instead of plain because I happened to not have plain when we started baking. And I liked the texture a lot more with wholemeal flour, just had to be aware that the biscuits were darker than usually.

350 g/12 oz plain flour
10 ml/2 tsp ground ginger
5 ml/1 tsp ground cinnamon
2,5 ml/ ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
100 g butter
175 g/6 oz soft brown sugar
60 ml/ 4tbsp golden syrup
1 egg, beaten
Method:
1.       Sieve the flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Rub in the butter with the fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

2.       Stir in sugar.

3.       Add the syrup and the beaten egg to the flour mixture; mix to a soft dough. If it’s sticky, add a little more flour.

4.       Knead the dough lightly until smooth.

5.       Roll out as desired. Basically if it’s thin, the gingerbread will be crispy, and if it’s rolled out thickly, it will be softer. Bake in the preheated over at 190C. Most items will take 8-10 mins, smaller biscuits might take less time and bigger ones may take longer.
And for decorating I have just used a simple designer icing in a tube that I bought in a supermarket! You might have better ideas :)
Enjoy!

 


Saturday 26 October 2013

One year later - family photography

I know I have said it many times before, but it's very true, so I will say it again - I love to photograph the families who I have worked with before! It's always great to see how much the children have grown http://tamaratoveyphotography.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/three-sisters.html Two of these lovely girls were old enough to remember me from a year ago and greeted me as an old friend. Everybody is more relaxed and we all know what to expect from each other - I already knew that all the outfits will be perfectly coordinated and they knew what kind of images to expect at the end.
The girls were absolutely amazing - they kept asking to be photographed and were posing! Made my job so easy!

 
 


Thursday 15 August 2013

One perfect day.

Some days are just so perfect... I try not to get the camera on the way of us having fun. But I'm so glad I took these. We had a couple of days to go away so I didn't want to go too far so I have asked a friend about some nice beaches in South Wales and was recommended Southerndown. I'm so glad we have discovered it.

 The beach was beautiful, with plenty of rock pools, impressive rock formations and shells to find, and there also was a great bonus - Dunraven garden on the top of the hill. Young children are not often impressed by views, I know that my girls would rather be playing at a playground, but they were completely mesmerised by the garden. And although it has some nice flowers, we definitely have been in more impressively maintained gardens, but there is something magical about that place. A magical tower, magical walls, magical light and yes, magical flowers...

 
If anyone is looking for a beach to go to in South Wales I can thoroughly recommend Southerndown.
 




Wednesday 17 July 2013

Little boy

The last 4 months have been crazy. I'm not sure what exactly happened but somehow I got totally overbooked! But I'm so glad I made time for this session in the middle of all the crazyness. I love getting to know new families but I love even more working with the families I have already photographed before. It feels great because it means I have done something right the first time. But also, it's great to see how much children have grown - little newborn girl turned into a bit sister and the family of 3 have turned into a family of 4! And as I photographed this little boy, I couldn't stop myself from comparing him to his big sister when she was a few days old herself. And how much he looks like his mum with his eyes closed and how he looks like his dad when his eyes are opened.

If you are expecting your little miracle and would love to be photographed within the comfort of your home, feel free to contact me at tamara@tphotography.co.uk for more details and to book your newborn session.

Friday 7 June 2013

Family photography - Bristol

As a photographer I get to meet different people and families and I get to know a little bit about their story. With her mum from Venezuela and dad from Greece, this little girl has all the chances to speak 3 languages, she will also have special visitors and will get to travel a lot. But most importantly, and I hope you can see it in the images that I have taken, she will grow up feeling very loved and cared for. It was such a pleasure to spend a morning creating the images to look back to and remember and for all the relatives who are so far away to see the little princess as a baby.





Thursday 6 June 2013

Summer!

Right now I'm buried under all the editing that needs to be done, together with the orders that have to be processed and not to forget about the beautiful summer evening light to enjoy! I have so much to blog, but for now:


Tuesday 23 April 2013

Baby girl.

Wow, it's been a very busy year so far! Even despite the weather... I have enjoyed meeting a lot of new lovely families and also I have spent too many in front ot the computer editing, ordering and replying all the enquieries I've been receiving. Which leaves me with not that much time for blogging if I want to get any sleep at all!
But it's about time I have shared session with this absolutely adorable little girl! She made my job so easy. Perfect age as she could already sit up but couldn't crawl away from me just yet. And oh she was so expressive and cute! And lets not forget about her mum and dad who are so obviously very much in love with her.


Thursday 4 April 2013

Simplicity...

It's been a few very busy weeks for me - lots of work despite the cold weather. This is from a session I'm editing right now. I like bright, vibrant and colourful, but nothing beats a nice and simple black and white image. A beautiful mum-to-be helps as well :)


Friday 8 March 2013

Happy Mother's Day!

I try to write my feelings about motherhood for a Mother's Day post every year, but I fail every time. The only thing that I'm sure about and that never changes - I love being a mother and I consider it a great priveledge. That is exactly that makes it so so hard. Not even the tiredness (though it might be an issue for those who has an interrupted sleep!). It's the worrying - worrying if I'm doing it right, worrying if I'm doing my best every day. If there is enough crafts opportunities, enough time outdoors, enough rinning around, enough fruit and vegetables, enough reading, enough learning opportunities, enough sleep, enough playdatess. Worrying if I'm letting them make their own choices enough and at the same time if I'm encouraging them to do the things that I myself know to be good enough. Trying to find that impossible balance, as it changes as they grow and their own understanding of the world expands. I have to remind myself every day that "There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one", a beautiful quote by Jill Churchill.

Another amazing quote that sums up a lot of my feelings about motherhood: “Motherhood is a choice you make everyday, to put someone else's happiness and well-being ahead of your own, to teach the hard lessons, to do the right thing even when you're not sure what the right thing is...and to forgive yourself, over and over again, for doing everything wrong.” -  Donna Ball, "At home on Ladybug Farm".

Look at some of the amazing mums I have photographed in the past year- they all radiate light and make the world better! Happy Mother's Day!




Wednesday 20 February 2013

The best gift for any mum...

I have been doing my very unscientific marketing reseach for the last year or so. Which was basically me talking to different mums I know about family photography sessions - how often they do it, why don't they do it, how would they choose a photographer once they have decided. At first surprising and then a sad trend is that most mums are waiting for something to happen before they book a session. To loose weight, to look better, to have more sleep, to feel happier about themselves....

I'm not an exception. I surely don't look like I did "pre children". Photos of me make me cringe and I usually delete 9 out of 10. But my girls like to ask me where was I when a certain photograph was taken. And I always say that I was taking the photo, of course! Which is a good reason, but always being behind a camera is not going to help them to remember me in their childhood.

I have been trying to change it and over the last few months I made sure we take photos using a timer, or handed the camera to my friends to take the photo for us. They are mostly of us during our adventures in muddy wellies, not looking very glamorous, running to the "spot" and looking at the camera and waiting for the timer. Nothing interesting, all of them are just snapshots, but to me these are priceless.


I am also planning a session with a professional photographer, I want to have what I give to my lovely clients as well. It's what becomes even more valuable as the time goes by, as the children grow! It's what I want to remember but I know I can't trust my memory because every time I see photographs even from a few months away I'm shocked how much they have changed and that I haven't noticed!

And with the Mother's Day just around the corner on the 10th of March - why not to give to a lovely mum you know, the mum of your children, your own mum, your sister a gift of a photography session? I have a limited amount of vouchers available, contact me if you are interested and if you have any questions!

P.S. Took me a couple of days after I wrote this blog post to actually press the "publish" button, but hopefully this will help some other mums to feel inspired to actually get in front of the camera!

Wednesday 30 January 2013

Snow in Bristol

Now that it's back to +10 and rain again, I have finally completed a blog post about snow.

I can't belive just a week ago I was taking the girls to school on a sledge and now it's more like spring! But I have a very special feelings for snow, so wanted to make a blog post about it...

Seeing snow makes me so happy, I can't even express it. I was squealing with exhitement together with my girls when we first saw snow from a window. And then at night I stopped everything I was doing and just stared out of the window for ten minutes, admiring how snow completely transfers everything, even the nighttime by making it brighter. I was rewarded for it too -  I saw a fox casually walking down the path. Speaking about the windows - checkin  if the snowman is still there in the morning :)
Snow brings back so many childhood memories. Like being pulled on a sledge to my kindergarten, walking behind my mum's back during a snowstorm, hiding from the wind blowing the snowflakes in my face, skying, having a lunch next to campfire after skying. As a child, I got to have snow from October untill it melted only in April-May, it came with the crazy temperatures that I can't comprehend right now, when I complain about it being cold at 0C...! When everything is covered in snow for at least 6 months each year, snow is quite a big part of my memories. Of course, nothing stopped because of the snow, we still had to go to school at -50C and I remember sitting my the radio listening to the weather forecast and hoping it's -51C :).
A lot easier to get a day off school here! I know the snow has caused a lot of chaos for some people, but there are some nice things about everything stopping because of snow. Extra day off! Extra day to spend time with your family. So many people were out, pulling their kids on the sledges, building snowman, having snowball fights, making snow angels, sledging. Everyone looked so happy. I loved seeing people smile as I passed by them pulling my girls on the sledge. I can only compare the amount of people having a great time with their children to what you can see at a seaside on a hot summer day.
 
Snow is very tiring, we needed an energy boost -food for the kids, food for the ducks:
 
Oh snow, we miss you :) Nothing left but the photographs now, even the snowman has melted away!

Thursday 24 January 2013

Snow...

I can't even begin to tell you how much I was excited about all the snow! No snow last winter was very disappointing. Of course I took a couple (hundreds) of photographs in the last few days, most of them of us covered in snow and mud and being cold... Those are to come later, but here are just a few from a little playdate when we enjoyed a bit of beautiful unforecasted snow:


Monday 21 January 2013

Photosession with a cutest baby boy!

What I love most about my job as a photographer is meeting new people -  I feel very priveledged every time when a family trusts me to photograph them in that time of their life. I always feel a great responsibility, because I know they will look back at the images that I have captured for them and it will help them to remember. In this case, to remember how their cute little boy looked as a 5 months old!

So charming, isn't he? But even more beautiful is the love you can see from his parents. I loved spending time with this little family and seeing how much they care for each other. I hope you can see a part of it though my photography:





 
© Tamara Tovey Photography