Just wanted to say a quick hello and give an update on my schedule. I am now fully booked until the end of June, and only taking bookings for July onwards. If you are looking for a newborn session ( strictly 10 days or under) by all means please do get in touch and I will see what I can do , and I am happy to recommend another photographer if I cannot accommodate you. I have a waiting list that I am happy to put you on should cancellations arise, but these are few and far between - the baby boom continues!

Please note that if you are pregnant and you would like a Welcome to the World (i.e.newborn) photography session, please do get in touch well in advance - I will book you in for 5 days following your due date. Of course the baby arrives as and when it decides to be here, but at least if you are booked in I will be able to swap you with someone else - i.e the time has been booked out of the diary.

The session fees are strictly payable on booking your session - I cannot hold appointment times unless the session fee has been paid and I have your full details.

I have recently had a lot of enquiries for newborn session where the baby is between 2 - 8 weeks. Unfortunately the likelihood of getting those lovely squishy newborn images is reduced by about 50% once you go over the 10 days, and by 75% once you go over the 2 weeks. Unless your little one is particularly sleepy ( this is the case sometimes with early babies), then I cannot promise you these types of images.

At that point you are much better off waiting until the baby is 12 weeks +. The period between 2 weeks and 12 weeks ( bar an occasional exception) is a bit of a no man's land for baby photography. At that point we have missed the beautiful newborn stage, and the baby is not quite strong enough to lift their neck or do anything much - so you will not get a great variety of images. Once your baby is over 12 weeks, they will be able to lift their head much better, maybe lift on their tummy and properly smile. We can still get some lovely natural images appropriate to that age group.

I leave with you with another image of the beautiful baby Neeyah, at 8 days old.

Take care and see you soon!

Maria :)

Ok, since we are having a bit of a baby boom, I thought I would update you. At the moment I seem to have  a number of mummies due in the 2nd half of may, June & July. I would normally ask for you to contact me when the baby is born, and try to accommodate you by re-arranging the diary. However due to the sheer volume of requests, I am having to work things slightly differently. Therefore If you are pregnant, and would like a newborn session please do contact me as soon as possible, and we can book you in approximately 5 days following the due date. It might mean that we still need to reschedule you, but other mummies will be in the same situation , and at least there will be slots we can swap with If  needed.

Appointment availability in general ( not for newborns specifically) as follows -

May - full (unless you have already contacted me)
1st week of June - a few slots left, I am then away 8-16th
week commencing 24/6 - 5 appointments left

week commencing 28th of June the availability is good.

Proof turnaround times are 3 weeks at the moment, although hoping to improve that in the upcoming weeks. Order turnaround times 3-5 weeks depending on what the order is, again I am just clearing my backlog caused by the recent computer issues, and hoping to improve the lead times.

Just a quick note to photographers emailing - thank you so much for your kind emails, unfortunately at this point in time I am not offering any training or one-2-ones. Also, if I haven't replied to your email it is not because I am being rude, but simply because I don't get the time in between running the business and trying to be a mummy, a wife and a friend...I hope you understand.  

on my progress! It's not been a good week. Not at all... I came back from my few days away in Brighton to a completely dead computer - black screen, just not working. After a bit of to and fro'ing to the Apple Store they finally got the machine working (it was a failed graphics card). But ever since, my internet connection has been non existent - one minute it's working, next minute it isn't. Uploading anything is virtually impossible. So having spent about 10 hours in total on the phone to BT, I have decided that a change is due. I am having my lovely new router fitted next week by Virgin and they are promising a 50mb connection so it should be lightning fast! Time will show, but anything is better than the pretty pathetic 2MB I get out of BT.

Unfortunately due to the Internet and email issues everything has been at a standstill, including uploading proofs and fulfilling orders. As I print in house, and my printers are networked I need an internet connection to be able to print. I have had a little bit of progress tonight and the internet has been working for a full hour so far, so will just need to wait and see what happens. 

To top the IT issues off, I banged my little toe ( just found out it's not broken so at least that's good news) so half my foot is black and bruised, and tomorrow morning I am having more emergency dental surgery as my remaining 2 teeth implants are going to be removed as my body has rejected them. And of course we have half term too... So, please accept my apologies if I have been slow in coming back to you - it's all been very stressful , but I hoping to get myself back on the straight and narrow over the upcoming couple of weeks. If you have sent me an email and i haven't responded it's probably because I haven't received it - please do resend. Email and internet and still likely to be slow and sporadic until next Wednesday.

As a result of the volume of enquiries and bookings I am forced to put on a session freeze for May - I simply cannot take any more bookings at this point, unless you need a newborn session (babies under 10 days) , or I have already sent you and email with a date. Therefore I am now taking bookings for June onwards.

Thank you all for your patience, and if you have a spare moment please send some good karma my way - I need it!

My first catch up sneak preview is below - this is a session I shot a couple of weeks ago in Maida Vale with the lovely Katherine, aged 17. Although I normally stick to babies, it was lovely to work with a young adult , and Katherine was fab to photograph. We had a fun, relaxed session and I am hoping that the images reflect what mum was hoping for - to capture the essence of Katherine and her joyful personality.

I am now away from the studio until the 8th of April. Please email at mariamurray@mac.com if you have an enquiry or would like to book a session. Please note that the next available sessions are week commencing he 26th of April. If you have a newborn that you wish to be photographed within the first 10 days from birth then please do get in touch and I will see what can be done to accommodate you. Take care and happy Easter! 

I just had a chat with lovely lady from C4 who needs to talk to pregnant ladies about their experiences. As lots of mummies to be read this blog, I thought I would help her out by posting this!