Helen Bartlett / Family Portraiture

Family portrait photographer in South London

27Jun

Today on the blog, I’m delighted to share some more images from Alex’s recent family photography shoot in South London. It was a great morning taking in both Sydenham Woods and Dulwich Park, two fabulous – and very different locations – for family photography. It was my second shoot with the family and I was so thrilled to be invited back – we’d had such a lovely time on our first shoot (do take a look at some of the pictures on the blog here) and it was great to catch-up with everyone.

It was a damp morning when I arrived in South London but we headed out regardless; I’m a firm believer in ignoring drizzle and hoping it will go away, which it usually does and certainly did for this photo shoot. We headed to Sydenham Woods, which I had never been to before and it was just amazing – really beautiful, mature woodland right in the middle of South London. Growing up in nearby Blackheath, I’m surprised that my parents never took us there as children and it was a wonderful discovery to make with Alex and her family.

Woodland is perfect for photography if it is a drizzly day, as the soft light when it is a bit damp works so well in the trees. Trees also provide that bit of cover needed to hold-off the dampness and I love that feeling of wandering through the woods with the quiet pitter-patter of occasional raindrops up above, the soft light, and that feeling of the world washed clean. Just wonderful.

I love the variety of things we can capture in the woods, too – there are always trees to climb, sticks to wield, dens to build and – in the case of Sydenham Woods – the amazing old ruined building to climb on. We had a wonderful time and did a full circuit of the woods.

Then we decided that, as the rain was drying-up, a different location would be good. I’m always happy to go to more than one place on a photo shoot as it’s fun for the children to mix things up a bit – it always keeps them interested and enjoying themselves, and it also provides great variety to the images which I like.

For the second part of our shoot, we jumped into the car and went to Dulwich Park for some more family photographs. It’s been a while since I’ve visited Dulwich Park for a photo shoot, but I do love it as a location – not least because it seems to have the tamest wildlife. The ducks always seem keen to chat on the bridge, and the squirrels were coming right up to us in a quest for food. We had a great time exploring the undergrowth, feeding the squirrels, climbing trees and eating ice cream – all the ingredients for a perfect family photography shoot.

Here are some of my favourite pictures from the day, I do hope you will enjoy them. If you would be interested in arraigning a photo shoot for your own family, do get in touch – it would lovely to hear from you.

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