Sensory Awareness: Making it Fun for Everyone
Having your portrait taken is something different and unique. It isn’t an experience that most people are used to regularly. It is alright to be nervous and a little hesitant. After all, most people don’t know what to expect. Here’s the things we can do to get you and your family ready for your time in front of the camera. We want you to feel comfortable and safe when you are in our studio. We want it to be a place where you enjoy the experience and we can create some wonderful photographic memories together that you will cherish for years to come. To help achieve that, we know that as individuals, we are all different. That is the most wonderful thing about being human – that we are all our own individual persons with different needs and personal requirements. To make the experience as simple and enjoyable for everyone, we have recently looked at the way we do things and outlined below how we can be more inclusive and ensure that everyone is as happy as possible. We may have the experience, but we want you to have a great experience.
Let's make your tail one to remember...
Your experience is very important to us – we want to make sure it is an enjoyable one for everyone
We can make sure we are quieter
A good part of having your portrait taken, is the excitement. Excited people show this in the photos we take of them. Excitement shows itself in different ways with different people. However, we understand that it can be easy for excitement to become stressful. To maintain the level of excitement at something that will get the best results for your session, if we are aware, we can make sure that our speech volume is reduced, our excitement levels adjusted, and our physical gestures muted to get the very best of of the people being photographed.
We can turn the music off, or on
Some people like the distraction of music, other’s like the calm serenity of quiet. We can turn our music off, down or if you have your own music that makes you feel comfortable, we can play that over our speaker system. If you find that ambient noise helps, we can also play noises such as the rain, the sea or even the Starship Enterprise Bridge!
We can dim the lights
Photography is all about light. But we understand, that some people prefer a darker more subdued environment. We can dim the ambient lighting to provide a more relaxed environment if required.
Visit our studio, virtually.
Below you will find a complete virtual tour of our studio. You can have a nosey around all our rooms from the comfort of your home. See where you will have your photos taken, peek around our props store at all our wonderful props and chairs and look at our beautiful framed products on our walls – all before you’ve even been out to visit. The virtual tour is detailed and allows you to get uesd to the surroundings before coming out. You can also use a virtual reality headset to explore the studio, as if you were sitting in it!
Visit our studio, in real life
We find, quite often it can be beneficial for those being photographed to come and visit our studio several days before the shoot to explore the surroundings in person. This can be beneficial to everyone, not just children, and can also really help nervous pets to get a feel… or a sniff for the place. If you would like to do this, please just give us a call and we can help arrange this for you.
Chat to us beforehand on the phone or Zoom
Before your session, we can give you a call to have a chat about what to expect on the day. This conversation can be handy for also talking you through the different types of products that we offer. We usually at the end of your session take you in to our sales room to show you the different products and arrange a date for you to come back to see your pictures – but we can also do this at the start of the session instead, or even before the session takes place to reduce the stress on others, if required.
We’ve a video, so you can meet Graham before hand
It can be quite daunting for adults and children alike, to have to sit in front of the camera. But we aim to make it a fun and relaxing experience. We’ve put together a video that will guide you through how it all works and you can hear Graham talk about the experience so you are used to listening to his voice and seeing who he is.
Meet Glyn the Dog, or not.
Lots of people find that pets can bring a calming (and pleasantly distracting) effect to a session. Our little dog, Glyn is a Lhasa Apso. He looks like a teddy bear. He is very popular among young children… and those who love dogs. He is usually to be found upstairs in our office during the day, but if you like, we can bring him downstairs to meet your gang – or if you prefer, we can leave him at home. He is a very easy going, friendly, loving dog.
Remember, you, like us, are people. We don’t treat you like a number, we treat you like a person. We’d rather we get your experience right, than cram more people through our doors. If you need to chat to us, or make us aware of your own unique situation – we are here to listen.
It all goes like this…
We have a dedicated, private and safe studio where we will take your photographs. It is located around ten minutes from Belfast City Centre in an old building on the junction of the Castlereagh Road and Grand Parade. There’s a big grey and yellow sign on the front of the building, so we are easy to spot. We are opposite Cornerstone Vets.
Immediately outside the front our building, you’ll find our private carpark. It’s free to park here and we have space for up to four cars. It’s for our customers only, so you have to be very special to park here – but if you are one of our customers, then you are very special 🙂
When you pull up, you might want to give us a phone call or to ring our door bell. You’ll find the doorbell on the left hand side of the front door. The door is bright and yellow, the same colour as the sun. It takes us a little while to respond to the door bell and to come to the front door to let you in.
If you have stuff that you’d like us to help with or if you just need help coming in, we are more than happy to help. You will be the only customers in the building, so the building is all yours!
When you come in, you’ll be greeted by Graham and (usually) Hannah. Graham and Hannah work together, but are also married. They met in Italy – it’s a very romantic story, so be sure to ask them about it!
The first place you’ll see when you come in the door, is our lobby. It’s somewhere you can sit if you need some timeout. You’ll see the walls are covered in framed portraits of the types of pictures we take. We do all our own printing and can show you our huge printer too!
The lobby walls are painted grey. In the lobby you’ll find a big screen wtih your name on it welcoming you. You’ll also find a big comfy sofa where you, and even your pet(s) (if you are bringing any) can sit too!
Graham will give you a quick tour of the building before we begin. If you have any coats or belongings, we can keep these safe for you. The sessions are quite active, so you may want to take your coat off. When you’re ready Graham will show you the studio, where you will have your photographs taken by him. The studio is a large bright white room. The floor is also white. In the studio you will find big studio lights. These can look a bit odd, but are used to take your picture. They will flash everytime your photo is taken. You’ll also seee loads of coloured rolls of paper. These are photographic backgrounds. You can choose from a huge variety, or we can suggest some colours to you. Graham’s favourite is a navy blue, and Hannah’s favourite is a burnt orange. Don’t worry if you damage the paper, that’s okay!
Along the rest of the walls, you’ll see more frames. The next room is the “Printer Room” – this is where Big Paige the printer lives. Big Paige is a wide-format printer. We use it to print all of the photos you order. It takes 12 “coke can” sized cartridges to fill it up! That’s a lot of ink!
After that, we’ll take you to our Gallery corridor, where you can see even more pictures on the walls. At the end of the corridor is the bathroom, where you can get changed in private or go to the loo. The wallpaper in the bathroom is doggy wallpaper, and well worth the toilet break!
Our “sales room” is beside the bathroom. At the end of your session, Graham will take you in to the sales room to talk to you about the different options available to you and to find a date for you to come back to see your photos for your “sales session”. The sales room is grey, there are no windows, but there is a big projector where you will be able to see your pictures on a big white wall, when you come back to see them. There is a sofa and big yellow chair to sit on too. Graham has his own yellow chair at his desk, where he uses the computer.
Once you’ve settle in Graham will offer you a nice hot or cold drink and you can take your time to relax and sit down, until you are ready to begin. When you’re ready, just let us know and we will begin your session – and move in to the studio.
During your session, Graham will take pictures using his camera. It’s bigger than what you might be used to. It has a big lens. It allows Graham to take close up photos. He might move the lights around and sometimes he can be noisy doing it! The camera makes a clicking noise every time it takes a picture. It is a digital camera, and if you’d like Graham can show you some of the photos he has taken – just ask him. He also uses a “light meter”. This little device allows Graham to make sure he has set all the equipment correctly. He might need to hold it close to you to make sure he has the correct reading. Graham sometimes needs help with taking photos, so he may ask you for help!
During the session, Graham will change different backgrounds and also introduce some props such as chairs and boxes etc. You can sit on these if you like. You don’t need to do anything you don’t want to do. We want you to have fun and are really looking forward to meeting you… and taking your photographs!
If you’d like to visit the studio before your session with us, just call us to make an appointment – or if you prefer, check out our virtual tour below.
Explore our studio… virtually!
Take our virtual tour and be nosey around our gaff from the comfort of your own couch
Reviews
We were a bit nervous...
Graham and Hannah went above and beyond
The whole process was effortless
It was magic
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