Summer Hols

It's that time of year again where the children break up for 6 whole weeks, sadly this means i have to drop my working hours, to look after my own little minions. It's bitter-sweet though because although i love my work, i do absolutely love spending time with my children and i am privileged (thanks to a lovely hard working husband) that i am able to spend this time with my family.

Will this mean i am disapearing for 6 weeks though? no, not completely of course!, I am still available on evenings and weekends to take beautiful photograph's for you, however space is very limited so it is best to get in touch and book early, also keep an eye out for my facebook page because i often post any cancellation slots on there and they are usually snapped up quickly. as ever feel free to contact me with any queries. Other than that, have a fantastic summer everyone!

New wedding DVD cases

For 2015 onwards i have new display cases for any Bride & Grooms that book with me. These stunning personalised cases are made to the highest quality and are perfect for digitally storing the photo's and slideshow from your big day, best of all for you, they come completely free with your package deal! They are also available at cost for my previous couples if you feel you want to update your wedding photo display case, just contact me on Rachel Gosling Photography for details.

Easter fun

A bit late like most of my blogs..oops! but here at Rachel Gosling Photography we had a fantastic Easter break. The sun was shining and it was the perfect time to spend in the garden capturing the mini Goslings enjoying some time on the trampoline, i think my youngest's teddy 'William' enjoyed the break too...

Kids at weddings

Some people hate the thought of having children at their wedding, after all they are messy, noisy, bound to spoil the big day...or are they? over the years i have found that kids can be THE best thing to have at your wedding, yes they can be noisy and messy at times, but they are the best ice breakers around and can make the day go so much smoother especially if you have a bunch of people coming to your wedding who might not know each other, who cannot fail to strike up a conversation over the fact that a child has just snotted on their suit (by the way that is what photoshop was invented for, i swear!), or just cried at great aunty val's false teeth after they have fallen out. the only thing you have to watch out for with kids at your wedding is the fact that as these photos show they might steal your limelight on the 'Awww' factor on your photo's! here at Rachel Gosling Photography we love children at weddings, so come on let's celebrate the wee chaps and lasses that have helped make wedding days a day to remember. whether you choose to have kids at your wedding of not, you have to admit they are pretty darned cute!

Nature walk

What a gorgeous day it was for a walk around Chasewater reservoir in staffordshire, a beautiful local location with a pretty decent 5k walk around it, perfect for tiring out little legs whatever the weather. Little Ted did great walking around with his big sisters and didn't complain once! absolutely fantastic kids, a real pleasure to take portraits of for his mum, a close friend of Rachel Gosling Photography, whom i am pleased to say is expecting baby No.4!

The end of an era

Well it's coming up to the end of another school year and for our year 6's across the country this means moving on to pastures new. Many around the country celebrate this end of an era with a Prom, it's all very American to me and i'm not sure what was wrong with calling it an old fashioned school disco, but i try to move with the times, after all that is what keeps us young isn't it? and the kids certainly seem to enjoy getting dolled up and partying like the adults (minus the alcohol and embarrassing dance moves of course). For me this year means my daughter is off to secondary school not only that but due to a lot of hard work and determination she has secured herself a place in a local selective Grammar school, I am very very proud of her (as i am of all my children), not only for her achievements but her work ethics too. we don't come from a privileged background, we don't have much in the way of family support other than my dad and sister whom i am extremely grateful for, like majority of people we just try to do the best by our children and try to give them the best start in life we can. The sad side of them all going up into key stage 3 is the fact that in time friends drift apart and although new bonds get made, it is these early memories that can be so precious to us as we grow up so i hope the photographs from this night give them something to look back on with fond memories as they grow into young adults.

It was lovely to see all of my daughter's friends dressed up having the time of their lives and i wish each and every one of them the best for their future and i am sure they will all have great success in their chosen new schools. in fact we here at Rachel Gosling Photography wish all of the year 6's and year 11's all the best for their upcoming adventures in life.

family shoot

This absolutely charming family had, had a bad experience of family photography in the past with a bigger photography company that tried to charge them the earth for their poor results, with a toddler that hates her photo taken as a result of it i was expecting a bit of a challenge. Her parents had really hoped to get some photos of her with her new baby sister but weren't getting up their hopes, i love children and over the years i have come across many 2 year olds who do not want to sit still and pose for strangers (and who could blame them!), but there are some tricks to get them interested, in this case it ended up being some dress up beads and an old digital camera of mine to play with and help me take photograph's of her sister. It took some persuading but being in her own surroundings instead of a stuffy shop studio really helped Freya relax and well you can see we at Rachel Gosling Photography got lots of natural smiley shots and even managed a full family photograph, including Lola the much loved family dog! yes it was a small challenge to capture, but you know what? considering her past experience Freya did amazingly well!, and mum & dad got some wonderful photos to treasure of their beautiful daughters.

Lichfield wedding

A beautiful sunny day in Lichfield was the venue for this fantastic couple. Matt & Michelle, a true fairy tale love story had a wonderfully elegant subtle day with much loved family & friends and us here at Rachel Gosling Photography of course. Beacon park was having the grounds replanted and we came out of lichfield registry office at peak time so it was rather busy but fear not where there is a will there is a way so after some family shots in the park, we ventured over to the cathedral and memorial garden to give them a bit of time out and get some portraits. you can clearly see how much in love these pair are from how natural they look together. simply perfect!

Sisters

With today's busy lifestyles it can be so hard to get photographs of your children especially the older they get. so it is always a pleasure for us at Rachel Gosling Photography to get siblings together, it's usually noisy, hectic and not to mention the challenge of getting everyone to look at me at the same time, but i love every moment of it especially when i see the results and the huge smiles on parents faces when they get those much loved shots. such as these shots i captured for a mum who rarely gets all of her children together in the same place at the same time.

Harrison

So here Rachel Gosling Photography had a request to photograph a very special young man, Harrison. This rainbow baby turned 1 and his mum wanted a cake smash shoot to mark the occasion. not just any little boy, Harrison who has a condition called iSACRA  has spent his whole life proving doctors wrong by thriving in every way possible. Because of his constant need for hospital appointments Harrison is not keen on strangers, so i did my very best to put him at ease and go completely at his pace. There were tears of course, but as you can see, once the cake came out, that beautiful smile soon appeared and i think it was a toss up as to who had more messy fun, him...or us!

Family Photo

They say art including photography is subjective, well for me this is one of my favorite images i possess. It was taken last year during a family treasure hunt we did in the town where we live. my brother organised it and involved finding clues in certain places in groups. Sadly it rained down on us and we all got soaked but it was such good fun anyway the little ones didn't mind. It was one of those rare times when my dad had all of his grandchildren in the same place so it would have been daft of me to pass up the opportunity to put on my photographer's cap. The picture itself is of my dad and all his grandchildren not all of them are my children before you ask they are split between the 3 of us my brother, sister and myself, yes you might say poor man all those to buy for at Christmas not to mention all those birthdays. I am pretty sure he doesn't mind as they are all his world and he would do anything for them like all good grandparents should :)

Grandparents are special i have fantastic memories of both sets of mine and this Grandad is especially special to 4 of my children because he is the only Grandparent they know, the older ones are old enough to remember their nan before she passed on but my youngest two don't really have a clue what a Nan is or how special they can be and for a long time even called any old dear in the street Nan and as much as the old dears would have loved to take them with them i was pretty certain they would soon send them back. so i am pretty certain my dad will be a particularly special memory my children will want to keep. 

Sadly grandparents are lost to us over time and memories and mental images fade so how wonderful is it to have a memento of them such as this photo. When i took it we did a few normal 'posed' shots which he has proud on display but this one i just told them to be themselves and personally it is my fave because it really does sum up each and every character and believe me they are all different individuals. Despite not being the most technical of photos or especially posed photo i have taken it is one of my fave's because it is so personal to me...and not a white background in sight yay!. So think about it how many of you have photos of you with your grandparents i bet even less of you have one of all of your cousins and siblings with them and if none..why not? How many grandparents would love a photo with every single one of their grandchildren in it. 

why not arrange a photoshoot for that special parent/grandparent? with father's day coming up it's an ideal gift. June is filling up fast and for Father's day i am offering 25% off my usual price  for bookings of family portrait shoots taken before June 30th. bookings fill up fast so don't delay! 

London birthday suprise

Well it was my birthday last weekend and my wonderful sneaky husband organised a trip to London for just the two of us. It was the first time we had both stayed away from home since we got married 14 years ago and as pretty much everything we do involves our children in some way it was nice to get out and have a bit of 'grown up' time..that being not having to visit every toilet where we went and stop for food and drink every 5 seconds for the little and not so little ones :) . Their Aunt and grandad was kind enough to look after them and it was nice to see they were too busy to stop and talk to mum and dad when we rang to see how they were.

here are a few snaps i took of our time down there. Now we know the children are happy to be looked after  who knows where we could end up next :)

bank holiday fun

So what a fantastic weekend for weather this past weekend has been. hopefully you were all spending it with your loved ones but if not then kudos for those important workers out there who were keeping things ticking over while everyone else had time off and days out.

I myself spent the weekend in the garden with my family which means bbq a tipple here and there and children running around having tons of fun. my 5 year old daughter Milayna was thrilled watching the birds coming to the bird house where she had given them some food she loved it so much she asked me to get my camera out for it so i did and here are the results. before anyone says anything no i am not going to be moving into wildlife photography i really am in awe of those who venture into that line of photography i myself prefer portraiture though and shall be sticking to what i know best :)

also while i am here here is a few more family shots from over the weekend.

My Brand new Blog

Welcome to my brand new Blog. After months of debating i finally decided to say goodbye to my old name of Hocus Focus Photography and go back to basics and just be plain old myself :). i want to thank all of my  friends, fans and basically anyone who has supported me over the last few years and hope you will all join me in welcoming in my change of name, website and blog.

much thanks and here's to the future of Rachel Gosling Photography! x