South Wales Portrait Photography - School Portraits
I love taking portraits and I've been visiting my children's school for a good few years now to take the annual school portraits. Although I visit lots of local toddler groups and nurseries, this is the only primary school that I visit, which makes it super special to me. This year, I realised that I've been photographing some of the children there since they were in preschool - and now they are in Year 6! I got a little bit emotional when I realised that and probably embarrassed them all, going on about how I remember taking their preschool portraits years ago! Sorry guys!
Now my daughter has actually moved onto secondary school and my son is already in Year 5, it won't be long before I'll be visiting and not taking my own children's portraits. I was lucky this year because my daughter had an inset day so I managed to sneak her into a few with my son at the end of the session.
I take all the portraits outside and it gives them a natural feel. In the past I've struggled with high winds, rain and bright sunshine but this year the weather was on my side. Thanks Mother Nature!
Here's a few of my favourites. If you would like me to pay a visit to your local preschool, nursery or children's group for a pop-up portrait session then drop me a line.
Gem x
Ballet Dancers of Cowbridge
From the age of 2 my son has been fascinated by ballet. He loves music and he loves to dance. I took him to a couple of street dance classes and then he also started gymnastics at the age of 3. I didn't take him to his first official ballet class until he was 6. He was little worried about being the only boy and also concerned that the rest of his class had been attending for a while but from the moment he stepped into the classroom he was totally hooked. It's like he'd be waiting his whole life to put on a pair of ballet shoes and dance.
Within 18 months, he'd auditioned for The Royal Ballet School and gained a place as a Junior Associate, travelling to a centre near Bath every 2 weeks to train with other associates from around the South West and Wales. In February this year, he attended a workshop at The Royal Ballet School in Covent Garden, which was an absolute dream come true. He got to go on stage at The Royal Opera House and even see the shoe room!
He attends classes in Cowbridge every week at the Moya Vahey School of Russian Classical Ballet and trains with The Royal Ballet School every fortnight. Not once in the last few years has he said he doesn't want to go. Even on a Saturday morning when he has to get up at 6.30am and travel to Bath and back in one day. Every morning before school he puts music on in the lounge and just dances. Not to ballet music, any music, and he won't let anyone watch him. I think he feels so free when he's dancing. It's such a personal experience for him that he likes to close all the doors and just dance.
When he started ballet classes, I had no knowledge of ballet at all. I attended ballet classes for a very short while when I was about 6. I gave up before it was time to do an exam as I couldn't bear the thought of people watching me. Since he started dancing I've become fascinated by ballet. I started to feel that I really wanted to try and capture this time in his life - the hard work and dedication that he puts in and the sheer joy on his face when he dances.
I recently popped into his ballet class, just before the end of term and took a few photos of him and his classmates preparing for their Summer Garden Party Show in Cowbridge. I'm very happy that I got to document these moments and capture a little tiny bit of his magic.
I've added a few images at the bottom of the performance at the show. I love the energy and joy that comes bursting out of the pictures.
Pop-up photo sessions in Cowbridge with Gemma Griffiths Photography
Well, my pop-up mini photo sessions are going down a storm at the moment and I've just announced a new date for June! The pop-up sessions are 10 minute, free photo shoots for your little ones. There's no tricks up my sleeve, so secret sales technique, you can buy one image, three images or ten images, whatever you fancy. There's no surprise price list, in fact the price list is very simple - it's £12 for a 5"x7" print and £15 for a 10"x7" print. If you want digital files they are also available at £15 each. Simples!
As they are only 10 minutes long the sessions are only suitable for 1 or 2 children at a time, or child and Mummy or Daddy, so we can't squeeze a whole family shoot into one slot. The slots are also booked back to back so if your little one arrives and decides that they aren't in the mood for photos then I can just add you onto the list for the next pop-up session instead. (Note: chocolate buttons are a good blackmail technique. Just saying). There will be one more pop-up session in June and possibly one in July and then that's it for the time being. Keep your eyes peeled on my Facebook page for new events.
A lot of my pop-up clients are repeat customers that have already had a full family shoot or nursery shoots with me in the past and are updating their images. If you'd like a family photo shoot and don't want the constraints of a 10 minute pop-up then I offer lovely family shoots out and about around the Vale. There's no time limit to them and we get the choice of different locations, outfits and loads of variety in terms of family groups, siblings together, individual portraits etc. You can see more from my family shoots on my family portfolio page.
In the meantime, I wanted to share this gorgeous set of images from a recent pop-up session at Llanblethian Baby & Toddler Group, just outside Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan. These images were taken in a 10 minute time slot with two beautiful sisters. There's only half the set featured here, so there were plenty to choose from!
If you're interested in my pop-up sessions or would like to book a full family shoot, please get in touch for a chat.
Gem x
Pop-up portrait sessions with Gemma Griffiths Photography
The main bulk of my work is photographing families on location in the beautiful countryside of the Vale of Glamorgan but a few times a year I offer pop-up photo sessions at local playgroups or seasonal mini sessions. This year, I changed the way that I work a little bit. I have experience as a headshot and school portrait photographer so I used the same methods to take portraits of little ones at their toddler groups. I used to aim for around 4-6 images per child and always try and make sure that I had the 'eye contact' shot and focussed on producing a few head and shoulder portraits for parents to choose from.
This year after a fab training session and some market research amongst my clients I discovered that parents didn't just want the head and shoulder portrait. They actually wanted a mixture of posed and unposed shots. They wanted images to show off their child's personality and the environment they are in. Well, this was music to my ears because I've always preferred unposed and natural images, so I decided to experiment with my Spring toddler groups and tried to capture more than just a portrait.
The response has been awesome from parents. I've presented between 10-30 images to families with a variety of posed and unposed images. Images that have more authenticity than a 'say cheese' picture and it feels brilliant!
At these toddler sessions I only have 10 minutes per child, so most of the images have been taken in the same spot. I wanted to show you an example of some of the images from this little girls gallery - she had 33 images in total and I've only shared 16 here. As you can see, you can get a gorgeous set of images in a short space of time. You can see her cheeky little grin, her thoughtful moments and a little bit of sass thrown in for good measure. The session took place at the Colwinston Baby & Toddler group which is held in the village hall in Colwinston, just outside Cowbridge. The garden behind the hall has a carpet of wild forget-me-nots at this time of year and they provide such a lovely backdrop to my Spring portraits here.
If you run or attend a local playgroup and would like me to visit for a pop-up portrait session then please get in touch to let me know. You can also keep in touch by following my Facebook page. I'll add new events as they get scheduled throughout the year.
If you have a group of friends or family members that are interested in a photo session then there is also the option of booking a private Group Mini Session for you all. Group Mini Sessions are a longer than my pop-up sessions and can include whole families, friendship groups and cousins etc. You can find out all about the idea behind my Group Mini Sessions on my blog.
Gem x
South Wales Stage School Photo Shoot
"The images all look fantastic! You have captured the children's energy, focus, fun, effort and joy so well. And some real crackers in there - that I'm sure Head Office will ask me if they can use! " Helene Reynolds, Principal
Get your jazz hands ready! It's the kids from the South Wales Stage School - Stagecoach Performing Arts Bridgend & Cowbridge!
I was contacted by Stagecoach to take some group class photos and rehearsal images to celebrate their upcoming 30th Anniversary and couldn't wait to get in there! I visited the school over 5 days and got to see all their classes in action. It was SO much fun. I was really impressed by the whole ethos of the school. The teachers were brilliant and the kids were so focused and really enjoying themselves. It was hard not to join in with the dancing but you can't take photos when you're jigging about to show tunes so I had to control myself.
There's so much joy, focus, passion and power in these images. The children have an hour each of singing, drama and dance. I really wanted to portray what I saw in the classes and to show how much the kids enjoy it and how hard they are working. Each class was full of energy and it was a real pleasure to see all the dancing, singing and acting from each stage. So from stag jumps to singing - here they are!
Note for Stagecoach parents: A full set of all the images from the rehearsals are available for you to view in a password protected online gallery. Printed class and rehearsal photos will be available to purchase, so please see the programme from the show to get more information or get in touch with me for the details.
Gem x
Note for Stagecoach parents: A full set of all the images from the rehearsals are available for you to view in a password protected online gallery. Printed class and rehearsal photos will be available to purchase, so please see the programme from the show to get more information or get in touch with me for the details.
