You know that moment when you're photographing your own kids (or in my case this also applies to some of my clients children too) and they say "no, you've already taken too many photos"?  Well I don't think you can have too many photos of the ones you love and here's why...  What if tomorrow you woke up and for whatever reason you could never see the people you love again, all that you have left are the moments inside your head, the memories and perhaps the photos, I think people faced with that dilemma would agree that there's no such thing as too many photos.  I have to admit to being someone who's collected thousands of photos of my kids, pets and the people I love, I have occasional clips of video from when Looby was little and they're on Youtube, Looby and I were watching them the other day and it's just a magical wonderful thing to be able to relive those gorgeous moments.

We are the curators of our own history, never more has that statement been true, we live in a truly digital age where our children have a digital footprint so big that they will be able to look back to (in some cases) nearly every single day of their lives.  Imagine when they're older and they have their Timehop app, we all think it's amazing because we can see what we were doing 5 or 6 years ago but in some cases our children will be able to go back to the moments they were born and announced to the world and then every day since.  I understand why we worry about the digital footprints of our children but I also marvel at this wonder of the legacy we create in a truly digital age.  I do at times I confess, worry about the lies we tell ourselves with the digitally curated history, will our descendants think we all had perfect houses/lives/relationships setting themselves up for failure by comparison or will they be so in tune with us digitally that they in turn curate an even more perfect digital legacy.  I'm not one for photographing food but some people photograph every meal they have so in addition to the history of their family they're also building up a future history of the foods we ate and loved, a future almanac of sugar in some cases, haha!

I was in Edinburgh this week with Looby, a breakaway from all of the stress that surrounds us in our modern lives, time spent being able to switch off (well sort of) and time spent just being able to have fun and enjoy time with each other, I dread the day that Looby doesn't want to go on adventures with me, whilst she says she'll always take time for time out with mum I see her growing and changing with every day that passes, I see the beginnings of those teenage traits and I know it won't be too long before the teenage years step in and separate our minds for a while so I take each day as a precious thing and even during dinner on Thursday I managed to take just a few photos of Looby being Looby.

I'm lucky that I'm a photographer and I get to help others curate their own digital legacy, I've had people contact me and ask if I only photograph well behaved kids but it's not true, I just curate a gallery of images so lovely you'll think you had the most well behaved family in the world!  (this also applies to misbehaving daddies).

This weekend I am offering mini session vouchers for just £20 instead of £25, they're valid pretty much forever so you can buy them now for yourselves and for presents for anyone else who might like to capture some memories and you can use them during summer or maybe in Autumn when the whole world entire seems to have photo shoots, the important thing though is just that half hour session will lead to beautiful precious memories you can save forever, the offer is valid until Midnight on Sunday and if you would like one or maybe more than one then all you need to do is contact photographer newcastle/email me/visit my facebook page

5 top photography tips for parents, take better photos of your kids today!

This weekend it's Easter, i'm sure you know that already dear reader but just in case ;)  

One important note of the day, my website is mobile friendly, check out it's new makeover here, the least you can do is go and admire it on your iPad or iPhone as it nearly made my eyes bleed until very late last night achieving that.

I've always thought that as a parent you should photograph your children and pets as often as humanly possible, of course you may think that it's easy for me to say that but anyone can take photos, not everything has to be technically perfect, to be honest not everything I take is technically perfect but it's about the moments isn't it?  So with that in mind I thought I would offer up a few photography tips and tricks I use in the hope that it'll help you take more photographs of those precious moments you have in your life every day.

1. Light is the very most important thing to note in photography for without it, well photographs are just going to be black aren't they?  For today just do one thing, watch the light, watch how it changes throughout the day.  You'll mainly find that the very best times are the hour that follows sunrise and the hour that proceeds sunset.  As the sun gets higher in the skies you'll find it gets harsher and the shadows get harder.   If that happens try to run into a shaded area.
2. Direction, again this is pretty light focused, I like to photograph people with their backs to the sun, you'll notice when you do this in the golden hours you end up with lovely light on the hair and you'll get great skin tones, one thing you should note with this is that you may need a touch of fill flash to illuminate faces, you never ever want to end up with panda eyes and whatever you do please don't make your kids face the sun in bright sunlight, can you say Squint?
3. If you can possibly avoid using flash at all ever then by all means do so, especially if it's the flash on the front of your phone, it's the harshest most awful kind of light and it's not kind to anyone ever, this is because of where the flash is, if you really want to use flash and you have the means then you want to take your flash off the camera in as many cases as possible.  I actually never use flash on camera anymore, the only time I ever use it is off camera to do clever things.
4. Don't ask your kids to pose or you'll miss out on the moments, the little things that they do, if you do want portrait photographs then hire a photographer, once a year is a lovely time to do update shots and if you have a great photographer they'll just get the kids having fun and doing stuff to with a few portraits thrown in for good measure, that's why I choose to photograph families in the places they love.
5. Sometimes it's not even about photographing their faces, when they grow up you'll want to remember those tiny hands they had or those cute shoes they always wore, sometimes the most beautiful photographs of children are not about looking at the camera
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

I've included a sprinkling of personal, professional, iphone and dslr in this article to give you a brief over view of whats possible in any kind of situation and something I'd just like to say is, yes I actually have total posers for children, I'm sure they weren't always that way but they've been photographed constantly for the last 10 or so years of their lives. Possibly it's a good thing to also say that if your kids ask them to take a photo, just do it because one day they won't want you to take their photo anymore!

And if all else fails you'll just have to hire a professional and if you're looking for a photographer in Newcastle then get in touch, I have a few spare sessions remaining over the bank holiday and I'm available all next week including Saturday 11th April which will be at Jesmond Dene.

Family portrait photography in Newcastle by Mandy Charlton

Yes dear reader it's that time of year again when people all over Newcastle and the north east of England are looking to book photographers for family and kids photo shoots at wonderful autumnal outdoor locations like Saltwell Park, Tynemouth Longsands, Jesmond Dene and also Wharton Park in Durham is also a popular choice so I hope you'll forgive me dear reader if I just take a days break from telling you the minutiae of my life and instead simply share some of the photographs I've shot over the last week or so.

It really is my favourite time and my busiest time of year, there's just something special about photographs taken during autumn, they seem to be the ones we have on our walls all year, maybe it's because they're so colourful and pretty and the kids all seem to be having such fun.

If you would like to book me for a photo shoot to capture your family or kids please get in touch, here's the type of photo shoots you can partake in - 

Weekday photo shoot in Jesmond Dene, these are currently only £25 and include a web gallery for 30 days and 15% off for the first week, they take around 30/45 minutes.

Weekend photo shoots at a location of your choice start at £40 depending on location and how much time I need to take out of my diary, suitable for any number so great for larger family portraits.  you get a web gallery for 30 days and 15% off for the first week and your favourite image as a 12x8 print.

Mini sessions on Sunday 23rd November at Jesmond Dene - £25 and you get a web gallery for 30 days, 15% off for the first week your gallery is live and your favourite image as a 7x5 print and photo shoots are limited to a 30 min maximum.  There are just 2 time slots still available and they are 10.30 and 11am.

If you would like to book all you need to do is click through to my website, my facebook page or you can email me

and to whet your appetite, here's some I've shot over the last week or so...

So there you go, small family, large family, bring your pets or just have a photograph with the one you love but do get out there and create some memories today which will last forever!

2013, a year of kids portraits by Newcastle Photographer Mandy Charlton

Last week I shared my 2013 retrospective of wedding photography and so this week it's the turn of the family and kids portrait photography from the last year.  Now when I went to look at my previews folder I did in fact find over 300 images so this is going to be the tough one and I apologise now dear reader for posting too many photographs, I don't mean to bore the pants off anyone but I truly had the most amazing year in my 8 year career!

So here we go, shot on location mainly at Jesmond Dene, Saltwell Park and Tynemouth Longsands and many of these sessions being marvellous mini sessions here's 4 seasons of portrait photography from my perspective -

Must say a massive thanks to Looby who has come along to about 90% of my photo shoots this year to help, for someone of 10 years old she's an absolute star and she loves nothing more than to meet other peoples dogs and children.

To book a portrait session with me you can either email me, speak to my through my Facebook page or you can also contact me through my website