Family Photography

Incoming - Baby Shower Photography /  by Jan

“You don’t run your own wedding decoration company?!”

Wow, look at these decorations! The details, the amount of effort, the time, the love, the abundance. I couldn’t believe this wasn’t done by professionals.

The ice blocks for the prosecco were my favourite. Turns out they were hand made by putting individual flowers with water into a balloon and letting it freeze slowly. I love how they look and will definitely use that decoration trick in the future sometime.

So what is this all about? Well, Alex contacted me out of the blue. I have photographed her and her family before, a mixture of a family portrait shoot and photographing the christening of her daughter (see blog post here).

But today it was all about her friend who was being surprised with a baby shower! I was looking forward to photographing this one. I mean, if the last get together was anything to go by, then I knew it was going to look and be a great one. I mean Alex made such a big effort last time already, what would they be able to achieve as a group? But wow, they blew me away!

Photo shoots like these don’t feel like work at all. I’m surrounded by lovely people, the place looks great and I just get to have a lot of fun with everyone else. Although I do feel really lucky because I seem to say that about almost all photo shoots I have. You are all a lovely bunch! So, thanks for that.

I have done a lot of family portrait photo shoots lately and mixing it up with a baby shower photo shoot was a lot of fun, something different. So if you would like to book me for a baby shower photo shoot, or you’ve missed the boat and would rather like a newborn baby photographer, like the photos I took here, then contact me for a booking!

Thanks to all you lovely people!

Boys Allowed - Family Portrait Photo Shoot /  by Jan

When someone contacts me about photographing their child’s communion or christening or birthday, I always automatically assume they are talking about their daughters. I’m not sure why but people tend to contact me more to photograph their daughters rather than their sons. So it was a pleasant surprise to hear that it was actually young Ryan who was the centre of attention that day! And boy, did he really grab that concept of being the focal point.

A lot of people tend to feel a bit nervous about getting their photo taken, and I don’t blame them! Even I feel nervous too sometimes when I’m invited to a wedding and I see the photographer, out of the corner of my eye, pointing the camera in my general direction. But Ryan loved having his photo taken. I took my time with him and taught him some poses, which he was only too eager to learn. I used the different locations in Fitzgerald’s Park to suit the pose, and just like that, I managed to get one portrait shot after the other.

We even faked this little scene with the father, where we got him to do some fun touch ups on Ryan’s collar and tie. This was not just a fun little interaction to photograph, but also a great way to get the father involved into the portrait photo shoot.

Quick break from the serious stuff to have some fun!

Quick break from the serious stuff to have some fun!

Then back to do some family group photos.

Then back to do some family group photos. The three of them made this shoot so easy, that we were done in a surprisingly short amount of time, which they appreciated as they needed to get to the church for the communion. I’ve said it before and I’ll stick to saying it again, but this is why I love being prepared and doing some location scouting beforehand. This family photo shoot took place in Fitzgerald’s, one of my favourite spots (also see this family portrait shoot I recently did there), and I’ve been there hundreds of times. But still I insist on arriving early and doing a location scouting. You never know what the light is like on that day, how the flowers are doing, have the roses started blooming yet, is a family having a picnic in your favourite spot? All these things can be quickly checked with a location scouting and will prevent a situation from becoming an issue.

As I’m writing this blog, it’s raining outside, so a big shout out to the sun for appearing on this day! At the moment it feels like the summer is not really coming so I’m just appreciating that it did make an appearance on one of my shooting days! Haha!

Oh and lastly, just wanted to share their review that the mother, Sinead, left me as it’s just too sweet not to include (testimonials for other shoots can also be found here):

“Jannik recently did a photoshoot for our son’s First Communion. We met him down in Fitzgerald’s Park where he picked out some amazing spots for photographs. He made our son feel like he was the most important person in the world that day, which he was. He was very professional and courteous and even had a sneak peak photograph to us later that afternoon. We are thrilled with all the photos we got on the day and really glad Jannik was available to capture our sons special day. I’d highly recommend Jannik.”

Over and out, thanks for reading!

Fitzgerald's Family Fun - Family Portraits /  by Jan

I love these kind of family shoots!

Often when people hear that one of their family members has booked a photographer for their family reunion, I think they often just expect the following kind of posed photos. And those photos can be great to have as well! I very much know, because my family is spread across two continents and four, sometimes five or six countries. They’re important but not very fun photos.

And that’s why I like to take the following photos as well on my family photo shoots! I think these are really the photos that you end up cherishing.

With the Murphy’s, this was a common narrative. A first reunion after many years of travel restrictions. Kids grow so much in half a year, nevermind two or three years! So having the whole family come together for this photo shoot was not only great for the photos, but also a fun day out in the sun. Kids were running around, and the adults were trying to keep up. Even if some, *ahem, family members were a little hungover that day from indulging themselves in some lovely Irish whiskey! Haha, I’d be guilty of that too!

“And that’s why I like to take the following photos as well on my family photo shoots! I think these are really the photos that you end up cherishing.”

I am very proud to say though, that such a common feedback I get after these family photo shoots is either, “Wow, that was so much fun, I didn’t expect that at all!” or “That was so uncomplicated!”

And that’s what I love to hear. These shoots are great memories for the family, but they also need to be fun and it’s always nice to look at photos of people enjoying themselves.

If you’d like to make a booking or enquire for a family photo shoot in or around Cork city, you can contact me here. Otherwise, check out this family photo shoot I did at the Castlemartyr resort, or this family and baby photo shoot I did here.

And remember, besides family portrait photography, I also photograph the following:

• Couples Photography in Cork

• Newborn Baby Photography in Cork

• Wedding Photography in Cork

• and more!