Helen Bartlett / Family Portraiture

Just One – Edward – family photography in Surrey

15Jun

On today’s Just One blog, I am featuring a joyous shot of Edward, one of the happiest little boys I have the pleasure of photographing on a regular basis. On this, my tenth shoot for the family, we visited the stunning gardens of Wisley, Surrey, spending a happy day with the children taking pictures, exploring and eating ice-cream.

We had a lovely fun-filled day. The family did the things they always do – they rolled down the hills, climbed trees and drank hot chocolate. The only difference was that I was there with my camera capturing the scene, and I enjoyed myself just as much as they did. It’s lovely when I have the opportunity of photographing a family regularly. I get to know everyone really well and it’s always such a pleasure to see what the kids are up to, how they have grown and what their favourite things of the moment are.

We also had the treat, as can only happen in the sunny counties of Great Britain, of stumbling across an historical display of lawn mowers (yes, you read that correctly) ‘an historical display of lawn mowers’. There were mini mowers for the children and some very impressive large models with blades that looked as if they would easily take off a limb or two as well as cut the grass. My personal favourite was the bicycle mower which I guess is a forerunner to today’s sit-on mowers, but much harder work! I love it when we find things like this out and about on a photo shoot, it always makes me giggle. In this instance, I felt as though I was somehow featuring in an episode of Midsomer Murders. Surely a historical display of lawn mowers would be a perfect village centrepiece for Midsomers’ annual fete and murder spree?

But I digress. Back to Edward and today’s portrait photograph from our shoot in Wisley in Surrey. It’s the expression that I love most about this picture, Edward’s expression of absolute happiness. Swinging high up in the tree, a look of complete and absolute joy settled on his face. The light is lovely too – directional, it comes in under the trees, gently softened by the shade of the giant branches of what I think is was a giant redwood tree. The effect, the lovely modelling on Edward’s face and the beautiful catch lights in his eyes, really brings this picture to life.

It’s a joyous picture of a joyous little boy, and I’m thrilled to be sharing it with you today – I hope that you like it as much as I do, today’s Just One preview from my family and children’s portrait photography session in Wisley, Surrey.

Spread the love