Review | Cathryn Wood Photography

I’ve made no secret of the fact that this year I want to capture more pictures of my family and our memories. Toby and Teddy are both at the age where they’re doing and learning more, and they’re changing every day. I want to just scoop them up and never let them go and last year we very rarely had any photos taken of us as a family.

These days you are faced with dozens of choices about who can take some real family photographs of you. You wonder if they will capture you the way you hope, if they’ll snap that exact cheeky face you get every day from one of the children. You wonder if they’re photos you know you’ll want to look back on in years to come.

It’s common knowledge now, I think, that we’ve just had a family photoshoot with the truly wonderful Cathryn Wood. I’ll admit, I was really apprehensive about having to shoot with someone we’re not familiar with. All of our previous family photos have been taken with someone else and so to invite someone else into your space, and with a camera, is a bit daunting. However, I’d looked through Cathryn’s portfolio and I was just so taken with her photographs that I knew it was something I had to do.

We decided to meet roughly half way in Norwich at Eaton Park. It had this gorgeous pavilion right in the centre, lots of green areas, a couple of huge water features and plenty of space for the kids to run around. Cathryn’s style, luckily, is exactly the type of thing I love; natural, totally unposed and she just seems to have captured us at our best, without us actually saying ‘cheese’ at the camera.

I was instantly at ease with Cathryn in the courtyard near the pavilion. It was really cold, windy and a bit grey but she’s super friendly and I was instantly comfortable with her. You know you sometimes just get those ‘vibes’ when you meet people? Well, these were all good. We spoke really briefly about what we both wanted from the shoot, and I told her my reasons for wanting to work with her and I am just so freaking happy that we got to do this with her.

We were just another family in the park that day. Cathryn wasn’t intrusive, didn’t get in the way and held back for the most of the shoot; mostly while we trying to run after the kids who wanted to fall in to the frozen over water, or fall down from a low wall. We had a wander and took a couple of photos where we were all together and knew we were having a photo taken such as this one..

But most of the time we were just walking around and playing like we normally would and Cathryn just got some of the most incredible photos. When I saw the one above I shed a tear or two because it’s the first photo we’ve had together as a proper family – that is since we’ve been married. She has absolutely captured us just as I’d hoped and I don’t think I could’ve asked for better photos. They absolutely reflect us as a family but as individuals too her and her style is utterly timeless. These are the photos I wanted from this year, without a doubt and I couldn’t be more grateful. Without any shadow of a doubt we will be working with Cathryn again and if you are looking to have some pictures done in Norfolk and/or Suffolk then this is your woman.

A few weeks later, after we returned from our holiday Cathryn sent through our photos on a USB stick in a beautiful keepsake box along with a polaroid she’d taken of us at the end of shoot together. These are just the nicest touches that have made the whole experience much more personal. We’ll definitely be booking Cathryn in the future to capture our family.

You can find Cathryn over at her website, on Facebook and on Twitter and on Instagram. Please, please go and check out her work and you’re crazy if you don’t consider her for any of your photography needs.

*I received this photoshoot in return for a review. All views and opinions are my own.