This has to be one of my favourite family portrait sessions from late summer! My brief was to photograph 13 month old toddler William around his first birthday (such a perfect time for photos!), plus some photos of the whole family together, as well as some mum and baby photos. As is so typical with my clients, mums are so often the ones behind the camera and miss out on being in the photos themselves. This family is also expecting their second child early next year, so it was a lovely time to book a portrait session before baby number two arrives.
Holland Park family photography
We decided on Holland Park as the spot for their photo shoot early on a Sunday morning. The family now live in Hammersmith Grove, W6, but have a great affinity with the Holland Park area, having lived there before they started a family and regularly playing tennis at the weekends in the park. Holland Park is also one of the few places left in late August with plenty of lovely flowers and colour - not that William was having any of it. He was having much more fun pushing his walker around on the grass! It's great to incorporate favourite toys into a photoshoot and I always encourage clients to bring along both soft toys (often with sentimental value), as well as toys the kids enjoy playing with. Toddlers are not always in the greatest of moods at all times, so it's really helpful to have toys around to distract them with if need be! We also had William's grandmother join us too as she was visiting; it's wonderful to include grandparents in some of the photos, as well as to have an extra person to help with the shoot!
Family portraits
I think my favourite photographs here have to be the portraits of mum and toddler William and how full of love and natural her expression is. These images are so timeless turned into soft, rich black and white portraits which look amazing printed on gorgeous fine art paper to be hung in their family home.
