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8 articles
A working diary from a late-summer family portrait session on a Leeds allotment: the borrowed key, the fogged lens, the four-year-old who refused to leave the compost bin, and why the resulting pictures have already been framed and hung.
A warm, practical production diary from a three-generation Christmas card shoot in a front room: how to arrange nan, mum, dad and the kids on one sofa, borrow December window light, keep the whole thing under an hour, and choose a print that survives Royal Mail. No backdrop, no matching knitwear, no drama.
A November 2026 production diary from a village-hall pantomime: the dress rehearsal, the impossible mixed lighting, the scene changes held together by hope and Velcro, and the quiet rules that let you photograph volunteers without turning them into a spectacle. What we shot, what we learned, and why the committee’s poster brief changed halfway through.
On a recent brand campaign in Sheffield, we added ambient audio and voice notes to the shot list. It changed the edit, the mood and the way the client saw their own shop floor. This is what we used, how we synced it, and why stills campaigns should stop pretending sound does not exist.
Before a camera comes out of the bag, there is one sheet of paper on the table. This is what goes on it, what deliberately does not, and why a short shot list tends to produce better films and photographs than a forty-page brief ever will.
A homeware brand wanted small kitchens, not a white backdrop, so we moved a two-day shoot into three occupied houses on a residential street. What followed involved council permits, parking suspensions, a great deal of tea — and unplanned frames that ended up in the final cut.
A small Yorkshire preserve maker, a domestic kitchen the size of a decent parking space, and two days to come away with a full season of imagery. Notes on the planning call, the light, the cat, and why cramped real rooms beat polished studios more often than anyone admits.
A behind-the-scenes look at a year of family sessions across the UK in 2026 — the unexpected emotional moments, the technical lessons from small rooms and grey skies, and the practical notes we would pass to any family booking their own shoot.