Helen Bartlett / Family Portraiture

Feeding the Ducks in Battersea

13Oct

Fabulous Light for this Family Photography Session in Battersea

I’m thrilled to share a sneak preview from a recent family photography session in Battersea in West London.  A wonderful day with such a fantastic little girl, capturing memories for the family for them to look back on in the future.

It feels like autumn has descended overnight this year. One day I was walking around in a t-shirt and the next day wrapped in a scarf and frantically texting my clients saying ‘you need to find gloves for the kids’. It was suddenly so cold. But, the upside of a colder autumn has been some extraordinarily beautiful autumn light.

This recent shoot had both – a biting wind but magical light and we made the most of it during a walk around Battersea Park before heading home to warm up and take indoor pictures.  Starting early, as I like to do, meant we had the park to ourselves and could enjoy the glorious sunshine as we played.

Before the session I had asked Irina what were her daughter’s favourite things to do and feeding the ducks was high on the list.  Armed with a jar of duck food we headed down to the waters edge.  We had a wonderful time just hanging out by the side of the pond.  We fed the ducks and chatted, and it was lovely to get to know everyone as I took a variety of different pictures to really capture the family’s favourite activity in Battersea Park in a selection of beautiful family photographs.

As we moved around a little by the waters’ edge I notices this incredible shaft of light and slowly moved the action towards it.  Sometimes just by changing my position a bit I can encourage the little ones into the best light without them even realising it. So here we are with wonderful Mira lost in her own world as she fed the ducks.  I was the happiest photographer as I framed her and the ducks in this glorious shaft of sunlight.

The result is this magical shot, so full of atmosphere and also so full of memories of their days spent in Battersea Park for the family. It’s just what I look for in my family photography work and I hope you will like it as much as I do, today’s Just One from a recent family photo shoot in Battersea.