Happy Holiday

After a few minor delays due to snow and ice I'm pleased to say that all of the framed portraits, canvases and multi-frames that were ordered by our clients for Christmas have now been collected and it's time to go home. These are just a small selection chosen from my favourites........

That just leaves me and Janet to say 'Thank You' to all of the clients, contacts, friends and family who have supported us over the year. We hope you have a peaceful Christmas and a fun-packed, healthy and propserous New Year.

A Very Special Baby

All babies are special of course, but Janet and I would like to introduce you to our new God-daughter, Sarah. Sarah's mum is Janet's cousin Suzanne. During routine checks, Sarah was diagnosed with a complex hole in the heart problem well before she was born just three weeks ago. She made her grand entrance at the new St Mary's children's hospital in Manchester with a whole team of medics and machinery on hand to ensure that her problems were instantly dealt with. Without them she wouldn't have survived the first few hours, even though from the outside she looks like a normal, healthy, bouncing 8lb baby.

Sarah was then transferred to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool to prepare for major heart surgery. Since this photograph was taken she's had a SEVEN HOUR operation to partially correct the problem, and she'll need follow up operations in a few months time and just before she starts school. This is pioneering heart surgery at the forefront of technology, and only a few years ago none of this would have been possible for this particular form of hole in the heart. Even so, at the moment there is no long term cure for Sarah's particular condition, only temporary solutions. But who knows what medical progress will have been made in another few years?

The point of bringing this to light is really to thank all of the staff at St Mary's and Alder Hey for getting Sarah this far and for the fantastic support that Suzanne has received. It's only when something like this happens within your own family that you truly appreciate what amazing places our hospitals are. The NHS may not be perfect, but in this instance they could not have done any more for Sarah and Suzanne.

While husband Chris has been left at home to cope with Sarah's three siblings (with support from his mum and dad) , Suzanne has been staying at McDonald House, a charity supported unit for parents in the grounds of Alder Hey Hospital. Janet and I are in awe of the teamwork that has been devoted to giving one little girl the chance of life, and moved by the way that the mums of the other sick children rally round and support each other, when each one of them has their own fears and problems to contend with. Such is the strength of the human spirit.

In spite of her traumatic start to life Sarah has done fantastically well so far and she's making a good recovery from the first operation. We'll be supporting her all the way.

Bump Baby Show Report

Sunday's 'Bump' Mother and Baby show organised by Imagine FM was a huge success, with a fantastic turnout in spite of clashing with the men's final at Wimbledon. Thanks to everyone who visited our stand, it was great to have so much interest in our baby photography and well worth the early start! Good luck to all the expectant mums that we met - we hope you enjoyed the show.

Janet discussing the Baby's First Year Folio scheme that was the main focus of attention on our stand... We'll see you again next year....

Baby Show Images

Today I took delivery of a set of large format exhibition prints for our stand at the Bumps Mother and Baby Show this coming Sunday. The 50" x 40" prints look very impressive and should hopefully turn a few heads. Thanks to Alf at Manchester Colour Lab for doing such a great job with the printing and mounting.

Look out for the pictures at the show!

BUMP - Mother and Baby Show

Today we've confirmed that we'll be exhibiting our baby photography at the BUMP - Mother and Baby Show. It's taking place at the Hallmark Hotel (formerly the Belfry) in Handforth, near Wilmslow, on Sunday 5th July.

If you're coming along then please do call at our stand and say hello. If you haven't registered yet you can register at http://imaginefm.net/bump/ The good news is it's free! There's lots of interest for new mums and mums-to-be. Hope to see you there.

Baby Folios Relaunch

This week we're pleased to announce the relaunch of our amazingly popular baby photography folio scheme. In a series of photoshoots over your baby's first year we capture the changes as baby grows and develops, presenting you with a complimentary triple folio at the end of the year. All for a one-off registration fee of just £25.00 (which makes it makes a brilliant gift to give to new parents......). More details are available on the Master Photographers Association Cherubs website at http://www.cherubs.uk.com/

It's a few years now since we ran the Cherubs scheme in the studio. After winning the UK Millenium Baby Photographer of the Year Award we were overwhelmed with demand and I had to call a halt for a while to give my back and knees time to recover! Things have moved on since then and I now shoot a great deal of family and children's photography outdoors and on location, including recently (and here's a scary thought) teenagers that I photographed in the studio when they were tiny babies. Photographing babies is great fun though (well, most of the time), so I'm looking forward to the challenge once again. I might need to investigate some knee pads....