Helen Bartlett / Family Portraiture

Fun Family Photo Shoot in Richmond

19May

Richmond Park is a Perfect Location for Family Portraits

Today I’m thrilled to share a sneak preview from a recent family photo shoot in Richmond, a wonderful day with a wonderful family.

Something I particularly enjoy when photographing children is the variety to my day – the different activities and the different types of pictures that I take.  I do longer sessions than many photographers usually starting around 8am and working through until lunchtime.  This gives me flexibility to play and experiment as well as time to really get to know the children and get a feel for their distinctive personalities.  It also takes off the pressure, there’s no need for perfect behaviour, no watching the clock. Instead, we relax, have fun, go with the flow and have a wonderful time.

This family photo shoot in Richmond was brilliant, we had such a great time together.  Meeting bright and early we headed out to explore enjoying some stunning morning light and the early joy of having the park to ourselves.

Over the course of a mornings photo shoot in Richmond Park, we played games and took so many wonderful action shots as well as some absolutely stunning group shots. It’s always a real pleasure to take beautiful family pictures, images which have everyone in a single frame but in which personalities shine through. One of my clients once said to me ‘that’s the holy grail isn’t it? The posed-yet-unposed family shot which really captures the essence of a family’ and I agree, it’s a wonderful challenge and a wonderful thing to have.

So today, instead of my usual single image as a sneak preview I thought I would share three as I wanted to show some of the variety from this session. I wanted to show one of the group shots that I love (and there are so many more, hurrah) but also a couple of individual portraits.

When I’m working it’s a mix of the loosely posed – finding a nice spot for a family shot, taking some pictures and then letting things develop as they did here into something really special, and also the reactive documentary images.  Most of my individual shots fit into this second set, images as the kids are doing things, playing and having fun and I love the way these images show so much personality. Kids do things I never would have guessed let alone asked for, this little one doing star jumps along the path, that kind of thing is a gift to me as a photographer as it’s so unique, I love it. This picture really sums him up, so hilarious and full of fun.

The third image is another favourite – running with such speed, sport being a real favourite for this fascinating young lady with blue peter badges a-plenty and a keen interest in the environment as well as being an expert tree-climber.

Each image is so different, and each captures an element of the subjects so well. Of course these are only a snapshot, a sneak preview for my clients, but also to give you an indication of the types of images you could look forward to if you book me to photograph your family this summer.

I hope you enjoy this sneak preview from a recent family shoot in Richmond. If you would like to book a family photograph session over the next few months then do get in touch as soon as you can, weekend availability is very limited over the summer and the holidays are booking up fast.