Photo Shoot

July and August is the time of year when most of my family are enjoying their summer, but I'm trying to get my head around Christmas, booking fairs and ordering new stock (all with the usual panic of have I ordered too much of one thing and not enough of another or will it be a ridiculously warm winter as I order fleece PJs)! Its also time to update the site with new stock, photos and a new look too.

Last year I met Vicki Knights through twitter, loved her photography style and asked her to take some commercial photos of my nightwear for my site. The shoot was so much fun featuring a friends three gorgeous girls and my daughter Eloise. It was pretty and whimsical in the idyllic setting of the Medicine Garden. You can read about that shoot here and here.

This year I wanted to carry on the theme of 'idyllic childhood freedom' and include boys too as I have gorgeous boys pjs on the site. As one of Surreys leading child and lifestyle photographers, Vicki gets booked up months in advance and so I think I booked the session last February! These are some photos I took of Vicki in action. She is of course used to taking photos of children, but not necessarily lying flat out amongst prickles and rabbit droppings faced with a line of fire! Alfie the golden lab was determined to try and sneak into every shot too!

I prefer to have outdoor lifestyle photos of my range rather than staged studio shots and loved the idea of a teepee sleepover/campout where the children would run around and play naturally with bows and arrows, climb trees, find sticks from the woods and munch on marshmallows afterwards. Pinterest was a great source of inspiration and over the months leading up to the shoot Vicki and I exchanged ideas.

I had already ear marked the venue for the shoot. A friends house set on the edge of a wood complete with cats and a dog as well as a vintage style tractor. It couldn't be a more perfect place in which to bring the shoot to life.

I loved making the teepee from a pattern I bought on ebay. I'd almost forgotten I could sew! And roaming charity shops for props and vintage finds is always satisfying. My husband who secretly loved the idea of whittling sticks produced amazing bows and arrows with twigs from the garden and feathers collected on our dog walks.

He also made the signpost too. Every thing came together and fingers were crossed for some early evening sun.

I am so thrilled with the results of Vicki's shoot and look forward to sharing her photos later in the week.

Janne x