St Ives
Newborn, baby and family photographs for St Ives, Cambridgeshire
A studio fifteen minutes south for the newborn weeks — and, for later, some of the prettiest riverside in Cambridgeshire on your own doorstep.
St Ives has something most towns would envy: the Great Ouse running right through it, meadows on both banks, and a walk to Houghton that people drive across the county to do. It is a lovely place to be photographed.
Newborns, though, are photographed in the warm, and my studio in Papworth Everard is about fifteen minutes south of the bridge. So this page is in two halves: the studio for the first weeks, and the river for everything after.
The studio, for the newborn weeks
A newborn session takes place in a studio kept warm for your baby, with a car parked a few steps from the door and a room where older brothers and sisters can play. Newborns have been my work since 2010, always at the baby's pace: we stop for feeds, for cuddles, for whatever is needed, and carry on.
It can be an hour for the baby and the two of you — the Mini Newborn Collection — or two hours with brothers and sisters, the Classic Newborn Collection. The Total Newborn Collection is the same two hours with every image kept and a short heART Fusion film. The full list sits with the prices.
Getting here from St Ives
Leave town past Fenstanton and head south through Hilton: Papworth Everard is the next village after it. From the Hemingfords it is the same road and about the same time; from Houghton and Wyton, a few minutes more.
When you book you receive a short guide with the postcode and a description of the door, so the last hundred metres are as easy as the first fifteen minutes.
By the river, for everything after
Family photographs and maternity sessions usually happen outdoors, a minute from the studio, as the day ends. If you would rather have them somewhere that is yours, St Ives gives us more choice than anywhere else I photograph.
The bridge and the Quay. The fifteenth-century bridge, with its chapel built into the middle, is the picture everyone knows. It works best early in the evening, when the town has gone quiet, for a few photographs before walking on to the meadows.
Hemingford Meadow and the Black Bridge. Open grass on the south bank, room for small children to run, and the river alongside. In winter it floods; from late spring to early autumn it is one of my favourite places for a family hour.
The Thicket path to Houghton. A wooded riverside path that ends at Houghton Mill, the last working mill on the Great Ouse. Dappled shade in summer, colour in autumn, and a place for an ice cream at the end, which matters more to a four-year-old than any photograph.
Holt Island. A small nature reserve in the river, right by the town — quiet, green, and close enough to combine with the bridge.
Photographing by the river adds a small travel charge, and summer evenings there are the first dates to go.
Questions from St Ives
Can we have the newborn photographs by the river?
Newborn photographs are made in the studio, where your baby can be warm and unwrapped without a breeze. The river is there for a baby session or a family session later in the year.
We live in the Hemingfords. Is the studio still the easiest option?
Usually, yes: it is the same fifteen minutes, with parking at the door. If you would rather stay at home, I can come to the Hemingfords; the travel is quoted in advance.
When should we book an evening by the river?
Spring and early autumn give the softest evenings and the fewest people on the Quay. Summer is lovely and books up first. Tell me the month you have in mind.
Tell me when your baby is due, or which stretch of the river you have in mind. My contact page is here.