Biggleswade · Sandy
Newborn photography for Biggleswade and Sandy
Up the A1, across at St Neots, and into a warm, quiet studio with a parking space at the door.
My studio is in Papworth Everard, just across the county line in Cambridgeshire. From Biggleswade it is about thirty-five minutes: up the A1 to St Neots, east on the Cambridge road, and north at the Caxton Gibbet roundabout. From Sandy it is a little less, and from Potton about the same.
It is not the nearest studio to Bedfordshire, and I would not pretend it is. What it is, is a studio built around newborns, run by someone who has photographed them since 2010.
What you are driving to
A newborn session here is slow on purpose. Your baby sets the pace: when they need feeding, changing or holding, we stop, and we start again when they are ready. There is a sofa for you, a warm room for your baby, and a separate playroom for older brothers and sisters, so that nobody has to be good for two hours in a row.
The best weeks are the first two or three. Whether your baby arrives at Bedford Hospital or at the Lister in Stevenage, you email me the date of birth and we set the session around it. If the first weeks have already gone, there is no wrong age: the photographs simply become more awake.
From Biggleswade I would point you towards the Classic Newborn Collection: two hours makes the drive worthwhile, and it brings brothers, sisters and grandparents into the photographs. If you want only your baby and the two of you, the Mini Newborn Collection is a single hour; the Total Newborn Collection adds a heART Fusion film. The full contents of each are on the prices page.
Places near you for outdoor photographs
Family and maternity sessions usually take place in the fields around Papworth Everard. But this corner of Bedfordshire has three places I would happily photograph a family in, if you would rather stay close to home.
The Lodge, at Sandy. The RSPB's reserve on the greensand ridge: pine woods, open heath and old gardens. The heath is at its best in late summer, when the heather is out.
The Swiss Garden at Old Warden. A small Regency garden of ponds, tiny bridges and winding paths — like stepping into a storybook, and made for a family with small children.
Biggleswade Common. Wide, flat, open grass on the edge of town, with big skies and nothing to trip over. Simple, and lovely at the end of a summer day.
The Lodge and the Swiss Garden have their own rules for professional photographers; I check them, and tell you the travel cost, before we fix a date.
Later: babies, birthdays and families
Later on, the studio is where baby sessions happen — sitting up, then standing — and the cake smash for a first birthday.
Questions from Biggleswade and Sandy
Thirty-five minutes each way — is it worth it for an hour's session?
The studio is ready before you arrive, and nothing starts until you have sat down and settled in, so an hour here is a whole hour. The Classic and Total collections give us up to two, with the family in the photographs too. And the road is the A1 most of the way.
Could you photograph us at home in Biggleswade instead?
I can. Home sessions work for newborns and for babies, and the travel is priced up front.
Our due date is in December. Is the journey a problem in winter?
The studio is warm whatever the weather, and the drive is on main roads the whole way. If the roads are bad on the day, ring me and we will find another date.
Coming from Biggleswade, Sandy or Potton? Tell me your due date and I will find you a morning. Get in touch.