It's been almost a week since the Baby Show, and what a hectic week it has been! I am finally catching up on my emails , although proofs and orders still have extended lead times. Thank you all who came to visit my stand, and I am delighted with everyone's positive reaction to the new branding. All the information emails have now been sent, so if you are missing yours please do get in touch with me as soon as possible.

I am still updating the Maria Murray Photography website, which includes images of babies that are not newborn, older children and some location and family photography. That site should be back online next week sometime.

My availability is now extremely limited in the upcoming months - the next free appointment is on the 2nd of June. I have also made a decision not to take on any further weekend appointments fro 2011. If you are booked in already , or an existing client on the Beginnings scheme that I know historically cannot make weekdays, then of course I will accommodate you. However, no new bookings will be taken for weekends unless we have already agreed on dates.

If you are pregnant and considering a shoot in the short term, please contact me as I may be able to accommodate some evening sessions. Please, please remember to book for your newborn session as soon as you can after your 20 weeks scan as we book so far in advance.

Happy new Year to all of you - I am now back in the office and just wanted to say hello! Unfortunately I have had to cancel the last couple of days sessions as I have had severe tonsillitis and flu and not feeling my best. Thankfully the antibiotics have kicked in and I can now attempt to reply to the the couple of hundred emails received whilst I was off . Please be assured I will reply, but please bear with me - it may take a few days. Shoots resume tomorrow, and at the moment the availability is pretty good - I have slots available for February onwards. This may not be the case however once I finish replying to the 50 or so session inquiries sitting in my inbox - I will keep you posted!

Just a quick note to let you know that I am now away from the studio until the 5th of January. If you are thinking of booking a session, please email me on mariamurray@mac.com, and the enquiries will be replied to in date order. Please note that the first available session date is the 1st of February. I do not have any weekend dates available until the 3rd week of April. There are some big changes on the horizon for 2011, so please pop back soon...I will be blogging a lot more next year. In the meantime, I wish you all a healthy and happy Christmas!

Indeed the time has come to close my diary for this year - it is bursting at the seams and already I seem to be working until 4 am every morning! It has been an incredibly busy year and there are lots of changes planned for next year, including a bit of re-branding ( yup - again), amendments to the product range and lost of other exciting stuff. The studio will be closed this year from the 17th of December until the 6th of January, when I will be catching up on my sleep and enjoying some well deserved family time.

If you have a newborn due in the New Year and you are reading this - please, please if you do wish to book , do it sooner rather than later. This and next week has been incredibly busy for new babies, and I have had lots of enquiries on newborn photography. Sadly, I could not accommodate most ladies, and this is mainly due to one or both reasons -

* the sessions were not pre - booked, which simply means I have no space in my diary

* a lot of the calls I get are when the babies are already a week /few weeks old. I must re-iterate that I completely understand that to a new mummy and daddy at this stage the baby is still a newborn. But in photographic terms , the newborn stage is over once the baby reaches 10 days or so, although sometimes this can be stretched out a few days more. The best time for newborn photography is between day 4-10, ideally day 5/6/7/8, and this is when best results are achieved. Even if your bubba is really small, the newborn session can only be successful when we have a very sleepy baby. An every single day your newborn becomes more and more alert, and not so easy to settle into a deep sleep.

So, if you would like a session - please book well ahead - please do not leave that call until the last minute as the chances are I won't be able to help. I am now booking for January - there are less than 10 sessions left! The next available weekend is in February.

So just to finish this post off here is an image of a very sleepy, milk drunk little newborn - enjoy!

I am now away and not back in the studio until the 1st of November. Please note that the next available appointment slot is now the 8th of December. The next available weekend session is the 22nd of January. Please email me on mariamurray@mac.com if you are expecting a newborn before those dates and require a session.