The land of sand and sky

Walking till the end of West Sands beach, where the Eden river meets the sea, is a nice week-end activity. When the tide is low, you are rewarded with endless vista of sand and sky.
 

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Autumn in St Andrews - family photos

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 Autumn is solidly settling in, with its gorgeous colours, cosy blankets and sweaters, rains, and this special something in the air. At home, we watch more movies, bake more pies, walk on the leaves and listen to their crunchy-crunch under our boots, and I want to soak in all these colours around us - I love autumn! It can be risky to have a photo session this time of the year, the weather becomes so unpredictable. But it's well worth the risk, because the light in autumn is often golden and magical, and you have all these gorgeous colours around you. I can be more flexible with my schedule so we can work around the sunshine. Favourite spots around St Andrews for autumn family photos. Of course Lade Braes and Botanic Gardens - if you want all these gorgeous colours and nature details! Outdoor walks in autumn are so much fin, kids up to their knees in the leaves, or hunting for autumn treasures together, making piles of leaves for jumping, weaving crowns, hide and seek - you name it...
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7 reasons for having your family photoshoot outdoors

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Sometimes my kids pull out family albums, and I hear their happy chatter, remembering what happened in that photo, what kind of adventure they were having, who did the most silly thing - splashing each other in the sea, Maya putting sand on her brother's head, jumping on hay bales, having picnic on a hill watching sunset. I love hearing this, because I loved those moments. And as a family photographer, this is the kind of photos I want to take for you. Just imagine. Instead of dressing everyone nicely, driving to a studio and sitting still for 15-30 minutes while lights and reflectors are adjusted, posing is corrected and photos are taken, you are going outside to play, explore and have fun. You will share this experience as a family, and you will have natural and unique photos as a result. In all my years as a family photographer in Scotland and here in Sicily I've done dozens and dozens of shoots outdoors, parents and kids both love them, and here's why. 1. Photo sessions...
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Sand castles on East Sands

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First barefoot beach day (we do not really count those short runs on the sand in February, right :-) Really and seriously, with feet dipping and running on the water - this one is the first. First sand castle of the season. First sand fight of the season and first hand full of sand - this, and sand in the pockets, will stay with us well till November. And I truly do not mind, I love my barefoot beach days as much as these two. Matteo is building a bunker - tunnel covered with sticks and sea-weed, then with sand. Good camouflage, it was hardly different from the rest of the surface around the castle. He tested it after completing the construction - the structure resisted his weight and survived. One very proud engineer. We tried to build the moat too - it did not really work, water was too far. So it was abandoned after a short while. Maya was collecting small rocks and shells to decorate the walls and the big tower. They both carried big rocks to reinforce the wall...
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Her. And my personal photo challenge for 2017.

This was our special photo project for 2017, hers and mine. We were supposed to do a portrait a week. It was interesting, useful and a challenge in more than one way. Some weeks we did more, than we had weeks of doing nothing. Sometimes we both were excited, later we both hated it -  each of us for different reasons. Yet we are proud with results. Here are my favourites, and some of them I am getting printed. Quite large :-) Photographs are copyright of Julia Pagano Photography. Julia Pagano specializes in candid natural light photography of babies, toddlers and families, as well as children portraiture in St Andrews and Fife, as well as Dundee.
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Visiting St Andrews

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Published on 27th of September 2022       The final weeks of school holidays we spent in Scotland - summer break is very long in Sicily, kids go back to school around mid-September. It was great to escape from the heat and mosquitoes, see our friends in St Andrews and visit all our favourite places. West Sands, East Sands, Tentsmuir, Botanic Gardens, Coastal path, Lade Braes, and of course Carnie fruit farm!  We came with quite a bucket list of things we wanted to do during our time in St Andrews, and we planned some of our walks and outings so that we were back by the time school is over and they could see their friends at Canongate. This was one of the downsides, different school schedules and limited time they could be with their school friends, so we tried to squeeze in as many play dates as possible. I think being back showed just how much has changed for us in this year - new country, big city, new language, new schools for everyone, different climate, differe...
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Best of 2019!

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What a year it's been! I felt so blessed to meet your families, honoured to photograph your kids, thrilled to see how they've grown and inspired by your connection, laughter and love. Cannot wait to do more in 2020. Happy New Year! Like what I do? Get in touch, let's chat about photos of your family! Contact Julia
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Peter Pan, catch your shadow

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The shadow we've got, in a girly way with a wee bit of pink :-) The sun, sitting low in Scottish sky, invites for all sorts of shadow plays. We already had this , and this a while back. And will have some more probably, with a new twist.
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Fife Coastal Path

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Our first walk of the year. Stomping through the mud, and lots of it. Some of us did even manage a bit of mud sliding. The sea had this surreal turquoise color, along with grey moody sky it was beautiful. Lots of dry grass, sticks and bushes, thorns. We did not go down to the beaches, it was too muddy and slippery for it. Next time.
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Family photo session in St Andrews, West Sands beach

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West Sands did not disappoint - beautiful dunes, moody sky, wind. But then, it very seldom does, especially if you do not mind the wind. We met on a beautiful September evening for this photoshoot with Marion and her daughters. Our destination was the very end of the beach, by the Eden estuary and sand dunes. Marion picked some flowers and decorated Keira's curls, girls shared some secrets and treasures found in the sand, wind was playing with Keira's hair. And me - I was observing it all as it unfolded in front of me, and clicking along. I often tell my clients that photo-session is like going for a walk together - this one was no exception. I am a very silent companion on such a walk - I might suggest something interesting if I see beautiful spot or some nature details that would make beautiful background for you. But more often I just follow what's happening and how you enjoy this beautiful walk and your time together. From Marion: " Very relaxed photo shoot ...
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