Category Archives: News
Great Memories Through Photographs
I don’t like to dwell on loss and death, particularly on a business website which celebrates love and life through photography but I thought I might share this personal story with you to inspire you to make more out of the photographs that you and your family may have taken a lifetime to collect.
Last year my father sadly passed away, and having organised most of the funeral arrangements, I wondered about his eulogy.
Dad was keen to speak at a number of funerals I’d attended with him, his brother’s and his wife’s (my step mother) particularly and I understood he felt it the right thing to do on such occasions.
I’d thought about what I might say at his funeral, but kept hitting something of a block. I’d shared many memories with dad, but didn’t have the feeling that I needed to share any these stories with other people, for some reason. I felt some guilt and a certain amount of pressure to do or say something at this funeral service, rather than leave it to someone who didn’t really know him very well.
With so much to do after the death of a loved one, I put it to the back of my mind, at least in the short term, until the date was looming and it became more pressing to organise something suitable.
As part of clearing out his house, I’d come across Dad’s old photograph albums, he loved taking photos and lots of them too. As I started to go through them, the idea came to mind about doing a presentation of his favourite images for the funeral, a kind of collage of his life.
I spoke to the funeral directors, who in turn spoke to the venue and after a day or two they said it would be fine to present on a screen at the venue, if I forwarded the slideshow ahead of the day, which I did.
The more I thought about it, the more it made sense to celebrate Dad’s life with photos of his life, shared with the family he loved, many of whom would be at the funeral. It would give them a chance to reminisce the good old days, and to feel part of the day rather more than they would at a funeral.
It turned out to be a nice surprise for many of the people attending the funeral service, and seem to go down well with all.
Hope it inspires you to make the most of those precious memories that you’ve captured in the past and are going to capture years into the future, and use them as a celebration of lives shared with one another.
If you’d like us to do a slideshow for you, drop us an email or call and we’d be happy to help. More about slideshows here.
Babyballet Photoshoots
We recently had the pleasure of photographing some of the lovely children that attend Babyballet classes in the surrounding area. Here is a selection of images taken during the sessions.
If you’ve run a class or group and would like to know more about our location photoshoots, please get in touch.
Photoshoots To Celebrate Your Unique Style
Whether you come to enjoy a Makeover photoshoot, where you have your hair and makeup professionally styled, or for a regular photoshoot, we’ll take a variety of stylish portraits to capture your unique personality and style. We’re all individuals and here at Mike Turner Photography we believe in celebrating this uniqueness. Check out just a small selection of images captured during one shoot, to get an idea about the variety of images we’re able to capture. We’d love to see you at our studio in Leigh soon. Check out more information about our makeover photoshoots and our regular portraits.
8 Reasons to have a Professional Family Photo shoot
Looking back on family photos still provides us with a warm feeling inside. There is something built into the human psyche to want to know about where we come from and what our genes looked like in former generations. Unfortunately photography is still a relatively modern medium and goes back no more than a couple of generations. Only the high class of the past, with large painted portraits proudly displayed on mansion walls have a clear record of their ancestors, the rest of us have to make do with poor quality family snaps, thrown into a, often, badly conceived family album.
Family snaps become more sentimentally valuable over time, as loved ones pass on; their photos trigger fond memories shared with them. Those photos become irreplaceable (check out The True value of a Photograph). The photographs taken today will be viewed in the same way by your children and your children’s children.
Professional photo shoots are a great excuse to get the family together. This not so difficult with young children, however there is a temptation to delay a photo shoot until next week, which becomes next month, which becomes next year. All the while those young children grow into older children who get to an age where they spend less time at home and maybe head for university or their own lives and then getting them together really can become problematic. They say tomorrow never comes, and children are not children for so long, and from my own experience this is so true. My advice ‘just do it’
Once you get the family together, a professional photo shoot can be a fun thing to share, getting into poses you wouldn’t normally conceive can become a great memory. Shared experiences are what makes life enjoyable.
While the family is together, why not make a day of it, go out for some lunch and if you’re a mature family take the chance to catch up. If there are grand kids, they will love to chance to meet up with cousins.
As well as having a great family experience, you get to have a memento of that experience to display with pride in your home. Professionally finished images are done to the highest quality, and are designed to last for years to come. Get them on your walls and show them off. Be proud of loved ones and the people closest to you, and show them to the world.
Modern digital photography makes photos much more shareable. Many photographers now provide digital versions of their images to share on social media platforms such as Facebook. Have your family proudly displayed as your profile image.
Professional photographers have the best quality lighting set-ups available, and these lights are specifically designed to make you and your family look your best. Sometimes a little airbrushing doesn’t help too
For the shyer members of the family it is a chance come out of their shell. They will be shown by the expert photographer to pose in a way that flatters them and gives them a greater sense of themselves. We all like good pictures of ourselves. It’s the not so flattering ones we don’t like to see. Professional photography will bring that inner confidence to the surface. It is there deep inside the shyest of us.
If the list of reasons for having a photo shoot is not enough to convince you, then this one might just change your mind. Having a professional photo shoot is a great excuse to get yourself a new wardrobe. Well maybe not a full wardrobe but a new outfit at the very least. What greater excuse do you need than to capture that all important family portrait session?
Getting the best from a professional photo shoot is about preparation. Young children should be well rested, well fed, and not made too much fuss of. Older members should be well rested, well fed and not made too much fuss of, and the ones in between should be well rested …. You get the idea. Don’t delay and get your family captured and future proofed.. What are you waiting for?