Family photos with 3-year-old Lennox and 7-month-old Winslet

September 2021 update: The above portrait has just won a Highly Commended Rosette in the Master Photographers Association (MPA) monthly portrait competition.

Ray Lowe, Chairman of the MPA, commented, “I love this delightful picture! The way you’ve constructed the image, the way you’ve got that material coming up underneath the chin as if the baby is just waking up in the morning, the way the softness drops off after the eyes, the symmetry of the photograph.… [it’s] got such a freshness about it [and] I adore it.. I just think everything about that is beautiful; a beautiful image.”

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When I last saw this family, Lennox was a newborn baby, just six days’ old (see the photos here). Imagine my surprise then, to see him walking, talking and loving life as a newly promoted big brother.

In fact, the day of our photoshoot was Lennox’s third birthday, and it was an extra special honour to capture the family together on this milestone day.

Afterwards Lennox and his dad are off to see the Paw Patrol movie, and then enjoy the presents he unwrapped this morning. His favourites were a mini Vespa scooter and a Paw Patrol dinosaur set.

The best gift this year, however, has definitely been little Winslet’s arrival. After a nerve-wracking few days in NICU at the start of the year, the family gratefully scooped her up and took her back home to start settling into life as a unit of four.

At first, Lennox wasn’t too interested in his new sibling. Then, as she started becoming more curious about the world around her, they shared many long glances and stares, as though sussing each other out. Shortly after that, they swapped smiles and giggles as well as eye contact.

Since then, Lennox has enjoyed having an appreciative audience for his many antics, as Winslet thinks everything he does is absolutely hilarious. She especially loves when he pretends to fall over, a trick Lennox learned from his dad.

Winslet has slotted right into place beside Lennox, and is the happiest little baby you could hope to meet. She’s just learned how to sit up unsupported, and is very content to simply watch her family move around and interact with her.

You can’t have missed Lennox’s incredible flame-orange hair. Josie told me he’s inherited this from his great grandmother, who sadly passed on while still young. Whenever Lennox visits his great grandfather, his hair serves as a most welcome reminder of a beloved and much-missed wife, and you can see his great grandfather’s face light up in response.

Mum Josie is a hotel manager while dad Ben works in hotel construction. They met on a project in Bristol a year and a half before Lennox was born, and now spend their free time on their own projects: renovating and decorating the cottage they now call home.

Happily, they’ve now got plenty of wall space, and can’t wait to put these images on the wall as a reminder of Lennox’s special day and the entrance of gorgeous little Winslet into their lives. 🙂

After our photoshoot, Josie said:

“Sarah I am actually crying I love them so so much! You are incredible at what you do!!! Thank you! Xx”

Josie, family photography client from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

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If you’re interested in family photography in Bicester, Oxfordshire, please get in contact.

Sarah Plater LMPA is an award-winning qualified, certified professional newborn and family portrait photographer based in Bicester, Oxfordshire. She is the Master Photographers Association Newborn Photographer of the Year 2019 for the Central Region (covering Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire).