2021 Favourite Images And The Need for Craic | Stockholm Portrait Photographer

Hello and happy new year! :) I hope you have all had a jolly good Christmas! We stayed in Sweden this year and I gotta say, there’s an awful lot to be said for not travelling at the busiest time of year! There’s something about chilling in your own home, in front of your own Christmas tree, in your favourite Christmas pj’s, not having a conniption fit about airport queues or missing luggage, or breaking your neck racing around your old hometown trying to meet up with everyone, and buying a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates for all the 17 households you visit on your trip home!

All that being said, it was a very tame Christmas. As we would say in Ireland, it was no craic, meaning not a whole lot of fun. And I’m a woman that needs fun in my life. The baking and the walking and the afternoon teas, and Indiana Jones movies are all well and good, but they’re NO CRAIC, dammit! I’ve pre-warned my husband it will be my last Christmas without craic. I just can’t cope with social activities being planned six months in advance and everyone being booked up during the holidays, and there being no room for SPONTANITETY! There was a couple of evenings when the cabin fever really got to me, and I was pacing the living room, declaring THERE’S NO CRAIC HERE!! I NEED TO HAVE SOME CRAIC BEFORE I CRACK UP!! I live in hope that 2022 will bring LOTS of craic, lots of spontaneity, and a whole lot less pacing in frustration at the lack of craic and spontaneity, haha! ;)

God, feels good to get all that out of my system! Thanks for being there for me! ;) Meanwhile, here are my favourite images of 2021. It’s always exciting for a photographer when a new year begins and you wonder what images you will create during it, so do please watch this space, say hi/hej/hola/howya, and if you would like to book a craic-filled jolly session, mail sandra@sandrajolly.com.

I’ll leave you with this old Irish blessing for 2022…

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face;

The rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Peace and love xoxo

10 Of My Favourite Teenage Images | Stockholm Family Photographer

Teenagers. They’re often sadly overlooked when it comes to portraits. Everyone likes to have their babies, toddlers, and pre-tween children photographed, but for some reason when it comes to teenagers, documenting those fleeting years is not always prioritized. I get it though, if you have lots of cute photos of your young children, it might be that getting a portrait of your 15-year-old doesn’t feel so important - they probably have lots of selfies anyway ;). Or maybe the teenager in your family just doesn’t want to be photographed. Us parents know, however, that much will change during those teenage years. They enter that phase as a child and leave as an adult. Everything changes during that time!

My approach to photographing teenagers is quite laid back. I don’t ask them to do big cheesy smiles. I chat to them, get them comfortable and photograph them just as they are. I can promise you when this is done right, those teenagers will look back on their portraits in years to come and be so grateful to have natural, timeless images of them in their youth. Wouldn’t we all have loved that?!

If you would love images like this of your teen, feel free to drop me a line at sandra@sandrajolly.com or go to the Contact page above and we can start making plans.

Peace and love xoxo

10 Of My Favourite Ever Moody Images | Familjefotograf Stockholm

How do you feel about moody images? Personally, I absolutely LOVE them! There’s something about them that just draws you in, makes you curious. One of the most memorable moody images I’ve seen in my life was a black and white photograph of a man sleeping on a sofa, with a window behind him. It was almost dark in the room and his features were indiscernible in the shadows, but there was something about that image that really made an impression on me…

I thought you might like to see 10 of my personal favourite moody images (I have a LOT, but had to narrow it down!). I love when families contact me especially because they love my moody work! Those are my favourite kind of images to create :)

If you would like to book a session with me, all you need to do is to to the Contact page above or mail sandra@sandrajolly.com.

Peace and love xoxo