about millie

Millie Pilkington (née Chittenden) has been passionate about photography since the age of 8 when she was given a camera for Christmas. She pursued this principally as a hobby until at the age of 27 she decided to turn her hobby into a business.

With a distinction in her diploma in photography at Kensington & Chelsea, she quickly became established as a leading children and family photographer in South West London, also photographing for Party Pieces Children catalogue, and undertaking the front covers photographer Families SW Magazine. In December 2007 she moved to Kings Stag in Dorset where her she has already become a highly sought after children and wedding photographer and has been recently recruited as the front cover and special features photographer for Country Child Magazine.

Millie’s principal objective throughout her photography is to “capture the spirit” of her subjects, weddings, events. Her approach is informal and unobtrusive; her use of light and background, artistic; the results, impactful and stunning.

She covers most counties in South West England, especially Dorset, Somerset, Devon, Wiltshire, Berkshire and Hampshire. For further information on pricing and availability, please email Millie.

children and family portraiture

The aim with Millie's children and family portraiture is to provide families with life-lasting, stunning photographs that not only encapsulate the children’s beauty and spirit, but also a stage in their childhood. As a mother of 3 girls, she is quick to get children of all ages and characters to relax. Most of her sittings take place in the family home or garden, a favourite walk, hillside or beach, thereby adding a further personal touch to the photos as well as ensuring that the photographs from each sitting are unique.

Sittings are fun and spontaneous resulting in images that not only ooze energy and life, but also provide incredible reflections on the children’s personalities. Seizing every fleeting moment, she captures a variety of moods in ways which encapsulate the beauty of her subjects. She pays particular attention to their eyes, which if showing, portray a genuine emotion, be it innocence, vulnerability, curiosity, cheek or laughter. She advocates that quite often the serious shots are more beautiful and impactful than the laughing ones.

Her group and family portraits are all about their relationship, the fun they have together; they ooze life and love, unlike the contrived staged cheesy shots you see in school photos.

Whilst working predominantly in black and white, she offers colour for appropriate images and any image can be reconverted back into colour should a client so wish. All images (approx 100) are uploaded onto a password protected page on her website, through which you and your family can view and order prints, mounted and/or framed prints, canvases as well as photo books. She covers most counties in South West England, especially Dorset, Somerset, Devon, Wiltshire, Berkshire and Hampshire. For further information on pricing and availability, please email Millie.

adult and corporate portraiture

Millie is quick to put her clients at ease to ensure that the sitting is as informal and enjoyable as possible. Throughout her sittings, she applies her experience in artistic and creative use of lighting and backgrounds.

For general adult portraiture, she aims to capture the inner essence of her subjects, a fleeting moment in their eyes which opens the door to their soul, be it a happy or nostalgic moment, that portrays them at their best. With actor headshots, she aims to achieve a compelling look to invite more attention from viewers.

With vocational portraiture, she strives to combine personality with their profession, creatively and artistically to reflect the style of work they carry out.

She varies her style in corporate portraiture according to the brief, but whether formal or informal, she always portrays the professionalism and approachability of her subjects.

Millie uses both black and white, and colour, and uploads all images onto a password protected page on her website, through which you can view and order prints. She covers most counties in South West England, especially Dorset, Somerset, Devon, Wiltshire, Berkshire and Hampshire. For further information on pricing and availability, please email Millie.

weddings

Millie's approach to wedding photography is to capture the true essence of the day as it unfolds, unobtrusively, informally and creatively. In her trademark black & white stripy trousers, slotting in as a wedding guest, she moves discreetly around taking beautiful portraits, fleeting moments, all the little details, using the setting and light artistically to provide her wedding clients not only with stunning photographs of themselves but also of all their family and friends.

Within days of the wedding, she uploads all the photographs (usually around 500 and a combination of black and white and colour) onto a password protected page on this website where the couple can enjoy them on their honeymoon, or if they prefer to wait, on their return. Included in all package prices is one set of photographs at 7”x5”, and the option to buy a disk of high resolution jpegs, photo albums and photo books etc. She covers most counties in South West England, especially Dorset, Somerset, Devon, Wiltshire, Berkshire and Hampshire. For further information on pricing and availability, please email Millie..