Local mum and pro photographer Amanda Smith explains the power photography can have – especially for parents. I caught
up with her to find out about her business and modern photographic style...

Tell me all about you...

I live in the College area of Maidenhead with my welsh other half and our three- year-old daughter (or she would correct me and say she's "three and three quarters"). I'm an award-winning photographer specialising in family and child portraiture, but also do newborns and commercial photography. My style is artistic, and my shoots are completely relaxed and lots of fun, so the final images are really natural and modern. I always shoot outdoors at lovely locations, or sometimes at clients' homes. That's because I think a photography studio is
alien to most people, and I'm not keen on the stilted studio shots with white backgrounds that you see so often!

 

Have you always been interested in doing this? 

I've always loved photography. Good photography has the power to melt hearts, to capture a feeling, a mood, to show a parents love more powerfully than words ever could. There's nothing more rewarding than showing my clients their images and getting an emotional reaction. I always take tissues to my viewing sessions.

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What prompted you to decide to take it that bit further and start your
own business?

As is true for so many 'Mumpreneurs', I decided to start my business when
I had my daughter. I found that I was taking a ridiculous number of photos of
my new baby because every day she was changing and doing new things. I wanted to capture every single precious moment and never forget any of it. I realised that capturing that precious moment in time was important to all families, so I thought I could do this for other people too.

   I've made alot of lovely new friends as a result of being a mum. All  my NCT friends put their trust in me to do their newborn baby shoots, which was very humbling in the early days of starting out. Also, one of my NCT friends set up
her own business, www.RunningBuggies.com, and asked me to do all the photography for her advertising and website. It was a big responsibility and again very humbling at the start. We are currently planning our fourth shoot!

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What did you do before?

Before photography I had always worked full time in marketing. I now juggle
my photography with working three days per week marketing for a big
FMCG company. 

 

Did you have to do any business courses?

No, but I have heavily invested in photography training from the very best pro photographers. I think that if you want to do your clients justice, you should learn from the best. For example, I recently went on a two-day workshop with Elena Shumilova, who was recently named as one of the top 10 child photographers in the world! 

 

What is the best part of having your own business? And the worst? 

Meeting some absolutely lovely families and being able to give them something they truly appreciate and treasure. The worst has to be the juggling!

 

What's the best photos you've ever taken?

I have to say my most recent shoot – it always is!! 

 

Where do you get your inspiration? 

My inspiration is completely the people I meet. For example, I recently did a shoot for a lovely family where one of the daughters had amazing long red hair and looked like the painting Ophelia... so that's how I photographed her!

 

Where do you like to go out as a family on day trips? Where is good for photography?

We are lucky that we have so many lovely places to visit in the area! We always
go to Marlow, which is great as there's the park (great for photography), river, cafes and shops. Dinton Pastures, Windsor Great Park and Cliveden (my fave
for photos!) are all lovely and in the summer, we take a picnic. We've recently discovered the splash pool at Runnymede and also the Lido in High Wycombe
(not for photography, but a great day out).

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Anything else we don't know about you?

I'm a qualified ballet teacher! (Please don't ask me to do a plie now though, it was a long time ago!!

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Visit www.AmandaSmithPhotography.co.uk

Amanda  will be running a day of mini portrait shoots at a local outdoor location this autumn. A lovely way to spend 30 mins as a family and get some beautiful portraits with it – plus there's a pub nearby for people who want to make an afternoon of it. Watch this space...

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