Brian Harte the photographer

I’d like to share a few of the photos with you and talk about what went in to them and what they mean to me.

Last autumn I was asked to travel down to Buckingham for a family shoot. The family consisted of Mom, Dad and 3 girls (6 years to 14 years old). Mom had asked if it was possible to have photos at The National Trust Stowe Gardens. I had made a few phone calls, upped my insurance to £5million!!! (thats what they required) and arranged a permit for photography.

Here is a family shot taken about lunchtime (about a third of the way through the day). I arranged each member of the family in to a nice looking group but by this time I had got a feel for who each of them were and tried to help them express that in the photo. I don’t like my family group photos to look rigid but I also don’t want them to look a mess. You tell me but I think they have structure with room for everyone to move and express themselves within it.

Apparently some tourists were walking past while I was taking the photo and I shouted “Everybody. This is Lord and Lady Stowe!” which got them all to laugh and I captured a real warm moment.

Here are some photos of each of the girls.

When I am shooting photos I’ll only take photos where I deem the light to be good. There is not much point otherwise or you wont be able to see peoples eyes and expression. That usually means not in direct sunlight. There are always exceptions and this girls strong features and her fashion look made me feel that I could take this photo using the harshest of direct sunlight.

I don’t tend to do this with young children (although I also never say never) as the harsh light can be too dramatic on a child, I’ll save this for the teenagers and the funky adults.

Near the end of the day I took the family to an industrial estate where I wanted to have some photos that would be a departure from what we had done in the morning, I also had the feeling that the eldest girl wanted some fashion shots so I got my outdoor flash equipment and worked a few photographs there.

We ended up the day having a bit of fun back home when I persuaded the girls to sing and dance for me on the karaoke machine. It was a long day we had all enjoyed it so much it didn’t feel like it.

Here are a few more of my favorites from the day….

There are more but I’ll save them for another day. I hoped you liked them and feel free to leave a comment below.

I’d like to thank all of the family for such a fun day. I had a great time.