It turns out that photographing a group of pre-schoolers can in fact be lots of fun!
Back in November last year I was asked by my local pre-school, which my own children attend, if I would consider taking photographs of the children to help raise money for the school. They have a huge task of raising £90,000 in one year so they can buy the school building and prevent the school, which has been part of the local community for over 40 years, from being closed. Of course I said yes to such a worthwhile cause, I don't think anyone in our local community would want to see it close.
Being in my first year of business I knew it would be a great opportunity to gain some exposure but I also needed to carefully consider how best to reflect my own personal style and at the same time produce beautiful portraits of the children that the parents would want to buy.
As I predominately use natural light for my portrait work, I decided to do the same and capture the children as naturally as possible and at the same time avoid any awkward forced smiles! My aim was to get 5 pictures of each child, capturing a mix of both indoor and outdoor play. I wanted to document the children just going about their daily "preschool" business!
At first the children were a little shy but also curious to know what I was doing and after a while they soon got used to having me about and even enjoyed having their pictures taken.
It was a privilege being able to give the parents an insight into what their little person gets up to during a typical school day. I loved being able to document the children and their little personalities and at the same time raising some much needed funds for the pre-school.
If you would like to keep up with all the fund-raising events or would like to donate to the school please refer to the "Turvey Pre-school Playgroup" facebook page or email admin@turveypreschool.org.uk.
