Choosing the right location for your London family portrait photography session is really important. When I photograph families, I like to include lots of the background, to give context to the images. So if you can pick a venue which means a lot to your family it really is ideal.

Some families, when booking their London family photography session, know exactly where they’d like to have their session. It might be their local park, where they spend so much time together as a family. This is probably the most popular choice for families. Others like to have their photoshoot in their home and garden. This is wonderful too, as the family home provides the backdrop to the images. What amazing memories this will provide the family over years to come. Others ask me for location ideas, which is fine too. I’ve photographed in so many of London’s fantastic parks and am really happy to help choose the right one for you.

London Family Portrait Photography at Chiswick House

The family in the photos below chose Chiswick House and Gardens for their London family photoshoot. It wasn’t a place they’d visited before, but it’s somewhere they were keen to explore. I was so happy with their choice, as it really is the most fantastic location for family portraits. It provides so many wonderful backdrops for images, with both stunning architecture and greenery.

We used Chiswick House itself in some of the photographs. It’s such a beautiful building and looked fantastic in the background of the family portraits. We also spent some time in the immaculate Italian Gardens with the Conservatory as the backdrop. Add in to that all the wonderful greenery of the Gardens and the joyous smiles from the family and we really had all the ingredients for the perfect family photography session.

I love this happy family photo from one of my 2020 London family photography sessions. It’s such a joyful, natural portrait of this lovely family, capturing a fun moment together.

Planning a London family photography session

When I photograph families, I always try to check out the location before the shoot. This gives me a chance to work out a route that will work best for the time we have together. I like to include several different backgrounds in the family photographs, to provide good variety to the images. And I want to make sure that with each different backdrop the family will be in the best possible light. This obviously depends on the time of day, the time of year and the weather. So I take all this into account when I plan the photoshoot.

Creating a happy family photo

All this planning means that when I meet up with the family on the day of their session, I don’t have to think about where we’re going to go. Instead I can concentrate on how to get the best reactions from the family members, and making the session as enjoyable as possible. As you can imagine with very little children my carefully made plans don’t always work out! But that’s fine – I’m happy to go with the flow and this can actually create really wonderful spontaneous photos. But when the children are young adults, as in the image below, it means I can follow my original ideas. This then frees me up to encourage the family to just relax and enjoy spending some quality time together. And it helps me to create happy family photos!

I can’t wait to get back to photographing wonderful families again, hopefully in the Spring. If you’re interested in having a relaxed family photoshoot at a London location of your choice, more details of how I work can be found here London Family Photographer

Unable to offer professional family photoshoots at the moment, I have the time to look back at some of my favourite images from 2020. During the second half of the year I photographed so many wonderful families. They were were all keen to have some meaningful family portraits taken. Because of all the uncertainty in the world, the importance of creating family images seems greater than ever at the moment. Preserving memories that will last a lifetime and beyond.

Family Photoshoot at Chiswick House

I took the image below during my last London family photography session before lockdown. We met up at Chiswick House and Gardens, a wonderful location in West London. Despite it being an extremely cold day, the family were really excited about their photoshoot. They were such fun to spend time with, as we wandered around the beautiful grounds of Chiswick House.

Professional family photoshoots in all weathers!

As it was so cold we kept moving fairly quickly. We just paused to take photos at various locations. Because of this we got a huge variety of images, with all the spectacular backdrops this venue offers. One of my favourites of the day is the one below, where the family are walking happily together in front of the stunning Chiswick House. For those of you who don’t know it already, it really is worth a visit. This 18^th century Roman-style Palladian villa was built by the 3^rd Earl of Burlington and provides the perfect backdrop to any family portraits.

I hope you enjoy seeing this image as much as I enjoyed taking it. I’m looking forward to sharing more of my favourite photos with you over the next month or two. In the meantime, you can find more of my natural family portraits on my website here London Family Photographer

Well what a year 2020 has been! Certainly not the easiest to be a London family photographer! Very luckily, I was able to get back to doing family photoshoots after the first lockdown, which was wonderful. Since then I’ve met many fantastic families and had such fun with them creating family portraits. I am so grateful to them all for supporting my business through these difficult times.

Unfortunately other areas of my business have been badly affected. Mainly my wedding and events photography. It’s hard to see at the moment when these will return to normal, but like everyone else I’m trying to just take a day at a time and be thankful for the work I do have.

The joys of London vacation photography

Another part of my photography that stopped in March was my London vacation photography. I used to photograph so many families that were on holiday in this amazing city and I loved it.  It was brilliant meeting up with families from all over the world, hearing about their lives back home, and creating memorable portraits of them at London’s spectacular landmarks.

The image below was taken during the last London vacation photoshoot I did before the March lockdown. I met up with this lovely American family and none of us had any idea of the year that lay ahead. It’s almost impossible to believe that when the session took place we were only a couple of weeks away from lockdown in the UK. Hence the photos from this wonderful family photoshoot have become really special to me. And I’m happy to report that the family were overjoyed with the images too! I’m looking forward to photographing them again when they return to London at some point in the future.

Happy New Year from this London family photographer!

So it’s goodbye to 2020. It definitely wasn’t the year any of us had in mind, but I have so many things to be thankful for. And here’s to a hopefully better 2021 for everyone – Happy New Year!

I’m so happy to share this selection of images from one of my London baby photography sessions. It was with a lovely family who booked an outdoor shoot with me last Autumn. We timed the session carefully as we wanted to take advantage of the amazing colours of the trees at that time of year.

The day of the session was absolutely beautiful. The park where the family had chosen to have their portraits taken looked stunning. And the family were delightful – as soon as I met them I just knew we were going to have a fun time!

Relaxed London Baby Photography Sessions

We began this London baby photography session with some relaxed family portraits on one of the park benches. I asked the family to ignore me and interact with each other, so I could capture some genuine moments between them. I love the connection in the first few pictures between the young boy and his baby sister. He seems overjoyed with his new little playmate!

I then took some photographs of each parent with each child, again trying to capture the emotions between them. The huge smiles from the baby were absolutely wonderful to see.

A fun family portrait!

The family then had a wander around the park, enjoying the beautiful colours of the leaves, and I took one of my favourite photos of this London baby photography session. The one where the dad is throwing his son high in the air, with the mum and baby looking on in amazement! I must admit I nearly dropped my camera at this point, I’ve never seen a child thrown quite so high! But I’m so glad I kept shooting and captured this wonderfully fun family portrait.

We then found a fantastic tree with beautiful red leaves, which made a wonderful backdrop for some more baby portraits. Then we finished the photoshoot with the family standing on a bridge watching the birds flying around.

I hope you enjoy seeing these family photographs as much as I loved taking them. To see more of my London baby photography just click the following link London Baby Photographer

It doesn’t really feel like Christmas Eve today. To be honest I’m not really sure what it feels like after such a strange year. We usually see a lot of our families over the Christmas period, which I love. But now London is in Tier 4 we’re instead planning to have a quiet time at home, as are lots of other families throughout the country. And I’ll be putting my feet up and doing lots of my favourite things – eating, watching films and, as in the cute natural baby portrait below, reading.

Rediscovering the joys of reading!

I used to love reading, but after my children arrived, I could never seem to find the time! With work being so busy as well, I could never get through more than a page of a book in one sitting. So I gave up. I didn’t read a book for years. It was only during the first lockdown, when I was unable to do any family photography sessions, that I rediscovered reading. I got through so many books during those few months and I loved it! Once work started up again, and life became as busy as ever, I was determined to keep it going. And I have! It’s one of my favourite hobbies now. I find it so relaxing to curl up with a good novel and completely lose myself in another world. So I make sure I find time for it every day.

Natural baby portrait with books

In the baby portrait below, I love how this tiny little girl is engrossed in her reading. Surrounded by books, she looks so cute as she holds the large book. She is completely oblivious of everything going on around her. Even though she can’t read yet she is captivated by the pictures. She didn’t even notice me taking photos, which is just the way I like it!

Whatever you end up doing over the next few days, I hope you have a very happy Christmas! If you find yourself with a spare minute and would like to see more of my baby photography just click this link London Baby Photographer

I hope you like this Autumn family portrait with a difference! Definitely not your traditional family photograph with everyone smiling at the camera, but one that tells a story. I captured the image on a wonderful London family photography session a couple of months ago.

When the parents booked their family photoshoot, they were keen to incorporate a couple of elements into the images. The first was the amazing colours of the Autumn leaves. This wasn’t going to be too hard, as their photo session was at the end of October, when the Autumn colours are usually at their best. And indeed, their local park, where they had chosen to do the session, was looking pretty spectacular on the day we met.

Autumn family portrait with coffee and croissants!

The second element they wanted to include in the photos was their usual family weekend routine. Every Saturday morning they walk from home to their favourite coffee shop and pick up coffees and croissants. They then make their way to the local park where they have a picnic and playtime with their two cute children. Their gorgeous baby girl might not be old enough yet to share the food, but it won’t be long until she’s munching on delicious chocolate croissants as enthusiastically as her older brother!

It’s such a simple but perfect outing for the family every week. And one that they’ll all look back on fondly as the children grow up. I was keen to capture the picnic and Autumn colours in a single image. So I stepped back behind some leaves and photographed the family enjoying their snack as they sat on a bench. I was so happy with the resulting photo and the memories it will provide this lovely family in years to come.

Let’s create some unique family portraits for you!

If you’d like to have some unique photographs of your family, please do get in touch. I’m now booking sessions well into 2021 – you can find details of my London family photography here London Family Photographer

I can’t think of many things in my working life that beat being a Shad Thames family photographer for a day! If you don’t already know this wonderful part of London, Shad Thames is a cobbled street that runs alongside the River Thames next to Tower Bridge. It’s filled with converted warehouses and is incredibly photogenic. And it provided the perfect backdrop for this London family photography session.

London family photography at iconic landmarks

The photoshoot was with a family who were keen to have some professional photos taken near Tower Bridge. They used to live close to this iconic London landmark and wanted to include it some family photographs before they moved out of London. I was very happy with their idea, as it’s one of my favourite locations for London family and vacation photography.

As soon as we met up, I just knew it was going to be a fun session! The parents were lovely and their cute little boy so smiley and full of energy! We began the family photoshoot on the north side of Tower Bridge. As well as getting lots of relaxed family portraits with this stunning London attraction in the background, we also got some great images using various colourful walls which were close by. We also included some happy photographs in front of a red London telephone box, which I love to do when I see one!

Shad Thames Family Photographer with bubbles!

Then we strolled across Tower Bridge to Shad Thames. At this point in a London family photography session really little children can start to get tired. But not this one! He was amazing – he literally did not stop smiling for the whole time we were together. We had lots more laughs playing with some bubbles in Shad Thames, creating some great candid images. Then we finished off this London photoshoot with more family portraits with the City of London in the background. And then it was sadly time to say goodbye to this charming smiley little boy and his lovely parents.

If you’d like your very own fun family portraits in this fabulous part of London please do get in touch. I’m now taking bookings for 2021 and would love to hear from you. More of my work at iconic London locations can be found here London Vacation Photographer

I’m enjoying looking back on the amazing colours from this Autumn family photography session. Autumn feels like a long time ago now, so it’s lovely to revisit this London family photoshoot.

I’d photographed this family once before when their little boy was a baby. We’d met previously in the Springtime, which is such a pretty time of year for family portraits. This time they were keen to do the session in the same location, but with the wonderful Autumn leaves as a backdrop to the photos. What a wonderful idea!

Autumn family photography in perfect light!

The family portrait session took place in one of my favourite parks in London. It’s a place where the family have spent a lot of time together, particularly this year during the lockdowns. So it was fantastic to include this beautiful park in their images. We met up one beautiful morning, the weather was ideal for this family photography session. The sun was low in the sky and shining through the Autumn leaves, providing the best possible light for the photos. The family were such fun to be with and our time together whizzed by. As well as getting some relaxed family portraits, we also got lots of natural photos of the parents playing with their children. The smiles of the children with their mum and dad, with the golden leaves in the background, made for some great images.

We finished our London family photography session with this fab four sitting on a blanket, in front of a beautiful tree, playing with bubbles. It seemed a fitting end to the photoshoot as we’d done something similar in our previous session, only that time there were blue Spring flowers in the background.

Now booking 2021 London family photography sessions!

If you’d like your own family photography session, I’m now taking bookings for 2021, so please do get in touch. Details of my London family photography can be found here London Family Photographer

Working as a natural baby photographer has to be one of the best jobs there is! It really doesn’t get much better than meeting up with families who have recently had a baby. And at this incredibly precious time in their lives I get to spend time with them and create beautiful images. I really do feel so lucky to be doing the job I love!

Sometimes these London baby photography sessions take place in the family home, sometimes outdoors. It depends on the age of the baby, the time of year and most importantly what the family prefers.

Natural baby photographer in the park

In this case the family of four were keen to have the photographs taken in their local park. They have a lovely Saturday morning routine where they walk to their favourite coffee shop. Here they pick up croissants and coffee and make their way to the local park. Then they enjoy a picnic and play time with their little boy and baby daughter. They were keen to capture this routine in the images, so the park really was the perfect location for the family portraits.

Creating a cute sibling portrait

After getting lots of lovely images of the family of four sitting on a park bench, I wanted to get some of the two children together. One very proud older brother with his baby sister. They were too young to sit on the bench on their own, and despite the mild October weather the ground was too wet for them to sit on, so I decided to just leave them in the same position they had been in for the family portraits. The baby girl in dad’s arm and the little boy sitting in between his sister and his mum.

All I had to do was zoom in on the two of them and click away while they interacted with each other. It worked perfectly and we got lots of happy smiley shots of them. But the image below turned out to be one of my favourite sibling portraits. The way the boy is trying to hold his sister’s head still for the photos and her slightly shocked face just makes me smile! I really hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

If you have a new family member and are interested in a natural baby photography session, please do get in touch. More examples of my London baby photography can be found here London Baby Photographer