June 22nd, 2007 was the official date of the launch of my business Mandy Charlton Photography and what a decade it's been, 10 years of being a Newcastle photographer and photographing kids, families and couples all over the North East of England.  I've so much to be thankful for and so I'm planning some things to mark the occasion, firstly I'm going to refund the cost of a photo shoot to one family who purchases one before the end of May.  It's so easy to enter, all you have to do is book yourself a photo shoot and then at the start of June I'll make the official announcement and refund the session fee to one lucky family!

If that's not enough of a reason to book, I'd like to share some of my favourite images from sessions I've shot over the last few weeks, oh and here's a Holly Bobbins portrait I shot in between sessions at Jesmond Dene!

Hopefully, that's convinced you to book a session with me, it's only £100 and you get all of the edited digital images.  Currently, I have limited availability at Jesmond Dene, Saltwell Park, Tynemouth Longsands, Carlisle Park, Wharton Park, Barnes Park and Chopwell Wood, please enquire for dates and times and you can book yourself more memories this spring and summer with the people you love most in the world.

For a list of frequently asked questions about mini sessions please click here

Book Your Session Now mandy@mandycharltonphotography.com

Oh and if you want to gift a session I have gift certificates I can send for you  to print and gift!

Autumn is coming, time to plan ahead...

My wonderful son Iain is 19 tomorrow, I really need to stop referring to him as "My little boy" when having conversations about my children, he's old enough now to have a home, run a business, be a millionaire, in reality he's still in the top corner bedroom plugged in to hundreds of megabytes of data at all times, I'm proud of him though, he's been through a lot and he's just about to start his second year studying business at college, we talked about what he wants to do at the end this college year, "I'll be starting my life of seclusion" he replied.  I should probably have bought him Hannah Hauxwells autobiography to help him prepare!

I'm ever surprised by how fast time passes, I remark every year "September, September, how can it be September?" a ludicrous question if ever there was one but in my mind it's been yet a hop and a skip from cold and frozen January, why then does it seem so long until I depart for my cruise?

It's while I'm wistfully wishing away September and October that I check my diary and find that weekends are already filling up with families keen to record happy memories in piles of colourful leaf fall, take note dear reader that if you want to partake with your families the height of the autumn colour is usually around the 2nd and 3rd week of October, it all gets a little soggy and unpredictable after that.  No real mini session days this year and I've promised myself that I'll only shoot a maximum of 3 or 4 sessions a day, advance booking to secure spots is encouraged, neigh it's practically a requirement, if you pause to think about it you may find by the time it's actual welly weather (although I'm not sure it's been anything but welly weather this year) you may find I can't fit you in!!  Pricing for photo shoots at home and on location in North East England available via that link.

I've also been thrown into full blown panic that it's Loobys birthday on the 25th of September and I have barely thought about that matter, a quick 10 minutes on Sky Skanner yesterday evening seemed to suggest I could offer my darling daughter the possibilities of weekend trips to Dublin or Geneva or maybe London, if you were going to be 12 which one would you prefer?  I had thought about a mini cruise to Amsterdam but she hates boats, when I told her about the cruise I was going on she told me upon seeing a photo of the boat that without a doubt it was dangerous and would sink, she of course bases her expert knowledge upon watching Titanic too many times and seeing copious amounts of news reports from the Costa Concordia, yes that's 2 boats about of no doubt hundreds of thousands but these days I can't even get her on a boat trip down the river Tyne.

Usually once we celebrate Loobys birthday I quickly turn my attention to the impending arrival of the festive season but as my summer holiday ( if anyone asks it's not a holiday it's very hard work ) isn't until the end of November I shall be late to the festive plate this year and promise to not so much as mention the colour scheme of my baubles until at least the beginning of December.

So off I go now, out into the world, cardigan in hand for the chill in the air which awaits outside my door hoping that summers warmth has saved a last long breath for the weeks ahead so we can pretend the most fun part of the year isn't over quite yet.

And so this is Christmas...2014

Good morning dear reader and Merry Christmas, I hope that you had the most splendid of days and that your boxing day hangover isn't too bad this morning, if it is then I suggest a quick Bloody Mary might be just the ticket, I'd have one myself but I need the coffee first!

Yesterday exceeded all of my expectations, we had a truly brilliant Christmas day, a little different to the last 15 years but really, I think having friends over for Christmas is such a brilliant idea that I want to do it every year, I also want to have an open house policy at Christmas because I truly believe that no one should be alone at Christmas.

I didn't take a lot of photos yesterday because to be quite frank if I wasn't cooking or eating I was generally kicking back and having fun.

Obviously there are just 1 or 2 photos of Holly, she's so blooming funny and cute, she was like an overexcited toddler yesterday and definitely overtired by the end of the day, so much so that she didn't even wake me up until 8am and even then it was by jumping on the bed for a huge cuddle!

I think all of the above photos were taken on Christmas eve just in case you're wondering why Looby is dressed and then in pyjamas and then dressed again.

Christmas day started off at a really respectable time, in fact it was around 9am when the kids finally got up, Holly and I had a lovely hour on our own having cuddles from about 8ish, it was certainly a very gentle start to Christmas day.  First present Looby got was a unicorn, she requested a unicorn specifically but because I couldn't fit a real one in our house I thought a knitted one might work just as well.

Abigail doing her self tickling face....no I don't know either!

Holly got a lovely Christmas outfit to wear and it was greatly admired when we went for a lovely Christmas morning dog walk down to the park!

Despite what you would think Li and I only drank 2 bottles of Prosecco yesterday, it seems we're quite good at fun family portraits and the ones with me in them were taken by top photographer Looby, I wonder if I could send her to future portrait sessions.

I have to say that I really excelled myself with Christmas lunch yesterday, a huge rack of pork was a massive success, Iain and Looby both has poussin and I don't think anyone left anything, it was simply yumptious!

Holly loves Li's daughter, new best friend!

and in the midst of all of the Christmas chaos Looby set up her foot spa and read a book whilst we all got vibration related illnesses, how noisy are foot spas?

We played festive bingo afterwards for chocolate coins and then we settled down for Dr Who which was pretty good, I'm not sure it was my favourite Christmas Dr Who but to be honest I need to watch it again when I can properly concentrate on it.  After that everyone watched Miranda (recorded for later for me) while I made a huge Christmas buffet supper full of yummy treats though we all mainly just picked at stuff!

Today is all about taking it easy, the girls are going to their dads for Christmas number 2, Li is going to her mums for Christmas number 2 and Holly and I shall be very much in relaxation mode, i'd stay in my pyjamas if it wasn't for the fact that I've promised her a very long dog walk.

Whatever you get up to today, have a fabulous Boxing day and I'll be back in a few days with more festive tales.

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!