This shoot was a surprise Christmas present from Andy to his wife Val of his four kids. In order to pull off the surprise Andy had to smuggle the kids out to his sister’s house in Gartcosh for the afternoon and it was there that we took the pictures, early in December. We had Andrew the oldest, then there was Lauren, Daniel and last but not least little Olivia.

When I first arrive at a house or location I try and take 10 -20 mins just waffling away so that the kids get used to my woeful chat but more importantly they get used to the idea of having their photograph taken. A way I find helps is to get the kids to help out in the set up of the lights, reflectors etc as it gets them involved and familiar with the equipment. One trick is to get them to fire the flash with the press of a button on the remote. Sometimes that can swing the other way as my right retina is still recovering from the bombardment little Daniel gave it. I’ve never seen that button pressed so many times in such a short period of time, I swear I could hear the flash curse me under it’s breath

As usual at the start it was shots inside at the window using natural light, which in my opinion is the nicest light, with all four of the kids and then we moved outside where we got some really nice shots of the kids playing away. Each took at turn at either holding the light stand or reflector which was a great help to me I even managed to persuade Andrew to take a shot of his sister Lauren, proving how easy it is to take a great photograph. The one he took was used in the final DVD and it was a cracker

Hats off to Andy who managed to keep the kids from spilling the beans to their mother for so long although it was no surprise to me as the four kids are something to be very proud of.

Here are a few of my favourites from the day, starting with Andrew’s shot of Lauren.