Ever wondered what it’s like working on a kids photoshoot? Here at Dotty, we love our photoshoots. They are lots of fun, full of laughter, games, and storytelling, as well as the odd diva moment of course!
 
There’s nothing we love more than getting our friends together with their children and ours, and simply letting them play and explore in a pair of Dottys. Hopefully we get some good pictures! Having said this, no kids photoshoot is complete without a star photographer and we are so lucky to work with one of the best.
 
We actually got to know Amy Smyth on our first ever Dotty shoot when she lived in England. Since then she has moved to pastures new to LA in California to pursue her dream of being a full-time photographer and we are so thrilled that she continues to work with us! She really has become an irreplaceable part of our little Dotty team.

Now something you may not realise about working on a kids photoshoot is the amount of imagination and games you need to come up with in order to capture some great pictures.
 
Amy has some great techniques by asking children to look for the fairy inside her camera. She asks them to tell her what colour dress they are wearing. By using some imagination, she is able to capture their natural gaze and wonderment as they lean in to look a little closer.

Amy also uses props or toys to help captivate the youngest little ones who can get distracted very easily! Toys are a great way to capture a child’s attention when on a kids photoshoot. They can also be a source of comfort for our children to feel more at ease when being photographed alone. Look out for the appearance of Mrs Tiggywinkle who made her unexpected debut in some of our shots this Spring/Summer!
 
What we most love about Amy as a photographer is the way she manages to capture the essence of her subjects. Just through her camera lens alone, you can feel the inner beauty of whomever she chooses to capture. This is especially true with her childrens’ photography. She is perfect at capturing the magic of childhood and translating it into a single photograph.

Our new collection, Faded Denim, which launches on Sunday 26th February was shot in Amy’s current hometown of California. Hence the nice sunny shots! She chose a local farm complete with horse and retro truck as her backdrop to this kids photoshoot. Lots to entertain and keep our little ones amused. 
 
When choosing locations for our kids photoshoot, we love to pick spots with lots of fun things to do. It helps our children play and react more naturally which is what helps keep our photography true to real life. It’s much easier to capture the joy of childhood if our children are genuinely having a lot of fun!
 
One of our Spring/Summer shoots was filmed at a funfair which was a lot of fun. Especially when the rides actually started. Our children could not wait to go on the biggest ride of the park, not great for a photograph but the perfect reward for afterwards! And candy floss of course.

Want to learn more about Amy? Check out her website, Amy Smyth, and her Instagram page @amysmythphoto to see more of her work.
 
For more Behind the Scenes content follow us on Instagram to access all of our backstage footage. From our kids photoshoot outtakes, to the photos that didn’t make it on our website! We love to show you the fun and reality behind building our Dotty brand.
 
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