An hour outdoors, no forced smiles, and pictures that actually look like your family.
Family sessions are priced on enquiry . anywhere across Lancashire, and include a gallery of fully edited images with no per-photo charges. I'm Tom Carter, I work from Leyland, and I photograph families the way I photograph weddings: mostly by staying out of the way. You get a mix of honest, candid frames and two or three proper everyone-looking pictures for the grandparents, because both matter.
I am a dad to three myself, so nothing on a shoot will surprise me. Children who hide, children who will only be photographed upside down, a toddler who announces they hate photographs and then spends forty minutes performing. All normal, and usually where the good pictures come from.
The first ten minutes are the worst and I plan for them. Everyone is self-conscious, the children are eyeing up the stranger with the camera, and the pictures are stiff. So we walk. I hang back and photograph what happens next, and by the time we stop, people have forgotten to perform.
After that I follow the play rather than directing it. Somewhere in the middle we do the grouped shots quickly, while everyone is still in a good mood, rather than saving them for the end when nobody is. Then we go back to playing, and I finish before anyone reaches their limit.
The single best piece of advice is to coordinate rather than match. Choose two or three colours that live happily together, then let everyone wear their own version. Matching outfits date fast; a shared palette does not.
Worden Park in Leyland has woodland, a walled garden and enough space for children to run; Cuerden Valley Park and Yarrow Valley in Chorley both give you water and trees within a short walk of the car; Beacon Fell near Longridge is worth the drive for big skies. Your own garden or front room is a genuinely good option too, especially with a baby or a reluctant teenager.
For timing, the hour before sunset is the easy win in summer, and mid-morning works better with small children who nap after lunch. Late April brings bluebells, October brings colour, and winter gives you low, soft sun all day long. There is no bad season here, only bad footwear.
Your gallery arrives well inside the six weeks I promise for weddings, and I give you a firm date when we book. Everything is delivered online to view, download and share, with 15% off any prints, frames or albums. There is no viewing appointment to sit through.
If you are expecting, a maternity session and a newborn session bookend the same year nicely, and a cake smash closes it. For just the two of you, there is couples and engagement photography. Read more about me, or get in touch with a rough date.
Family sessions are priced on enquiry . covering the shoot and a gallery of fully edited images to download and print. No charges per photograph, and no sales appointment afterwards.
Coordinate rather than match: pick two or three colours that sit well together and let everyone wear their own version. Avoid logos and slogans, and choose clothes the children have already worn, so nothing is stiff or scratchy. Bring boots you do not mind getting muddy.
About an hour, which is roughly the outer limit of a small child's patience. If someone melts down we stop, have a biscuit and start again. That is not a session going wrong, and some of the best frames come out of the recovery.
Anywhere that means something to you. Worden Park in Leyland, Cuerden Valley Park, Yarrow Valley in Chorley and Beacon Fell near Longridge all work well, as does your own garden. I cover Leyland, Preston, Chorley, the Ribble Valley and the rest of the county.
Late April and May for bluebells, June and July for long light evenings, late September into October for colour. Winter is underrated: the sun stays low all day, so you get soft light at eleven in the morning without waiting for the evening.
Well inside the six weeks I promise for weddings, and I give you a firm date when we book. Galleries are delivered online, and booked clients get 15% off prints, frames and albums.
Tell me when, where and how many of you, and I will come back with dates.
Get in touch