Fact file:
Name: Cass Davies ASWPP
Job: Newborn & child photographer
Born: Ormskirk, Lancashire
Lives: Hawarden, Flintshire
Education: Tarleton High School, Runshaw College NVQ Hospitality & Catering level 2 & 3, UCLAN HND Hospitality Management. Society of Wedding & Portrait Photographers Associate Level Qualification.
Family: Partner Nick (we are set for a summer wedding next year) and three boys
My job is incredibly varied, I have a studio in Aston Park and I also teach the skills involved in newborn posing all over the UK to individuals and on a workshop basis. I can regularly be found on a flight or the motorway travelling to teach – less glamorous! It’s very exciting and an honour for my work to be so highly regarded newborn photography is very niche and takes a good while to perfect.
On a studio day I will drop the children at school and head up to the studio to make sure its toasty warm for my small customers. There is always fresh coffee and biscuits on the go for tired mums and dads too. Sessions usually are mid morning and mid afternoon around feeding and naps. A newborn session can last 2-3 hours depending on baby with lots of soothing and feeding time. Older babies are around 40 minutes for a happy baby. If I have a newborn in the morning I may do an older baby in the afternoon – cake smashes for birthdays are lots of fun.
Other tasks include lots of computer time for editing, placing orders, marketing and admin for bookings. I’ll generally work around school time or be home for around four. I love that I can be totally flexible for the boys even if its just snuggling with a movie or watching school events.
We will have dinner and do bed time when Nick gets in then we both end up on a laptop with a box set on. We both have very busy jobs in the week so weekend family time tends to be sacred and I’m very careful not to end up working more than one or two Saturdays in the month.
What do you wear to do your job? Usually leggings or yoga pants and loose tops.
What is the favourite part of your job? Creating such precious, once-in-a-lifetime memories for people watching a mum well up at the beauty of her new baby is awesome, such an honour (cheesy but true). I adore teaching too, watching those light bulb moments as it all clicks together and people go away confident and with new skills to provide other families with the same experience.
What is the least favourite part of your job? I get peed on a lot. I don’t really mind that. As a creative, sitting down to the accounts takes some willpower as I am a procrastinator.
What would be your dream job if you weren’t doing what you do now? This is really it, I couldn’t do anything else this is my second career and I love it. As a kid I wanted to be an air hostess!
How do you relax when you are not working? We do a lot of outdoorsy walks with the boys at the weekend and I’m a foodie, we are both keen Instagrammers whilst we are out and about – the boys love a family selfie.
What is your favourite film? For watching again and again I love proper girly films like Love Actually, Moulin Rouge etc but I also like good espionage thriller/action film like James Bond or the Bourne films.
What is your favourite book? I’m an avid reader of all sorts, Jane Eyre and the Mayor of Casterbridge are old favourites but I also love Pratchett and collect the Discworld books.
What is your favourite song? Currently Kodaline – The One or Walk the Moon – Shut Up And Dance although I have really eclectic taste in music. My iTunes is a mish mash.
If a film was made of your life, who would you like to play you? Sheridan Smith.
Have you had your 15 minutes of fame yet? I’d like to hope not quite but I’m fairly well known within my genre and well recommended for my teaching skills across the UK. I’m one of only three ladies in the country within my industry body with my level of qualification achieved exclusively with newborns, the only one in Wales. This took me a good six months working with nearly 30 babies to shoot 20 images. 14 of them appeared in the final panel.
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