David Bier Photography » Kids

A babe and her babies

drpbier — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:01:47 +0000

Sorry for the awful pun, but at the weekend I spent Saturday morning with Rosie and Georgie, daughters of this amazing businesswoman. With our own second bundle of ~~poo~~ joy only a fortnight away, I am very interested to meet new siblings and hear their parents’ war stories…but there didn’t seem to be any in this case. Just 2 sisters playing together, having fun together and being generally pleasant to each other. They probably have their moments like all kids, but with me they were very relaxed, showed me their room, gave me the grand tour of the Ravenscourt Park hotspots, and generally gave me warm and fuzzies and a gorgeous sunny start to the weekend. And all with very minimal bribery!

With kids like this, it would be a job to take anything but great portraits. Here are some of my favourites:

Some (urban) mothers do have ‘em

drpbier — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 22:01:04 +0000

Set your watch to 10 am. Take the following ingredients – two affectionate, enthusiastic and gorgeous siblings, easily bribable with pain-au-chocolate from the cafe. One relaxed mum. Half a teacup of crisp winter sunshine. Combine in a large Regents Park and bake.

This is how you make a selection of lovely memories ready to view in the New Year. And one very lucky, happy photographer!

Led up the garden path

drpbier — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:47:56 +0000

Last weekend I spent Sunday morning in Maida Vale with Cassius and Carmen – and their incredible 3 acre communal garden. Walking down the street you’d never suspect such a gem lay behind the houses; which is probably why the family love spending as much time as possible there!

They’ll be moving house soon, and I hope these pictures will provide a fond reminder of how they’ve lived here. I found it a real pleasure spending time with these two; despite the surface big brother/little sister tension there was an obvious bond between the two, and overall the home had a lovely calm atmosphere. Which is pretty amazing in any household containing children…I think the portraits I created of them reflect that. Here’s a taste.

Up up and away

drpbier — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:49:01 +0000

Last weekend I met Max and his family, and they have the most incredible home. Because you keep going up, and up, and up…and then you discover this fantastic roof space! What a perk, to have this little oasis of urban calm above all the Clapham hustle and bustle. So naturally we made the most of it before strolling over to Wandsworth Common to explore some of the late autumn light.

You can really tell how close this family are, and I’m a sucker for a hands on dad anyway. And Max – for someone only slightly more than a year old, this is one cheeky little boy, chock full of personality. Despite feeling a little under the weather, he showed off the most incredible range of smiles. Thanks for being such a trooper and brightening up my Sunday!

Peacock memories

drpbier — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:38:40 +0000

Last weekend I had the absolute pleasure to meet Thomas and William. After a quick tour of their beautiful home, we went off to explore nearby Holland Park. Clearly it wasn’t their first time, as we ventured deep into the undergrowth and then mingled with the crowds in the ornamental gardens. Mum had been threatened by a group (herd?tribe?flock?) of territorial peacocks earlier in the week, but luckily all we had to deal with was a groundskeeper who objected to William’s buggy. On the path. And later it turned out that he’d been cutting four teeth…not that it stopped him smiling whenever big brother Thomas was around.

Thanks boys, for a lovely start to my Sunday. Enjoy your holiday and I’ll see you when you’re back!

How I roll

drpbier — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 07:25:52 +0000

I recently posted on the power of black and white photography, and I thought it may be interesting to the photography enthusiasts out there to see how I create my own black and white images. I’ll use an image from a recent shoot to illustrate the process.
Here is the image as it came straight out of camera (shot in colour).

I’m happy with it overall, but it could definitely do with a few tweaks. One of the first things I can see is that there are colour elements here that distract from the expressions – and it’s the expressions that I want to highlight, as they’re the heart and soul of the image. So the first thing I’ll do is a basic black and white conversion. Here is the picture with the colour removed.

I’m happy with the removal of that distracting element, but now the image looks pretty flat and muddy. The next thing I’ll do is change the balance of tones to give it some more punch, and I’ll sort out the brightness, contrast, and clean up some noise.

Now the image is starting to look more exciting. It still needs a little something though, so I’m going to add some vignetting/shading here and there to emphasise the important parts of the image and make them stand out a little more from the background. I’ll also add some very light coffee toning, which works well with my shooting style to create a warmer feel than a completely neutral tone.
Nearly there now but there are some minor tweaks and blemishes to take care of, which I’ll do in Photoshop. Here’s the final image.
When I’m editing a children’s photography session, I’ll be doing this level of editing to every image that my clients see. It’s very satisfying to pull the full potential from a raw photograph, and for the image you saw in your mind’s eye to be gradually revealed. Knowing that your clients and their children will live with a photograph in their home, for years, is a fantastic reward for all the time and effort involved.

Little stylish words

drpbier — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 07:33:12 +0000

You might remember a recent shoot I blogged about with a lovely family in an idyllic country cottage. Well, the mum Katherine runs an influential site called The Little Style Book, and is a total guru for anyone looking for well designed, beautiful products and services for kids and families…and she posted a little feature on our shoot! Lovely words, always appreciated, and a gorgeous start to our family holiday…see you all in a fortnight!

A day in the country

drpbier — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:11:53 +0000

Last Sunday I actually left London. Pretty scary, eh? Apparently it is possible to travel beyond the M25, and by jiminy it did me good to breathe air filtered by actual trees. And as if that didn’t make me lucky enough, I also got to meet a lovely new family – well new to me. Alice is 20 months old and clearly thriving on village life, and her little brother James is VERY alert at only a few months. We explored their gorgeous cottage, and the apple trees in the garden – when you find such a happy family in such a beautiful, stylish setting, the word is idyllic.

Enjoy a peek:

Children’s photography in Totteridge & Whetstone

drpbier — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 19:05:22 +0000

Another shoot over in NW London, and this time I had the pleasure of meeting little Rishi. I could say that he had the pleasure of meeting me, since the smiles were so wide and came so frequently, but somehow I think that’s just his sunny little nature, and everybody gets the same treatment. Mummy and Daddy have just moved into a beautiful big house (seems to be a theme in my recent shoots), so Rishi will have loads of new corners to explore. And by the way, I was extremely honoured that Rishi chose our time together to stand up unsupported for the first time – it’s exactly that kind of moment that I love to capture for my clients. The kid’s got great timing…enjoy a sneak peek!

Children’s photography in Chelmsford

drpbier — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 14:38:54 +0000

Last weekend I had the pleasure of catching up with an old friend’s family that I haven’t seen for several years. In the meantime Katy has grown into a young lady and Baby Lottie has become an exuberant, energetic 6 year old bundle of energy! Despite my having had a very late evening the night before, these two totally perked me up and I had a total blast. It’s really lovely to see siblings that take such complete delight in each other’s company…they get on almost suspiciously well!

They’ve all just moved into the most fantastic, enormous house in rural Essex.It used to be a baker’s shop, so has bags of character…and lots of wall space to fill. Here’s a sneak peek of a really entertaining, hectic shoot: