Thoughts, advice and stories from GWS Photography
There are thousands of articles online explaining what to wear for a family photoshoot, how to prepare your dog for the studio, or the best age to photograph a newborn.
Those are all useful questions.
But over the last fifteen years at GWS Photography, we’ve discovered that the questions people ask aren’t always the ones that matter most.
The real questions are often much more personal.
“Should we wait until the children are older?”
“Will Grandad want to come?”
“Our dog is slowing down… should we do it now?”
“What if the kids won’t sit still?”
“Is it really worth having professional photographs?”
This journal is our way of answering those questions honestly.
Not as marketers.
Not as salespeople.
Simply as photographers who have had the privilege of meeting thousands of wonderful families over the years.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s this…
One day always arrives sooner than you think.
We hope these articles help you make the most of today.
I'd love to but my kids/dog Will Not Sit Still !
It’s probably the biggest worry we hear.
And the answer?
“Very few do.”
In fact, we’d go as far as saying that the children who never stop moving, the dogs who want to sniff absolutely everything, and the husbands who’d rather be anywhere else often help create the photographs people treasure the most.
Every week we welcome families who arrive slightly nervous.
“I hope they behave.”
“She’s a bit shy.”
“He won’t sit still for five seconds.”
“The dog has never listened to a command in his life!”
And every week, those worries disappear.
Because we don’t expect perfection.
We expect real life.
If your little one needs ten minutes to explore the studio, that’s exactly what they’ll do.
If your dog wants to sniff every corner first, we’ll happily let them.
If someone needs a cuddle, a biscuit, a cup of tea or simply a little time to settle, there’s never any rush.
Some of our favourite sessions don’t start with a camera.
They start with everyone sitting on the floor, chatting, laughing and getting to know each other.
Before long, people stop thinking about having photographs taken.
They’re simply enjoying being together.
And that’s usually the exact moment the best photographs happen.
Our reviews often mention how relaxed the experience felt.
That’s because we genuinely love what we do.
There’s something rather wonderful about watching a nervous family leave saying,
“That was actually so much fun.”
Because that’s always been our aim.
Not just beautiful photographs.
A lovely memory of the day they were created.
“My child has autism, ADHD or additional needs. Will it still work?”
This is a question we’re asked more often than you might think.
Every child is different, and every family is different too.
Over the years we’ve welcomed many children with autism, ADHD and a wide range of additional needs. We’ve learned that the most important thing isn’t asking children to fit into our way of working…
…it’s adapting to theirs.
If someone needs time to explore the studio, that’s absolutely fine.
If they don’t want to look at the camera, that’s fine too.
If the best photographs happen while they’re running around, laughing with Mum or cuddling the family dog, then those are exactly the photographs we’ll create.
There is no pressure to perform.
No expectation of perfect behaviour.
Just a relaxed experience where everyone is welcome exactly as they are.
Yeah, but... My cat would never do that for you...
We hear it almost every week.
Someone is looking through our cat portraits and smiling.
Then they point at one of the photographs and say…
“That’s lovely… but my cat would never sit like that.”
We always smile.
Because the truth is…
Almost every cat in our gallery is just like yours.
They aren’t trained.
They aren’t professional “model cats.”
They haven’t spent hours learning tricks.
They’re simply much-loved family pets who arrived at the studio wondering why on earth we’d brought them there!
The difference isn’t the cat.
It’s understanding how cats think.
Unlike dogs, very few cats are interested in doing exactly what we’d like them to do.
And that’s perfectly okay.
We don’t expect them to perform.
We don’t chase them around the studio.
We don’t force poses.
Instead, we give them time.
Time to explore.
Time to sniff.
Time to decide that maybe this strange place isn’t quite so strange after all.
Then something lovely happens.
They begin to relax.
They look around.
They become curious.
And those are the moments we quietly reach for the camera.
Some of our favourite portraits have been taken while a cat was simply sitting on a windowsill, watching the world go by.
Others happened because they wandered over to see what Grahame was doing.
The photographs look calm because the experience was calm.
Not because the cats were somehow different from yours.
So if you’ve ever looked at professional cat portraits and thought…
“Mine would never do that.”
…there’s every chance they already can.
You just haven’t seen them through our eyes yet.
