Living every moment! 8th March, 2018

Spontaneity, a simple, everyday word in the life of children. It is what makes them children, carefree, enjoying each and every moment as it goes by!

My little man is going to be 7 in a few days and the mom in me is panicking! He reaches as tall as my shoulder and very very soon is going to be taller than me. My baby, my little one ❤ ❤

I love the innocence of this age, they are big enough to be able to reason with (well mostly!) but still have a carefree aura about them. They truly live every moment of their lives, living in every moment, a free spirit and enjoying it with such exhilarating enthusiasm that it makes me want to be a child again!

We had 2 bonus snow days (truly a rarity in London!) and me and my son absolutely adore snow! But it was only one of us who was going to get to play and of course it had to be him – the joy of watching (and clicking!) him having a swell time trumps all other thoughts …..while Peppa Pig baby sat the tiny one, we headed into our back garden and let loose!

He scooped and tossed, clapped and tossed some more, ate a little and then came the flurry on mummy!!! Good for me that my camera was cling wrapped (handy if its constantly snowing!) and I had the lens shielded with my hand – well, it was an unspoken call to let the camera be and to join in the awesome fun – and thats exactly what we did for the next hour!

 

The lesson is simple: live, love, laugh, play and learn – its ok to take a break and just have some unadulterated fun!!

xoxo

Tanul

“Fire and Ice” – Sakshi’s Snow Maternity Session – 3rd March, 2018

A winter blush,
A warm touch,
An angelic smile ,
A bond so divine !
A timeless love,
A blessing from up above,
A glow of fire and ice,
Nurturing tenderly, lovingly, unconditionally!
The unfaltering devotion of parenthood,
Oh beautiful belle – you indeed are the tree of life!
~Tanul

Statistics say, this was the second coldest March in the history of London in the past 100 years – I wouldn’t contest that even once! The weather was simply bizarre! -3 degrees and a wind of 18 miles per hour and it was snowing constantly through out our session to say the least…

Sakshi and I had been planning a 4 series maternity shoot for her last and final baby and voila, we had snow to kick off the sessions with what I can say is a “once in a lifetime” opportunity (London and Snow don’t go hand in hand)!

So, Sakshi and Naveen drove over to Pinner Memorial Park and we were rewarded with beautiful snow covered grounds and an almost frozen pond with pigeons and swans all around – it was magical!

We chose for her to dress in a red gown, it was truly fire and ice! I was dressed in multiple layers and so was Naveen and we were shivering, but you can’t see an iota of discomfort on Sakshi’s face – such a warrior! Don’t worry, there were ample breaks in between and she was always warmly dressed 🙂

A cosy nook under a tree gave us momentary respite from the beating winds and we got some amazing couple portraits here.

We went to the garden of peace for some crowning moments (no no, the baby did not pop!) and Naveen and Sakshi even did a little dance!

We made our way back to the pond for some sit down portraits. There was a cafe by the pond and the hope of a hot cuppa at the end of the session kept us all rolling to finally a wrap!

Thank you Sakshi for being such a brilliantly brave and determined momma to be!! All the best and can’t wait for our next session xx

Love always 🙂

 

 

 

Skateboard’s Visit to London!

So, Father Christmas had just been and we had a super excited 6 year old who just couldn’t stop grinning about what he found under the tree- his much awaited skateboard! Given that it had been a particularly wet January, we eventually saw a ray of hope (quite literally!) on one fine Saturday in February and decided to take the skateboard for a spin to Waterloo, Central London.

So, the photographer in me couldn’t resist sneaking in the camera too amidst the bags of snacks and toys and off we went riding the Metropolitan line from Pinner.  I had heard about this amazing street art / graffiti at Leake Street tunnel, Waterloo and so we headed that way and weren’t disappointed!

A short 5 minutes walk out of the underground station and we were ready to explore! The lighting is pretty dim inside the tunnel, but I chose not to use flash and let the shadows add some drama to the images.

While the little one (2 year old!)explored with the daddy (read – run around wildly, simply elated to be out of the buggy!) , every once in a while my son would want to show me his cool poses and boy was I glad 🙂

My daughter decided that she too needed to pose and I was rewarded with some cheeky smiles from her while we caught some winter sun and admired some artists in action!

After spending about half an hour here, we headed to the river side to fill up our tummies and bask in the sun! It was a beautiful day and it was super busy, but so upbeat and lively!

While my husband queued at a cart for some hot fries,  my tired and hungry son was not amused to see the camera again and gave me this version of  “smile” – lol!

However, after replenishing our energy levels, the kids were in a much better spirit and we signed off with a fun ride on the carousel! All in all, a day well spent 🙂

Arpita & Vishal’s Portrait Session

“Coming Home – by Tanul”

You melt my heart,

You fulfil my being.

You are me and I am you,

You are mine and I am yours.

For eternity and beyond !

Our destinies entwined, the stars aligned! 

The tides carried me across the seas,

I found my way back to you!

That’s how I knew we were meant to be,

For when I am with you, I am just me….

I am truly home ❤️

Arpita and Vishal are such an adorable couple and they came to me all the way from South East London for this session (phew!) and working with them was such a treat ❤

When Arpita reached out to me to plan an outdoor portrait session on the occasion of her first wedding anniversary, I was super excited. But when she told me that she is going to wear a bridal gown , I was over the moon! Finally, the day of the session dawned upon us – cold and windy, but what a brave lady she was all through our 3 hours long session!

We spent some time in and around Pinner doing outdoor portraits, capturing the essence of their love for each other. We even had a cheeky cat photobomb the session , look what a natural poser it is and I love the smiles it got going all around 🙂

VishArp (as they are fondly called by friends) were so camera confident and easy to pose and looked so stunning, that I couldn’t stop clicking! An absolute delight ❤

The wind , albeit icy, gently fluffed her dress and blew the veil so beautifully, it was almost magical.

We then headed to the second venue, which was a small museum to capture some timeless indoor portraits. There were huge red doors outside this building and they made for such a classy backdrop! We saw a lot of action – it even started snowing for a little while when we were outside, so we were glad to be headed indoors.

I fell in love with the staircase and I knew instantly , that I had to pose them to get some overhead images to show off Arpita’s beautiful dress – my absolute favourite !

We then wrapped up with some “under the veil” images, which got them a lot of “ooooooo” and “ahhaaas” and “smiles” and “congratulations” from the patrons who were visiting that day – and so truly deserved!

The last bit of the session was held outdoors at Cassiobury park in Watford, for which Arpita chose to wear a beautiful lilac dress and Vishal complemented her with a wine coloured blazer. The weather had taken a turn for the worse, but we ended the session with some of my favourite images of that evening!

Happy first Anniversary VishArp, wish you both a lifetime of love and laughter and may you continue to cherish each other for lifetimes to come.