This shoot right here has been coming for a long time; I'd like to explain a little before you browsing through and seeing something that I'm actually so excited about.

When I was younger my family had our fair share of studio shoots, all with white backgrounds, all looking at the camera with big, forced grins on our faces. I know at the time that my Mum really loved them - they were a treat after all, a chance for all five of us to get a photograph together which was something very rare.

Fast forward twenty years or so and photography has obviously changed drastically. Accessibility to cameras and people documenting their every movement is in most cases a great and very beautiful thing to me; whether it's phones, a little compact that you can pop in your bag or the availability for people to get their hands on decent DSLR cameras and learn about the art of photography a bit more. Some of your favourite photographs of your children, pets, partner, friends or parents may very well have been taken by yourself BUT we're now very much in a selfie culture where, yet again, it can be difficult to get a good photograph of everyone.

For some time now I've been offering family shoots out of the studio and in an environment where family members can all relax and be together naturally - no forced smiles or poses, just family life as it is, often in the home, a park, the forest. These shoots usually last around an hour and parents are understandably conscious of making sure the children still look relatively clean and tidy and happy most of all!

(I won't babble for too much longer I promise...!)

Having photographed as many weddings as I have - especially over the last couple of years - I've found a new love for the in-between moments.. Not the perfect composition, flawless lighting and downright faultless photographs. I have fallen in love with the moments that make life real, the tears, the funny faces, the belly laughs; those moments where people are affectionate when they think nobody's watching, are lost in thought or are on auto-pilot and don't even realise the habits that they have.

I wanted to combine my love for these moments with a Family Shoot... And that is where A Day In The Life has come to exist!

I asked my gorgeous friend if I could use her amazing little family as my guinea pigs; I told her I wanted real life including meal-times, playtime, bedtime, tears, giggles, mess, snot and everything in between. I wanted nothing staged, for them to just go about their day as they usually would and let me capture it. Family life isn't easy or straight-forward; isn't perfect or predictable.. But at the end of every day - no matter how good or bad your day has been - you are still a family with an indescribable bond and endless amounts of love for one another.

So the day started with Nina and her sister, Lara, getting Isaac and Zoe ready for the day and finished with Nina and Ste putting a sleepy Isaac and Zoe to bed.. There was walks to school, car journeys, housework, grandparent and family member visits, TV time, a trip to the opticians, playing in the garden, bath time and story-time. All of the little moments that make up their big beautiful world.

Welcome to A Day In The Life of The Owen-Brights ❤︎

A Day In The Life: The Owen-Bright's - Frodsham, Cheshire