Coffee Morning at Picture People

When you are a mummy blogger in Dubai, you are not the only one. There are many (many!) other blogger mums out there.

I do follow quite a few of them on Instagram and Facebook but there are only few I have actually met in person. It’s a strange and funny situation. Despite the fact that I talk to many of them quite regularly on Social Media, read their posts and feel like knowing them, I don’t even know how some of them look like. I would probably rather recognize their kids then the mummies themselves 😉

So, about a week ago, some other bloggers mums and me decided that it was about time to finally meet up. We organized our first UAE blogger mums coffee morning.

And you know what? It was really great! It felt like meeting with some friends. We had so much to talk about! That’s probably one of the main reasons why our first blogger coffee morning was an absolute success.

Another reason certainly was the location where our first meeting took place: at Picture People UAE, a relatively new photography studio that opened at Wasl Vita Mall in September 2015.

Picture People is a US franchise photography studio, owned under by Lahadhat Photographic Company. Dubai is their first branch in the UAE but they are planning to expand further in the future.

All of us blogger mums got the chance to get to know the studio’s lovely team and facilities – and to do a photo session, which I was pretty excited about. And I have to say I was quite impressed by their professionalism, friendliness as well as the size of their studio. Thanks to their numerous camera rooms and great organization, everything went so smoothly!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLT-3rxM8gg]

It was Erika, one of the Studio Associates, who took some very nice pictures of my little family and me. I absolutely loved the result and, despite the fact that little L got a bit tired and cranky at the end of the shoot (the coffee morning took place just before his usual nap time), he really enjoyed the experience as you can see on the pics 😉

Once my husband and little L had left, I had some time to talk a little bit with Erika and to ask her some questions about Picture People.

About Erika:
Erika is one of the Studio Associates at Picture People. She graduated in Fashion Design and Merchandising in the Philippines and is aiming to have a clothing line one day. But that’s another chapter for her. Erika started taking interest in photography back in college and has been doing photography since 2010. She loves photographing fashion, animals, nature, still life and places she travels to. In 2014, she started as a Creative Photographer for babies and families and what she loves about it, is capturing timeless memories through photos.

Tell me a little bit about the “Picture People Experience”. I found it quite nice that I could select my favorite pictures immediately after this morning’s shoot. Is this always like this?

The Picture People Experience from the inquiry, session to building your product is around 1 hour and 30 minutes. After the session, which takes about 30 minutes, one of the Studio Associates will upload the pictures and prepare your slideshow. So, yes, you can view and select your favorite poses directly after your session at our selection station 🙂 Once you’ve chosen you’re favorite pictures, we can even print and prepare them straight away so that you can leave with the final product within the same day.

Learn more about the Picture People Experience here.

As a mummy who is pregnant with her second child I am most interested in your offers for families and mummies (to be).

Sure! Parents and parents to be have multiple sessions to choose from: you can organize a maternity session or a session with your baby / child or even make it a family affair 😉 (for more information, click here). For upcoming mothers, we even have a package that includes three sessions, which can be organized throughout the year: a Maternity session, a Newborn Session and a First Birthday Session. This package includes 12 Portrait Sheets, 1 Canvas, 1 Framed Portrait and 5 High Resolution USB files.

Overall, parents can choose between portrait sheets, USB files, frames and canvases. It’s also important to know that Picture People UAE has a mobile kit to cater on outdoor sessions. This mobile kit is basically a mock up of our studio set-up. This can be particularly handy for new parents who prefer to do their Newborn Session at home.

Well, it’s true that it is not always easy to do a photo shoot with a baby or even with older kids. What are your tips and tricks to keep the little ones happy?

We make sure to establish that special connection with the little ones before the session starts. We play with them, ask them questions about what they like or even play music that make them smile and dance and that we can incorporate during the session. In that way, we gain their trust and make sure that they feel comfortable at the studio. Sometimes, it’s also nice to simply let them be. Kids will always be kids, right? 😉 They want to have fun, and we make sure that Picture People does exactly that.

Thanks, Erika, for your time and the really nice pictures you’ve taken of our little family. We’ll be back soon for an update with little Miss M 😉

For more information about Picture People UAE:
Website: www.picturepeople.ae
Facebook:
Instagram: @picturepeopleuae