Perfect portraits captured in unlikely locations

Perfect portraits

Hey, everyone!

If like me, you have been enjoying the great outdoors this summer, then you can’t have failed to notice the grass getting long and that patches of wildflowers have appeared. The council has also been leaving it longer between grass cuts.

This is great for the wild bee population, and the butterflies have been in abundance this summer.

The long grass and wildflowers are not only great for the insects though – I love it too! (Except on the A31, where it’s really dangerous coming to the roundabouts!)

Through the lens: What I see

Every day I drive past a small but perfectly formed patch of wildflowers on the way to school. To me, they are just crying out to but used in a photoshoot!

I’m sure most people would think I am slightly nuts getting excited about this. After all, it’s just a small patch – a couple of meters long – at the side of the road! But what I see through the camera lens is different to what others see.

Despite what you might think, as a portrait photographer, I don’t need a sweeping meadow or an amazing vista as a backdrop. I can see the potential in even the most unlikely locations.

I know how to make a perfect portrait in the most unexpected of places and even in very small spaces.

Trying out an unlikely location

So, armed with one of my many new dresses from the studio, and a willing small person off I ventured.

Safety is really important to me – as you can see from the video below, we were at a safe distance from the road. And mum, of my model Betsy, is right there too, keeping an eye on the children while I take the portraits.

Another thing to point out is that it is hugely important to me that we don’t damage the flowers at all. We don’t wade through the patch, reeking havoc! Instead, we stand on the edge and I can use clever camera angles to make it appear as though the child is actually in among the flowers in the final photo.

Betsy loved the flowers and the dresses and we had a great time getting some lovely location portraits for her mummy.

On another occasion, I took my daughter and her friend back to the same spot for a few more.

And on that day, we also found a patch of long grass which I didn’t even know was there. Although this all took place so close to home, it’s not something I had noticed before. It goes to show what beautiful things we could all be missing out on, right on our doorstep!