Last week Simon and I had a super fun training day up in Watford - Keeping It Fresh with Charlie Kauffman

We spent the day photographing a variety of models - from a superbly talented 16 year old who’s already been scouted by 3 agencies, to a young lady in her mid 20’s who’d never been in front of a camera before!

We also had the pleasure of photographing Charlie's son Leo, who has most probably been photographed his whole life, and is an expert at posing for the camera!

Charlie was a fantastic trainer - he taught us how to pose our models to get a massive variety of images, and how to expertly light them to flaunt their assets.

Charlie demonstrated how different types of light outputs create different effects, and how small gestures elicit a different range of emotions.

For instance, lifting the chin up makes a subject look more confident, whilst tilting the chin down makes them look more alluring and vulnerable.

Paige was such a sport! She was very nervous as she had never had a professional portrait shoot before, but Charlie soon put her at ease with his easy-going humour.

My favourite part of the training was the last shoot of the day: we had the gorgeous Aimee come in for a boudior shoot, and she absolutely rocked it! I honestly had so much fun capturing her beauty, and I can't wait to do it again!

Doesn't she look fantastic? She nearly inspired me to book a boudior shoot myself! 

If I can just find the clients brave enough, I'd love to offer boudoir maternity shoots! I think it would really give mums a boost when they're probably not feeling very photogenic.

I 100% believe that women GLOW when they're pregnant, and I wish they could see what I see! Maybe by offering this style of photo shoot, they'd be able to see themselves in a different light, and it would give them that boost in confidence to come away from the "ugh I feel so fat/ugly/miserable/hormonal" mindset and allow them to enjoy this fleeting moment of pregnancy.