01
Portrait sitting
A quiet ninety minutes for one person — daylight indoors, or a short walk to a single outdoor spot. Suited to actors, writers, new graduates and anyone replacing a photograph they have outgrown.
Index / 01–04
Sessions
Four ways a commission is booked
Each format is a fixed shape — a length, a number of places, a frame count. Pick the closest one in your enquiry and it can be adjusted before anything is confirmed.
02
Family at home
Two hours that begin in your own rooms and usually end outside. Nobody is asked to look at the camera for the first half hour. Good with small children, reluctant teenagers and visiting grandparents.
03
Coastal edition
A half day built around one tide and one stretch of shoreline — headland, harbour wall, the walk between them. Part portrait, part place. Includes one hand-finished print of the frame you choose.
04
Small-ceremony day
Six hours for a gathering of around forty — the hour before, the ceremony, the long table afterwards. One photographer, no second shooter, no shot list read aloud. Two formal groups if you want them.
Working note
Weather is not a problem to be fixed. It is most of the photograph.
Deliverables
What you receive
The same specification for every format
Written out plainly so there is nothing to discover later. Only the frame count and the timeline change between sessions.
- Private gallery
- A password-protected online gallery, open for six months, that you can share with family without an account.
- Files
- Every delivered frame twice: full-resolution for printing, and a web-sized set for messages and screens.
- Editing
- Colour, contrast and light are finished by hand on each delivered frame. No batch presets, no skin smoothing or reshaping.
- Print licence
- A personal licence to print, enlarge and gift the images for as long as you like. Commercial use is quoted separately.
- Archive
- Delivered files are kept for twelve months, so a lost folder can be recovered with one message.
- Timeline
- Sittings and editions in 10–14 days. Ceremony days in three weeks, with a short set of previews inside a week.
Shoot day
Rhythm
How a commission actually runs
Most people have been photographed badly at least once. Knowing the order of the day removes almost all of the nerves that show up in a face.
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Stage 01
First call
Twenty minutes, no camera. What the pictures are for, who is difficult to photograph, and what you would rather avoid.
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Stage 02
Light plan
We choose the hour before the place. You get a short plan with a start time, a weather alternative and what to wear.
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Stage 03
The session
Warm-up frames first, which are never the keepers. Direction is quiet and specific — where to look, not how to feel.
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Stage 04
Edit & delivery
A first pass sets the selection, a second finishes each frame. The gallery arrives with a note on which images print best large.
Scheduling
Light through the year
Choose the season, then the hour
Northern light changes shape every few weeks. These are the windows that are booked first, and the reason a session may be offered at an unusual time of day.
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Winter
10:00 – 14:30The sun never climbs high, so the whole day behaves like late afternoon. Softest, most forgiving light of the year for portraits, and the quietest shorelines.
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Spring
08:00 – 11:00 · 17:00 – 19:00Clear mornings and fast-moving cloud. Good for family sessions because there are two usable windows in a day if a child needs to sleep through one.
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Summer
19:30 – 21:30Midday is too hard and too high. Coastal editions move to the long evening instead, which is why summer dates are offered late rather than early.
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Autumn
07:30 – 10:00Fog sits in the valleys and lifts off the water. Unpredictable by the hour, which makes it the best season for pictures that look like nowhere else.
Before you book
Questions
The six asked most often
If something here is still unclear, put it in the enquiry note and it will be answered before anything is held.
How far ahead should we enquire?
Sittings and editions are usually arranged four to eight weeks out, which leaves room to move for weather. Ceremony days are held much earlier — the light-season dates tend to go first, and only one is taken per weekend.
What happens if the weather turns?
Rain is rarely a reason to cancel; flat grey light is kind to faces, and wet stone photographs beautifully. Real wind and horizontal rain are different, so every outdoor session is planned with a second date or an indoor alternative already chosen.
Do you photograph indoors?
Yes, and often. Window light in an ordinary room is the backbone of the portrait sitting. Rooms with very little daylight are worked with a single soft lamp rather than a bank of flash, so the space still looks like itself.
Will you direct us, or should we know what to do?
You will be directed. Instructions are small and practical — stand here, look at the water, talk to each other and ignore me. Nobody is asked to hold a smile, and the frames made while you are moving are usually the ones you keep.
Can we add another location?
Often, if it is close. Travel between places eats the light, so one more stop within ten minutes is simple, while crossing a region usually means adding time to the session instead. Say where you are thinking of and it can be planned honestly.
What do you need from us beforehand?
Three things: who will be in the pictures and anything worth knowing about them, where you would like to be, and two or three photographs you already love. The last one says more about what you want than any brief.
Enquiry
Start here
Tell me what you want photographed
A few lines is enough. You will get a reply with the dates that still have good light, and a note on which session format fits what you have described.