Last year I had the pleasure of photographing Jane and her lovely family from Indonesia. They were visiting London for the first time and contacted me to photograph them exploring the sights of London. The photography session took place along the Southbank, where so many landmarks serve as great backdrops for creating memorable images. Some of the photos from this shoot can be seen in an earlier blog post here.
What a magical time for a photography session – between Christmas and New Year
Jane was delighted with the set of images and I was equally delighted when she told me that they would be returning to London just before the New Year. As well as fitting in some more sightseeing they were keen to do another photo session. They had fallen in love with London on their first trip and wanted to come back at a different time of year. The time they had chosen was that magical time between Christmas and New Year. They booked a longer photography session to give us more time to explore some new sites of London. Jane was also keen to incorporate some night scenes of the beautiful Christmas trees and lights of London.
We were so lucky with the weather on the day of the photo session. It had been extremely cold in the run up to our shoot, but on the day itself the sun shone and took the edge off the icy winter temperature.
If you haven’t visited St Katharine Docks before you should go!
We began taking photos at St Katharine Docks near Tower Bridge, which is central London’s only marina. It’s such a beautiful and vibrant area and created the perfect backdrop for our first set of images. We then included the iconic Tower Bridge into our pictures, taken from both sides of the River Thames. Then it was on to City Hall, home of the Mayor of London, before stopping off for some lunch. We enjoyed our meal in a fantastic Japanese restaurant overlooking the River Thames and Tower Bridge. It was such a stunning setting and equally stunning food! It was lovely to sit down for a bit and catch up with the family’s news from Indonesia.
The Vibrant Borough Market
Our next stop was Borough Market, which is such a fun, colourful location for photos. Jane and her family loved exploring the market for the first time and trying out some of the food stalls.
Then we jumped into a taxi and made our way to Carnaby Street. After warming up with a hot chocolate and waiting for the daylight to fade away we started the evening part of the session. London really does look spectacular at Christmas time and Jane loved having photographs taken in front of all the lights and decorated trees.
The famous Christmas lights of Regent Street
We finished our family photography session in Regent Street. Jane and her family were very brave and stood in the middle of the road (on a pavement I must add!) From there we could capture the famous lights festooned down the street in the background.
It was so good to catch up with Jane and her lovely family again – I really hope it’s not going to be too long until their next visit!
