18th Birthday Portraits of Niamh and her mum

Niamh’s family organised a whole raft of celebrations for her 18th: a trip to London, a surprise party and meals out. They also wanted something to commemorate this milestone birthday; something they could keep forever: portraits.

Niamh’s mum and dad, Elaine and John, contacted me in secret a month before Niamh’s birthday. They wanted something she could do the weekend of her birthday, which would be a lovely surprise for her and also lead to some photographs they could all enjoy.

We chatted over Skype to arrange the details – pausing briefly as Niamh arrived home unexpectedly early and was encouraged to head straight upstairs! – and then I posted my Welcome Pack so Niamh would have something tangible to open on her birthday.

On the day of the shoot, Niamh felt a little nervous. For the vast majority of us – professional models excluded – being in front of a professional camera can feel intimidating. Niamh and her mum parked up and came into the studio, and I set about putting them both at ease. We chatted for a little while, and put one of Niamh’s favourite performers (P!nk) on the music system.

I began the shoot with a couple of shots of Niamh and her mum together, and started getting to know them both a little more.

Niamh’s an incredible young woman: she plays competitive hockey and has achieved sports and umpire awards. She loves working with young children and hopes to become an Early Years teacher after training. She’s currently doing a college placement, and at the same time works as a nanny for a family with a two-year-old and a newborn.

Niamh brought along a few outfit changes, from casual and relaxed to more dressy and formal. By switching up the lighting and backgrounds, we were able to capture a whole range of looks.

My brief from John and Elaine included capturing a full gamut of emotions and expressions, from the neutral and soft to the full-on giggle. Happily, Niamh and her mum were incredibly good-humoured and the laughs kept coming. The trickiest shots were the serious ones, because we struggled to stop smiling for long enough 🙂

Just over an hour later, we wrapped everything up, and Niamh headed home for her final birthday surprise: a party at the house with some of her closest friends, followed by a drink (or maybe five) out in town.

Afterwards, Elaine said:

“Sarah offered a personal and professional service from start to finish of our experience. Even keeping the session secret from our daughter who was the focus of the shoot as part of her birthday was not too much trouble. We wanted to capture our daughter at age 18 in a picture that she would love herself and treasure forever. Sarah took time to be curious about Niamh and understand quickly what we wanted from the session from the outset of our enquiry. The Skype pre-meeting was friendly and well organised so that when we met for the shoot at Sarah’s studio we got going promptly.

“Sarah put us at ease and managed to capture all aspects of Niamh’s personality. Teenagers can have strong views and Sarah listened to ideas and accommodated these, with her expert skills tweaking to get the best out of Niamh in a variety of shots. Importantly for me, Niamh went from self conscious to confident, had great fun and we all love the results. Be prepared to make some difficult choices at the selection stage! Even then Sarah left that to us, subtly offering her thoughts and giving advice when asked. There was no hard sell which was consistent with Sarah’s approach throughout. She is genuine and clearly loves what she does which came through. Sarah managed to capture Niamh beautifully and we would thoroughly recommend her.”

Elaine, teenager and makeover photoshoots client from Wallingford, Oxfordshire

If you’re interested in teenager and makeover photoshoots, please get in contact:

Sarah Plater LMPA is a qualified, certified professional photographer based in Bicester, Oxfordshire.