I am taking the rest of December off so I can spend some quality time with my lovely family, so this will be my last post of 2015. I still have so many great sessions to share with you from this year, but they will have to wait until January!

I’m very grateful that 2015 has been so kind to me.

Firstly thank you to all of the families that I have photographed this year…it has been an absolute pleasure.

I really do appreciate everyone’s support including all of you lovely people who read my blog every week! I haven’t been quite as active on here as I have previous years, but there has been so much else going on.

I remember thinking that when my boys were both at school I would have so much more time on my hands.. I thought I’d be spending the days doing a bit of work, going on long walks, meeting friends for coffee and never working in the evenings. Hmm, I guess I do now go on long walks since we got a dog and I definitely work less in the evenings, but all of that elusive free time just hasn’t appeared!

This year I’ve photographed lots of lovely families, headshots and taught dozens of parents how to photograph their children in my in-person workshops. And on top of my usual sessions/workshops I’ve also had a few other projects I’ve been working on this year. I launched my online photography course back in the spring, and hired an associate photographer in September…I’m really happy with how both have worked out.

And looking ahead, I’m really excited about everything 2016 has in store for my business. My mini sessions for the first half of 2016 are nearly full, and I’m looking forward to seeing some families I’ve photographed before as well as meeting lots of new ones.

I’ve been invited to speak at Europe’s largest photography convention in January which I have been busy preparing for. I’m excited and nervous about that in equal measure!

Then I am running my first ever retreat for professional family photographers in the spring. It sold out within a few days which I was so delighted and humbled by. I really can’t wait to spend a few days with 10 lovely photographers showing them all I’ve learnt in my 8 years of business.

And then personally, it’s been a really lovely year too. 2015 has been our first full year in our new house and our new area of Hindhead/Haslemere which I am loving. It always takes a while to settle in to a completely new area but I definitely feel like this is home now!

We also got Betsy the doggy in January and my goodness, I just love having a dog! She is such a fantastic companion and I love the fact that she gets me out in nature exercising first thing in the morning. I may not appreciate it on gloomy days like today, but I always feel good afterwards and it really does set me up for the day.

And as I say every year, thank you to my gorgeous family for putting up with me, I really couldn’t do it without you.

And you’ll be pleased to hear that after that Oscar-style speech, I’m finally going to show you some pretty pictures!

I thought I would end the year by sharing this session with one of my bestest friends. Mandy and I met at work around 12 years ago and have been firm friends ever since.

Mandy last had a session with me over 4 years ago, when she gave it as a present to her parents for their 40th anniversary (you can see that session here).

They gave this session as a Christmas present to Matt’s parents, it was lovely to have the grandparents there for shoot as well.

I hope you enjoy the photos from our lovely sunny morning shoot at Frensham Ponds in Farnham, Surrey.

How cute are their little boys? I may be slightly biased as the little one is my Godson!

I’ll be back in January with lots more shoots and photography tips to share with you.

Thank you again for your support this year, it really does mean a lot.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, full of love and laughter and the people that are important to you.

PS. If you want to take more than just snapshots of your family this Christmas, make sure you check out my top 5 tips for taking great Christmas photos.