10-18 Months Category Winner & Overall Winner 2011 Brooke Sims

• 0-9 Months – Ava Rae Ashford
• 10-18 Months & Overall Winner – Brooke Sims
• 19-35 Months – Theo Light
• 3-5 Years – Bella Keeley
• 6-12 Years – Adriana Thompson

Response to the competition was great and we realise that sometimes the crowds were less than ideal, making it hard work waiting with young children to have your photoshoot in a busy shopping centre.

We really appreciate everyone’s patience during the shoots and would like to thank you by making life a little easier whilst giving you lovely photos of your children in a less stressful environment.

We’ve got three very special offers for you to mark the end of the competition.

1. If you didn’t get the chance to view or pick the pictures you want we can send you the hi-res files of all of your child’s images for only £15!
2. If you prefer to have your images as prints, or have already bought the files we can supply three 5×7″ prints for just £15.
3. Sometimes a shopping centre can be a less than ideal venue for a child’s portrait, if you’d like to have your child re-photographed we can arrange a shoot including a complimentary 5×7″ print for, you guessed it, £15.

So for just £15 we can send you the files or prints already taken of your child, or arrange a new photoshoot.

If you’d like to take advantage of any of these special offers please contact us or call now on 01202 779604 before 14th October, we look forward to hearing from you soon.

0-9 Months Category Winner Ava Rae Ashford

19-35 Months Category Winner 2011 Theo Light

3-5 Years Category Winner 2011 Bella Keeley

6-12 Years Category Winner 2011 Adriana Thompson

Note: Offers can be combined with each other, but not with any previous offer. This is a limited offer valid for purchases made between 28/9-14/10/2011 only.

This year, the Daily Echo is delighted to welcome Poole based photographer, Seeker who will take the official photographs for our Child of the Year Competition.

With many years of experience, including corporate, on-line, print material, event and portrait photography, Seeker can’t fail to produce a winning smile for the competition!

If you would like to enter a child in to our Child of the Year Portrait competition, here’s how;

• Each child entering will need an entry coupon/form. These will be published every day in the Bournemouth Daily Echo from Monday 18 July until Friday 13 August .
• Then all you have to do is take your completed entry form along to one of our special ‘Child of the Year’ photo shoots taking place at the following venues;

• Sovereign Shopping Centre, Boscombe - Wednesday 27th – Sunday 31st July, 10.30am until close, every day.
• Sainsbury’s, Castlepoint - Wednesday 3rd – Sunday 7th August, 10.30am until 7pm every day. (* Closes 4pm Sunday.)
• Dolphin, the Centre for Shopping in Poole - Wednesday 10th – Sunday 14th August, 10.30am until close, every day.

Entry is FREE – all you need is the entry form from the paper, no photocopies will be allowed and one coupon per child is required. Children must be aged from 0 months to 12 years old.
Reprints and photo packages will be available if you wish to have a memento of the picture taken of your child for the competition, but there is no obligation to purchase these as it is free to take part in the competition.

Once all the pictures have been taken, supplements of all the pictures taken will start appearing in the Daily Echo on Thursday 8th September with the 0 – 9 months entrants, and will subsequently appear throughout the rest of the week, finishing on Monday 12th September with the 6 – 12 years age group.
Voting for the child you would like to see as the winner of our Portrait of the Year competition will be by post, text or phone. Full details will be printed within each supplement.
All five category winners will receive a Seeker studio shoot, together with a photo book of images which we’re sure will become a treasured family possession.

So if you know a child with a winning smile who you think could be our ‘Child of the Year’ winner – why not enter our easy competition?

Half hour slots are available for £50 +vat, with two 10″x8″ prints included, additional images can be ordered from online from only £5.

Our photographer will be available for sessions on the following dates:

• 13th November ~ Reading
• 14th November ~ Bath
• 27th November ~ Bournemouth
• 28th November ~ Bournemouth

Call us now on 01202 779604 to book your Christmas photoshoot

But, really the question should be “Will we do passport photos?”

Have you ever looked at the Passport Authorities guidelines for passport photos? In these technologically advanced days when they want all of the images to uniformly suit their automated scanning processes the guidelines have become increasingly strict.

The rules for passport photos – from Direct.gov

The photographs you supply with your application must:

• show you with a neutral expression and your mouth closed (no grinning, frowning or raised eyebrows)
• show you on your own (babies should not have toys or a dummy, and there shouldn’t be other people in the photo)
• be in colour, not black and white
• be identical
• be taken within the last month
• be 45 millimetres high x 35 millimetres wide – this is the standard size when you have a passport photo taken in a photo booth or studio (you should not trim a larger photograph to meet this condition)
• be clear and in sharp focus, with a clear difference between your face and the background
• be taken against a plain cream or plain light grey background
• not show you with red-eye
• be of you facing forward and looking straight at the camera
• not be torn, creased, or marked
• be printed on plain white photographic paper
• be free from shadows
• be taken with your eyes open and clearly visible (no sunglasses or tinted glasses and no hair across your eyes)
• be free from reflection or glare on your glasses, and the frames must not cover your eyes – the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) recommends that, if possible, you remove your glasses
• be professionally printed (photographs printed at home are not likely to be of an acceptable quality)
• show your full head, without any head covering, unless you wear one for religious beliefs or medical reasons
• be taken with nothing covering your face – you should make sure nothing covers the outline of your eyes, nose or mouth
• be a close-up of your head and shoulders with a recommended head height (the distance between the bottom of your chin and the crown of your head) between 29 and 34 mm
• not have any writing on the front or back – except when one of the photos needs to be certified

So really we should be thinking what’s the point in making life difficult for ourselves by shooting it manually, adjusting the head size in Photoshop, sending it to the lab for printing.

Today I had to get new passport photos, do you know what I did?

I didn’t go into the studio, shoot myself against a white background, etc, etc – I went to the shopping centre, put £4 in the machine and had the photos in a couple of minutes – easy.

If you really insist on doing it yourself try these websites:

• Paspic
• ePassportPhoto

Would you rather be here than having your photo taken?

The poll found that 73% of women ‘feel uneasy’ in front of the camera compared with 50% of men.

Weight and hairstyle concerns are the main reasons for their “picture phobia”, explained a spokesman.

Of those surveyed, 18% preferred to go to the dentist than pose for a picture, 44% preferred to do the laundry, while 34% would rather pay the bills.

How about combining the two and photographing dentists!

Imagine how I felt, a genuine “dentophobist” when I had to do a photoshoot of a dental practise.

We realise that lots of people hate having their photo taken, but I promise that I won’t hurt you – how many dentists can make that guarantee.

Because we know what’s important with portrait photography – capturing the real you, we like you to relax and have fun!

Shots of you and your family at home, in the studio, on the beach or any other location that’s personal to you.

How much would you expect to pay for this? Hundreds of pounds up front plus a small fortune for a limited number of framed prints that we pressurise you into buying?

No, our photoshoot start at only £50!

Call us now on 01202 779604 to book your session.

£50 – photoshoot inc 9×6″ print (30 mins)
£90 – photoshoot inc three 9×6″ prints (1 hr)
£130 – photoshoot including ALL of the images (and there will be lots) on a CD (1 hr)
£200 – photoshoot & CD (up to 2 hours, in various locations and with changes of clothes if required)

Studio £35/hr extra

All prices + VAT

Gift vouchers also available for any of the above photoshoots and the price is not printed on the vouchers.

Buy Gift Vouchers

Photoshoot & CD (up to 2 hrs) £230.00 Photoshoot & CD (1 hr) £149.50 Photoshoot inc three 9×6″ prints £103.50 Photoshoot inc one 9×6″ print £57.50

We can produce beautiful framed prints and canvases for you, but you don’t have to buy from us, you’ve got all of the files and you can get them printed wherever you want.
Contact us now on 01202 779604 to book your photoshoot, there’s a whole world out there… let’s capture it!

Show them how much you love them with a special Valentine’s portrait shoot.

We’re holding a portrait photoshoot day on Sunday 28th February at the Ramada Encore hotel in Bournemouth.

So whether it’s your loved one, kids or family book a shoot and show them how much you care.

With the shoot costing a mere £30 inc a 9″x6″ print, and reprints starting at £5 you can’t go wrong.

Preferred time