Congratulations to Nick and Ilena  who had a Christmas wedding on Friday 23rd December last year.  Like most winter weddings, the weather was a feature of the day, but on this occasion, a storm was brewing!  The challenge was working out exactly when storm Barbara would strike!  She threaten me all afternoon, reducing my light, lifting the wind, bringing periods of sideways drizzle, but I was able to shoot all the important bits of the day outside!  And Ilena is Russian so what's a bit of wind and cold anyway?!  There was no stopping the new bride and groom from walking through Cambridge city for some 'Cambridge' looking portraits, albeit with hair in face (and a veil on it's way to France).  It was a bit of a mad day full of happiness, weather, laughter, love and Christmas trees.  I enjoyed every minute!  My Cambridge wedding photography highlights follow:

I first photographed Callum as a newborn (it's amazing how time flies as he's now 5), but today's studio session was mainly about his baby brother Leo!  Leo is a crawling, nearly walking, high-energy bundle of happiness who smiled so much in the first ten minutes that he'd run out of them by the end!

This afternoon's session was my first after the Christmas break and it looked more like a fashion shoot that a regular portrait session!  I've photographed this cheeky pair a number of times before so it was nice to have some different looks/outfits to work with.  I even persuaded Mum and Dad into a few this time!

Congratulations to Dan and Anna who were married on Saturday 10th December.  Sandwiched between two sunny winter's days, the weather could have been better, but even though it threatened, the rain didn't arrive until later on!  That meant I got to enjoy the beautiful surroundings of Farnham Castle in Surrey.  With dress hiked up, we walked the keep and got some great bride and groom shots against the castle walls.  Family photos were shoe-horned in to make use of the fading light and once gone completely, it was all about fantastic food, lots of booze and a good old party!  Here are my highlights (and see if you can spot my own cheeky little selfie):

This morning I photographed a family I first met back in 2010, back when Mum and Dad were expecting child number 1!  Today I had three energetic children to shoot, ranging in age from 2-7.  Suffice to say, it was good fun, hard work and fairly chaotic!

Here's a sneak preview from the weekend featuring eighteen month old Isaac.  He came to the studio with Mummy & Daddy to shoot family shots, but just look at that amazing hair, how could I resit shooting baby portraits too?!

Those of you who know me know that I'm not exactly captain Christmas, but, I'm more than happy to show off a baby in Father Christmas outfit now that it's December!  Well... just :) This studio session was with very nearly one year old baby Ember who was a little reluctant to show off her brand new standing skills!

How cute is this?  A newborn baby having a dance-off with himself in his sleep!  I never knew that babies could dance, but newborn Luke proved to me that they really can.  A future gymnast/dancer/super-star DJ perhaps?

Today I met this little 9 month old who was a real action baby!  He only enjoyed action things so that meant crawling, being thrown around by Dad, being tickled by Mummy and doing all the rattling of the rattles (rather than watching me do the rattling)!  Suffice to say, we all needed a lie down....

Here's a sneak preview from a studio session last week involving baby Joe!  He was full of expressions and swung from serious to smiley in the blink of an eye.  At least he seemed to be enjoying himself some of the time...

I've met baby Aurora a number of times before and today was her final 'baby grow club' session.  It's amazing how much she's changed!  She's turned into a lovely little girl that loves to run about (but sit still when photographers want her to run about)!  My photography highlights follow:

Here's a toddler with serious ants in pants issues!  Doing what he wanted to do was the aim of the game and that sometimes meant sitting still, but more often than not, it meant running around the studio.  Despite not finding the session particularly funny, he showed off lots of character!  Here are some highlights:

In the week, I met this little monster for a family photo shoot with his Mum and Dad!  At that charming age where the things worth doing are the only things worth doing, it was a shame that being photographed wasn't one of those things!  Big shout out to Dad for some spectacular noises/actions/faces that helped slow down the pace of distraction... Here are some session highlights:

Yesterday I met this little one year old who enjoyed himself so much, that after half an hour of shooting, he was not up for much more!  Crawling around the studio at somewhere between 80 and 87 miles an hour probably didn't help his energy levels...

This session was mainly a baby session for 9 month old Rosa but there had been plans to get two year old big sister involved too.  Holly, being 2, had other plans however!  Rosa took the session in her stride and kept on smiling (even if Holly was less than impressed)!

This morning I met 6 month old Aidan who was beaming from the very moment I opened the studio door!  And he didn't stop!  Getting anything serious out of him was quite a challenge but I'm pleased that I persevered because he looks just as cute with his moody face!  If only all babies were this easy to photograph....

A quick reminder that I'm in the middle of my Pre-Christmas offer period where all of my studio sessions are FREE (usually £65).  That means a totally risk free introduction to the Mike Thornton Photography studio with your family, children or baby!  I look forward to booking you in the diary very soon....

Anna and Dan are getting married in December and this was their practice shoot for the big day!  After a few early nerves, both settled into it the idea of being photographed but the shoot became as much about hearing their plans for a winter wedding as it was for shooting images!  Here are some highlights:

It is that time of year again where I launch a pre-Christmas offer in October and feel really awkward about it!  Due to my customer's bespoke products, I have to work a month ahead... so... during the months of October and November, my studio sessions are all FREE (worth £65). This means paying only for the prints, frames and digital items you need to start that all-important Christmas list.

I can't wait to see your family/children/baby in the studio this autumn!

Here's a sneak preview of a little monkey I photographed in the week who really, really stuggled to sit still!  He's only 9 months old but already on his feet and almost walking... Mum & Dad really are going to have their work cut out!