My 2024 Photography & Business Highlights

It’s New Year’s Eve and seemingly an appropriate moment to reflect on the past 12 months of my photography business; the best bits, the challenges and the lessons learned. So here we go…

Taking my photography business seriously again

When I decided to become a professional photographer back in 2009, the market was no way near as saturated as it is today. Demand for wedding photographers was high and supply was only just only just starting to increase, as the mainstream shift from film to digital opened the industry up to an influx of new self-taught photographers (myself included!).

After 10 years of shooting weddings at the weekend and concentrating on D-Day Revisited during the week, I photographed my last wedding in 2019 and pressed the pause button on my business.

COVID hit, we built a house, I had two babies and other than the occasional commercial project or event my camera remained largely untouched for 5 years. Many times I considered shutting shop completely.

Then I realised I could offer something different if I took photographs the way I wanted to, shooting exclusively on film. So I went all in, offering parents who appreciated the slow pace of all things analogue in the digital age an alternative way to capture their family’s journey.

All at once I fell back in love with photography again. However I knew the scene had shifted dramatically even in that 5 years, so to make it work I would have to dive in and learn how to market my services all over again.

The fact of the matter is extraordinarily talented photographers fail in business every day, because they don’t know how to market themselves. Marketing is now 75% of the job and whilst it’s been an uphill struggle at times, I’ve learned SO many valuable lessons in 2024. I’m excited to keep implementing new strategies to attract the families I know I can help and also to share the knowledge I’ve learned with other photographers.

Putting myself out there and reconnecting with my local community

Photographing families is, as you would expect, very different to taking pictures at weddings. Whereas before I would be introduced to my new clients via wedding blogs, venues and other suppliers, those weren’t the same contacts I needed to reach families in the north-west.

So I made 2024 the year I would put myself out there, reaching out to businesses in my area who were serving the same families I hoped to work with in my business.

What began as a marketing tool also gave me the opportunity to reconnect with my local community in Cheshire and give back to those who’d made a difference to my experience as a new parent.

Highlights included photographing the Popcats 10 year party, which raised more than £1,000 for Claire House. And photographing an intergenerational sing along, hosted by the same group who featured at the Princess of Wales’ Together at Christmas service last week.

Photographing a family at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons

Now this one was just fun! Have you ever been to this gorgeous retreat in Oxfordshire? Home to Raymond Blanc’s two-Michelin Star restaurant? It has been on my bucket list for a long time, so when former wedding clients reached out and asked me to capture their parents’ Ruby Wedding anniversary at the estate I was pleased as punch!

It is the best feeling when clients you have loved working with come back and ask you to capture the next big event in their family. And this day was gorgeous. It was warm and hazy, the kids were on great form, we all walked through the gardens and captured a mixture of traditional family portraits and candid moments along the way.

The backdrop to these photos, as you would expect, was incredible, a mixture of dreamy outdoor settings ranging from manicured formal gardens to rustic organic orchards. All in all, a real highlight of my year!

I recently met up with them at their home in London to finalise their album design and I cannot wait to see their photographs printed and safely bound in a hand-crafted family heirloom.

Photographing families at the next stage in their journey

When I decided to solely photograph families, I was hopeful I might be reunited with one or two of my previous wedding photography couples at their next stage of life and happily I have!

From a Ruby Wedding anniversary in Oxfordshire to a 90th Birthday Family Reunion in the Lake District and intimate family portrait sessions closer to home, I’ve had several wedding clients return in 2024 to have new photos taken with their children.

In a purely professional capacity, these returning clients have been integral to the success of my photography business this year. And in a personal capacity, I’ve loved seeing my clients’ stories evolve. From saying “I do” to playing with their toddlers to standing side-by-side with their pre-teens; capturing family journeys has been a huge honour for me as a photographer.

Discovering new ways to print my work

If you’ve followed me for a while you’ll know that I feel very strongly that photographs should be printed. In this digital age where everything is saved virtually, our most precious photos often remain invisible in reality, captured and locked away rarely to be seen and enjoyed again.

Displaying your favourite photos can have such a positive impact for you and is good for your children too.

This year I’ve explored new ways to display my clients’ images and have curated a selection of beautiful print options to turn digital dust into meaningful works of art for their homes or fine art albums to enjoy for years to come.

Challenging myself to photograph ‘A Day in the Life’ series

The idea behind this had been brewing in my head for a while. I’ve always been really inspired by documentary photography and I missed stretching those reportage muscles you actively engage as a wedding photographer.

I felt compelled to create a collection of family photographs capturing the everyday. Images which recorded the beautiful in-between moments of family life; freezing in time those unique dynamics and routines which are, all-too-soon, a thing of the past.

I had a stack of Ilford 3200 black and white film in storage which I knew would have a fighting chance of getting the exposure I needed inside a British home in November. I also had an instinct that it’s grainy, timeless quality would lend itself to a project designed to make ordinary moments feel artful.

One grey Sunday morning I headed over to a friend’s home to give the idea a whirl and spent a few hours blending in with their weekend routine, capturing all the little moments that together made up a story of that season in their lives.

I was so pleased with the results! The images were honest, intimate and playful all at once. They tell the tale of loving home and I feel very happy to think the boys will look back on these photographs one day and smile.

If you’d be interested in capturing a ‘Day in the Life’ series of your family then get in touch. I’d love to help you tell the story of your family home.

Sharing knowledge and experience with aspiring photographers

I started my business, like most photographers, on my own. And navigating my way through this industry has been a challenge. There have been many times along the way where I wished I had a mentor; a more experienced photographer with whom I could be honest about my challenges and whose knowledge could guide me.

This year I tentatively began sharing my own insights of running a photography business on social media, sharing my experience with aspiring photographers in the hope they can gracefully leap over the hurdles I crashed head-first into along the way!

If you’re a family photographer in the making then head over to my photography education website for all the information about how I can help you turn your passion for picture-taking into irresistible art your clients will treasure, helping you to build a life you love.

Stepping in front of the camera myself

Long gone are the days I could post a single photograph on Instagram and acquire 50 likes within an hour! When I stepped back onto social media after a long hiatus to offer the kind of free content I hope will be helpful to aspiring photographers, I quickly realised I would have to get to grips with reels.

It’s been such an interesting learning curve and I’ve definitely made a fool of myself many times! But happily I’m too old to care… if you never start you never learn and what at first seemed completely daunting is slowly but surely becoming easier.

But whilst I do love my trusty iPhone, I knew I couldn’t sell a family photography on film service without being photographed… on film. So I was also really grateful to my old friend and fellow film photographer Kate Rossin, who now runs the epic Common Ground in Coventry. Kate came out of retirement for a minute to take professional portraits for me to use across my website & socials and nailed the brief as always!

Experimenting with mini-sessions

My return to social media introduced me to a new family photography offering… the mini-session! Photographers across the globe seemed to be setting up camp in a field for 6 hours and shooting 20 families for around 20 minutes at a time at a reduced price.

So I gave it a whirl, with two mini-session dates in Summer and two in Autumn.

But one of my big takeaways from this year has been that for my business model, this format simply doesn’t work.

There are multiple reasons why – making it worthy of its own dedicated blog post at some point – but there were two main grounds upon which I decided to no longer offer mini-sessions.

Firstly, when you’re working with children, as any parent will know, an unforgiving time restriction is your enemy! If the children need the bathroom, feel tired or fractious, or any number of other things came up during a family’s allocated time slot, it threw the whole day off. Family life is best captured in a relaxed environment, without time pressure, where there’s a little flex and give to the situation.

Secondly, mini-sessions don’t allow me to create the bespoke service for my clients that I want to offer. For me, it felt too much like a conveyor belt, that didn’t allow the session to be tailored to each family.

Lesson learned.

Taking family portraits for a Strictly Come Dancing contestant!

I became pregnant with my first baby right at the very start of the pandemic and gave birth days before the third country-wide lockdown; a lonely first venture into parenthood as any of my peers will tell you.

Thankfully, I found my tribe of Mums-to-be on an NCT zoom lecture in 2020 and picked up one or two more since. It’s no exaggeration to say these incredible Mums have become life-long friends. I feel so lucky to have such a supportive and hilarious team of women to navigate this parenting lark alongside.

One of those Mums happens to be Olympic medallist and television presenter, Sam Quek. Sam organised a joint Christening and birthday party at Thornton Hall for her two children back in March and asked me to capture the event for her.

For the purposes of speedy printing for the magazine exclusive, I photographed the day digitally. But Sam kindly indulged me with a roll of film as well!

Taking my photography business in a new direction

2024 has been the year I took my photography business in a new direction and what a journey it has been.

Having made the decision to move away from a “shoot and burn” digital business model, this year I embraced all things analogue and began creating custom artwork for my clients.

There was so much reasoning behind this change and I am so happy I took the plunge. Thanks to the higher level of service I now offer, I know my work has a much bigger impact for my clients. Taking the time to guide my clients through their photographs personally I’ve seen this first hand. The shared experience of revealing the photographs we’ve created together is much more rewarding all round.

I’ve worked so hard this year and I’m proud of myself for being willing to take risks, persist and make progress. I feel good to have taken a moment to note it all down.

A favourite topic of conversation with parents during a family portrait session is just how hectic life is juggling little people and work and all the other things on our list! I think it’s important for all of us to take a minute to reflect and give ourselves a well-deserved pat on the back at the end of the year.

With relentless schedules it can also seem impossible to find the time throughout the year to capture your family’s journey in professional photographs. But trust me, if you can squeeze a couple of hours into a quiet Saturday to have your portraits taken, your future self will be so grateful you did.