Last week I came across something very special at exactly the right time.

If you have been to mine for your photography session you will have noticed all the photographs I have up of my children, but I often say that a family photograph is well overdue. So this summer I made it my mission to do this, and I was very pleased with the result, it was exactly what I wanted and exactly how I wanted my family to be captured. Anyway, now came the hard part, getting that image on the wall! Of course, being a professional photographer I have a list of suppliers. If you know how my business works, I mainly sell digital images as these are part of the package you choose. I like to remain affordable by allowing clients to get their own products printed elsewhere. Whilst I always recommend getting products through me so I can ensure the best quality and colours, I understand not everyone can afford professional quality products so I thought I should test some high street brands to see which were good enough to "recommend" to my clients. 

This is when this fantastic opportunity came up for me to review a Tesco canvas! The timing couldn't have been better. I already had my favourite image picked ready to order and the process was super easy. 

What amazed me the most was that if you order your Tesco canvas before 12pm you can collect after 3pm the SAME day! I was in no immediate rush for mine so I opted for the home delivery option, but it still arrived in less than a week, which is also an amazing turnaround time. Now I have done something similar before, you have probably seen those little places in shopping centers that do you a canvas in an hour, we have had these done in the past and the colours have been awful. As a professional photographer I am extra picky about colour balance, but Tesco came out very close to the colours I see on my screen so I was very impressed with this also! 

It was very easy to order my canvas online. I simply selected the size required, then chose the type of side style. I was very impressed that ALL options were available and done automatically for you; mirror, image stretch, block colour, or image wrap. It also showed you which part of the photo would be wrapped around the outside so you could choose the best option. I personally like the image wrap, but for this and the mirror option you need to ensure you have plenty of background otherwise you will end up cutting bits of your photo off or having a shoe or someone's foot or whatever is on the outside of the image mirrored, which looks terrible! But fear not as you can clearly see what your image will look like before you order. 

The only thing I would do differently if I ordered again, is order a bigger one! Canvas definitely look better the bigger you get!

Thank you Tesco, I will definitely be recommending your canvas' to my clients! 

During the summer holidays we were given the fantastic opportunity for my children to attend some biscuit decorating and craft classes at Lollipops play cafe in Bournemouth whilst I took some promotional photographs for the lovely Sarah from Biscuits by Sarah B and Lexy from Made by Me Craft Parties. 

I decided to bring my husband along to look after the children at the class, so I could concentrate on my purpose for being there; to take photographs. But he was not needed at all! Sarah and Lexy were amazing with all of the children and each class provided a full hours entertainment for the children whilst the adults could enjoy a hot drink in the cafe and a much needed break during the summer holidays. 

During these classes the children got to make a spell book with invisible ink and secret pockets and tabs ( I wanted to make one myself!) and decorate five yummy Harry Potter themed biscuits. I have even booked myself onto an adult biscuit decorating class because it looked so fun. 

Needless to say, I got some great photographs which show how involved the children were with what they were doing, they all had a great time and as well as being entertained for a hour or two they got to take some fantastic creations home with them! 

If you would like more information on upcoming classes you can visit the Mini makes and bakes facebook page. Or if you run classes and would like me to take some photos for you please do get in touch I would love to hear from you, I love doing something a little different.

Over the past 2 years, I have had the absolute pleasure of watching this gorgeous little boy growing from a tiny helpless dependant little newborn baby into an independent adventurous 2 year old throughout our 6 photography sessions together.

I first met this gorgeous little one back in July 2016 when he was just 14 days old. He came here to Samantha Prewett Photography for his newborn photography session and we have continued to have regular photo sessions ever since. 

For his 6 month photography session, I visited their home to capture the next stage in his development. When your baby starts to sit up on their own, its the perfect time for their next photo session. It was so lovely to see how he had changed, and we even took a photo on the same star blanket that they brought to his newborn photography session here with me in Poole.

I returned to their family home for his one year birthday celebration photography session. What better way to celebrate than with a birthday cake! This little man is lucky to have a summer birthday so we could do some indoor and outdoor photos during his session. As you can see he loved getting stuck into his cake, and we also managed to get some lovely natural family photographs during this photo session too. 

Two years isn't always the "easiest" age to photograph, we are long past the stages of being able to gently pose them or get them to sit nicely for their photograph to be taken. So we decided to capture an adventure, one of their favourite places to go as a family, . Sessions like this bring a whole new meaning to professional photography, a snipet of time captured forever. All those lovely memories of what you love to do together professionally captured to look back on for years to come.  This is why I thoroughly enjoy photographing your children of all ages, and getting to capture them as they grow is even more rewarding for me, and you. 

It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know this lovely family over the past two years, who I can now proudly call friends and not just clients, and I can't wait for our next adventure together. 

If you are ready for me to capture the next stage of your family journey, you can check out my family photography page or you can get in touch here. Don't forget you can use your £25 voucher that came with your photographs AND if you have only recently had your newborn session and are not ready for the next stage yet you can even book a session for next year at this years price. 

The summer holidays are almost upon us, this can be an expensive time for us all, most of us work less and spend more! (I do anyway!)  I spend a lot of time planning my summer holidays so I thought I would save you all some time and share lots of the free events and activities I have found with you all.

If you children love getting messy, making their own wildflower seed bombs could be the perfect activity for them. This free event takes place on 1st August from 1-3pm at the Joy cafe in Churchill Gardens. 

There are lots of free events going on in Saxon Square in Christchurch over the summer holidays. Including a teddy bears picnic, a sports day and a circus skills workshop. You can find out more by visiting their website.

Have you ever taken your children fishing? This is the perfect opportunity to give it a go. All the equipment you will need is provided free of charge along with advice to help you get started. Contact details are on the poster above. 

How about free Tennis coaching? Every Saturday between 10-11am free lessons are available at Knyveton Gardens or open play for all between 11-1130am. Other locations are available also, check out the website for more information:
https://tennisforfree.com

Hobbycraft are running free craft activites throuout the summer holidays, for more information and to book visit their website.

Do you fancy getting back to nature with your children? A new group is taking place every Thursday from 1pm at Poole Park. They have lots of other free events too, check out their website for more information.

Have you signed up for the summer reading challenge yet? Suitable for ages 4 plus, simply ready 6 books over the summer holidays to complete the challenge and get your medal and certificate. The library also has LOTS of free events for children over the summer holiday period. Find out more here.

Learn all about small animals at the Pets at home free pet workshops. Spaces are free but need to be booked by visiting their website.

Dorchester's completely free youth music and culture event is happening again on 25th August 2018. Not only is it FREE entry, all the activities (apart from street art) are FREE too! This is one not to be missed, visit their website to find out more information.

Every Wednesday throughout the summer holidays enjoy a date with nature at the New Forest Reptile Centre, with fun activities for the whole family.There will be a quiz trail and making activities for children. Come and see the “live” video of birds on their nests as well as the reptiles and amphibians. Visit their website for more information. 

On the 2nd August there is a free family fun day in Poole Park, unlike most family fun days most of the activities are free also!

Some of the best things to do for free when you are stuck for ideas:
1. Blackberry picking
2. Go to the beach / park for a picnic
3. GeoCaching
4. Crabbing at Poole or Mudeford Quay
5. Visit an outdoor paddling pool, you can find a list here.
6. Free fireworks displays at 10pm on Thursdays at Poole Quay and Friday's at Bournemouth Pier
7. Paint some rocks and hide them for others to find. There are lots of local facebook groups for this, some local ones are "Poole Rocks" and "BH Rocks"
​

If you need somewhere to add all these great free activities and to help you organise your summer, check out this pretty FREE downloable summer wall planner from Joanne Dewberry. 

I hope you find some of these suggestions useful. Please do add any more that you know about, or let us know what you love to do for free in the school holidays. I look forward to reading all of your suggestions.
Have a fabulous summer, we all intend to!

It's not often that I photograph babies at this age, but I occasionally get people who have "missed" the newborn photography stage. Babies tend to be more awake, active and less curled up at this age so photographs are slightly different to a newborn session. Every baby is so different though, and at 6 weeks we try to get as many "newborn" style photographs as possible. 

This beautiful little girl came to see me very recently, her Mum had just missed the "newborn" photography stage, but was keen to get some sleepy photos. Which we managed to, along with some gorgeous awake ones too. She was small for her age so still fit into my newborn outfits and some of my newborn sized baskets. I do also have props and outfits for babies up to 5 months so we would have worked with these if she didn't fit into the smaller ones. 

In fact her session was rather like most of my newborn photography sessions, she had lots of cuddles, feeds and a couple of naps. I tend to take "newborns" between 1-2 weeks, but I will never refuse anyone and say their baby is too old for a photography session. Every stage of a baby is equally beautiful to capture, even if your baby is older than 6 weeks, we can still get similar photos, maybe not the sleepy ones, but I work with your baby to create the perfect selection of images for you. I have had babies at 5 months sleep during their sessions, so it all depends how they are on the day.

Baby photography sessions are suitable if your baby is between 6 weeks and 5 months (pre sitting) and packages start from £85. They last around an hour, as babies tend to be a little more settled at this age, but we sometimes go a little over this time, which is completely fine too. A photography session for a 4/5 month old baby is very different to a 6 week old, they will more than likely be pushing themselves up by this age so that makes for very different but equally beautiful photographs. If your baby is between these ages please get in touch to discuss whether a newborn or baby session would suit you better. To see some examples of my photos of babies between 6 weeks and 5 months you can visit my baby gallery. 

Please get in touch if you are interested in a baby photography session by sending me a message via my contact me page. 

This month I was lucky enough to welcome a gorgeous little boy into Samantha Prewett Photography, in Poole, Dorset to photograph him for his newborn photography session. This newborn photography session was extra special because he had with him his beautiful bump cast bowl, made by the very talented Zoe from Rock the Bump.  I was really excited about this session as it was the first time I have photographed one of Zoes beautiful bowls, or as she calls them "Baby's first home" 

I thought it would be nice to share some of the beautiful images from his newborn photography session with you all, not just of him in the bowl but some of the other images from his session too:

This gorgeous little man was only 6 days when he came to see me! I tend to do newborn sessions at around 7 days, but anything up to 2-3 weeks is usually fine. If babies are older than this, I never turn them away, we just might not get the tightly curled up sleepy images as babies tend to start to uncurl very quickly. It was good that we managed to get him in so early, as he only just fit into his mummy's bump cast! It really was incredible to see how he would have been curled up inside their less than a week previous to his photography session. 

I especially love the photo where he kicked his little leg out of the bowl, I can just imagine him doing this in his mummy's tummy, all of us who have had babies remember what the feels like don't we :-)

Zoe and I absolutely love the belly bump cast photos and we would love to see more babies bring their "Baby's first home" cast to me for their newborn photography session. If you are expecting, you can find out more about Zoe's bump casting on her website. 
We have a very special offer available to you if you would like to book a newborn photography session with Samantha Prewett Photography and a bump casting session with Rock the bump, you will get £45 of a luxury bump cast AND a further £45 off your newborn photography session if you are happy for us to share some of your photographs of your baby in their belly bump cast. Please get in touch for more details.

I have just completed my third year running of bluebell photography sessions at Pamphill in Wimborne, Dorset. This year I photographed 4 beautiful families in one early evening, it might not have been the sunniest of days , but we had already postponed 3 times so it was then or never so we went for it! I am sure you can agree with me that it was totally worth it.

My bluebell mini sessions are exclusively for past clients, the sessions are really short as we already know each other its a little chance to catch up and update their beautiful photograph collections.  The special price is also a thank you to them for choosing me to capture their special memories for them AGAIN.  ​I am always happy to photograph new families here also, but we would need a full session, 15 minutes is not enough time to get to know new people and capture some beautiful images for you.

I couldn't write this blog without sharing their "look how I have grown" photos! Without a doubt this is the best part of my job;

The sessions went amazingly, to say they only had a short time each all the little ones were fantastic. I really enjoyed seeing everyone again, and I hope its not the end of our journey together, it is a real pleasure for me being invited time and time again to capture your beautiful family growing. 

If you missed out this year (or can't wait to come back next year!) and would like to kept up date with when I will be doing the sessions, please sign up to my monthly newsletter here (the form is right at the bottom of my home page) or if you are a past client you can join my VIP facebook group here. I am thinking about doing wild flower meadow mini sessions for the first time this year, if you are interested please do let me know now as I need enough interest before I look into it further. 

Wow, I can quite proudly say that it has been 1 year now since we started our #littlepacksoflove project. If you haven't heard about it or had one yet, you can find out more by reading my previous blog post.

My idea started out small, I wanted to be able to give my clients goody bags with lots of relevant, local information and offers in, not junk. I teamed up with the lovely Emma from Sunflower Baby Massage to plan putting together the packs. It was a lot of work (and still is) organising everyone and everything for the packs, but very rewarding.  Unfortunately, Emma has had to move on, but I am delighted to have Puddle Ducks on board to help me now as well as a few other local mums who run their own baby related businesses who help to pack them up. 

Little packs of love have become so much more than just goody bags, we have created a community of local mums in business who all own baby related companies and we all support each other as well as meeting up regularly, it can be really lonely being a self employed mum sometimes. 

To celebrate our success over the past year, many of the businesses involved have offered a prize for our fantastic giveaway! 

 The prizes up for grabs are :

1. A framed hand/feet print from Precious Memories. Suitable from birth to 12 months. To claim this prize you must be able to travel to Glenda's studio in Lychett Matravers. Must be claimed by 1st September 2018.

2. A beautiful 0-3 months hand knitted hat from Snug Creations. This prize can be posted to the winner or collected from Samantha Prewett Photography in Poole.

3. A voucher for a full 6 week baby yoga course from Nature, Nurture, Love. Suitable for babies between 6 weeks old and pre walking.

4. A voucher for a half price block of swimming lessons from Puddle Ducks. This is valid for Puddle Ducks Dorset only and until the end of October 2018 and for first set of lessons only.

5. A gift voucher pack from Sunflower Baby Massage, including a voucher for 25% off a 1-1 baby massage course, some sunflower seeds and a bottle of massage oil. This prize will be posted out to the winner.

6. A £10 gift voucher from Loved Garms. This can be redeemed online.

​7. A half price antenatal course from BIRTH Rocks. Valid for July only.

8. A personalised hand written name print from Carriegraphy. This can be posted to the winner.

9. A pamper session for up to 10 guests from Forever Beautiful by Jennie

10.  A £50 gift voucher from Samantha Prewett Photography.  The voucher is valid towards Linen or Bamboo photography packages only and expires on 1st December 2018.

11. A £15 gift voucher for Zen Baby Therapies. Expires 28th February 2019.

12. Couch 2 5k unicorn challenge with medal from Challenge Virtual following the NHS Couch to 5km App. In your own time at your own pace. Once you have completed the C25k, send a screenshot of your completion to them via our website their Facebook page.

13. Goody bag from Kicks Count. This will be posted out to the winner.

14. A tote bag and box of chocolate from Families Online

To enter the competition, please comment and let us know which prize you would really like to win (you will still be entered for each one so don't worry!) and if you are a client of any of the businesses who have listed a prize. If you are, you get an extra entry (if you have bought from more than one of us, please let us know all and you get an extra entry for each!) A winner will be chosen at random on 1st June 2018 and announced on Facebook. The list of winners will also be posted as a comment on here so please do come back to check if you have won. You must claim your prize by 15th June otherwise another winner will be chosen. Some prizes have their own terms and conditions, these are listed separately. 

Good luck!

Most families that come to me for their newborn photography sessions are first time parents. We spend most of their time with me focusing on the brand new little bundle that has just arrived and brought so much love but turned their entire lives upside down.
But what about when you already have children? Many families would still like their older child(ren) involved in their newborn photography session and of course it's my job to help with this. 
Whilst most older siblings are happy to come over and have a photo taken with the new addition to their family, the typical 2 year old is not. 

With this in mind, I thought it would be really helpful for you all to see just what happens when they don't want to "pose" for the silbing photo that I have set up, and how I manage to still create such beautiful natural photographs of your precious babies together.

I met a lovely family a few weeks ago who had booked a newborn photography session for their second child and of course wanted to bring their older child with them to involve him too. A newborn session can last for up to 4 hours so I always recommend to everyone before hand if possible, that they bring their older child either for the start of the session or towards the end so we can get those all important sibling photos and they don't have to wait around all that time as it can be boring for them. Of course this is not always possible for some families and they are welcome to stay if they need to. 
When I am expecting a sibling I tend to set up for photos of them together at the beginning and if this fails we come back at the end of the session. This certain little man was not too keen to joining his baby sister in the photo taking. He was still sussing out life with a brand new baby sister and at 2 years old is still very much a baby himself, he was in a strange place, and whilst I always try my best to help them feel more comfortable, if you have or have had a toddler yourself you will know this isn't always possible.  His baby sister patiently waited whilst we tried to persuade him over but he wasn't coming in this instance.  No worries, I move on and take this opportunity to take a few photos of his baby sister so he can see whats going on and feel a little more settled. He watches from a distance and starts showing a little more interest. 

After a few more photographs of his baby sister, he decides he would like to come over and join her, but not to lay down on my specially set out blanket on the floor so I have to improvise. I decided to try something a little different and I am sure you will agree, the results were amazing. The photographs are all completely natural, he came over in his own time and you can really see the love between them.

We did "plan" to try some slightly more posed siblings photos again towards to the end of the session but Dad took him to the park and he fell asleep in the car so he spent the remainder of their time with me asleep! aaaaaaaww.

So there you go, things don't always go to plan. And not just for sibling sessions, for newborns on their own too , every baby and every child has their own schedule and agenda and they don't run by ours, which is why every single one of my sessions from newborn, to family and all the babies in between are completely led by you, not me.  My aim is to capture your family, as they are , beautifully and naturally and to make this into beautiful memories that you will treasure forever.

If you are expecting again please take a look at my newborn photography section or drop me a message I would love to chat about your session.

Dad's and their babies. Not so commonly talked about and shown in newborn photography as we may think. After all, its usually Mum who takes lead and spends hours looking online for their perfect photographer. 
But how do they feel about all this, what do they think?
Do they mostly come along to the session for support, or because they are told to or are they equally involved?

With some exceptions it is usually Mum to be/new Mum who gets in touch to arrange their newborn photography session and whilst it is usually a joint decision, Mum usually initiates this. Usually Dad does come along if they are still on paternity leave which is a great reason to have your newborn photography session as early as possible. 

Whilst some Dad's are more than happy to be photographed, and in some cases it can be them to suggest it rather than Mum, just as many, if not more are very anxious about it all. I want to help you to relax and put your mind at ease if it something you are currently or may soon be thinking about. So with this in mind, I have spoken to two Dad's who I have photographed recently with their newborn babies when they came to Samantha Prewett Photography in Poole.

​"I always remember being very nervous on the drive there, I was quite short with everyone in the car but we got there and seeing Edward just being allowed to be free and he was so cute, then I can remember being worried about the photo with me cause I was looking scruffy as a tramp with low standards but I held Edward and just looked down at him, and knew I needed this wonderful memory, and everyday I look at the canvas of our little family and just feel proud. I love the photos we have they always look so warm and just capture our pure love for Edward, I even quite like the way my bald spot looks"

​"I  was slightly apprehensive about having my photo taken as I'm self conscious and I always thought it was more of a 'mum and baby' thing which dads didn't generally get involved with. However towards the end of the shoot Samantha invited me to have a parent shot and, after seeing the lovely set-ups for Orla during the shoot, I felt more confident that the end result would be great. I actually felt very relaxed during the shoot and enjoyed spending time with my baby. Now I have beautiful photos with my little girl and, as she has grown so quickly, am very glad I took the opportunity while she was so tiny. I would definitely recommend having parent shots taken to other dads - it's not just a mum thing!"

I feel so privileged to have such wonderful clients who are happy to share such beautiful personal thoughts with me, I hope these wonderful Dad's  help you when you are planning your newborn photography session and you consider having a photograph with your newborn baby, they are only this tiny for a really small amount of time. I would like to thank both Graeme and Rob for their beautiful words. I couldn't have written this article without you both.
So what do you think? Did you have a photograph with you baby during your newborn photography session? or are you ready to book your newborn session, and have some beautiful timeless photos with your baby which you will treasure forever. 
Please don't feel pressured though, every session goes by your and your babies pace, what ever you want is always good for me, and I still do quite a few newborn sessions with no parent photos at all, especially if you are planning a family session soon and have other children. If you do choose to have parent shots, your newborn session is focused around your little bundle so you will only be in the "spotlight" for a few minutes and you can relax for the rest of the time you are here.

So if you are ready to find out more about a Newborn photography session with me, I have more blog posts crammed with useful information under my newborn category or you can visit the newborn section of my website here. And please do get in touch if I can help you plan your newborn session further. Thank you.