I love discovering hidden corners of London for my family photography sessions! Chiswick House and gardens is a particularly favourite location - despite having lived in West London for over a decade I had never been here until I launched my professional photography business and started scouting around for lovely spots for photos. Likewise, many of my clients have never been here either! Chiswick House has gorgeous gardens full of roses, wisteria and camelias, depending on the time of year and it's nearly always so quiet and peaceful! We were so lucky to catch this gorgeous flowering white rose and the very last of the wisteria as a week later both were gone.
Family photography
This sweet family from Regents Park were celebrating Aiden's second year birthday. As it quite typical with little ones, he was quite shy and clingy to start with, and then once he'd warmed up was full of cheeky smiles and running around! We did lots of chasing, playing with bubbles and looking for dandelion clocks to blow. I usually find sessions with children this age tend to last around 45 minutes, after which kids often get tired and cranky!
What to wear for family photos
It's nice to semi-coordinate clothing for family portraits, with one main colour and lots of soft neutrals which add variety without distraction. I love mum Airis's choice of muted blue colours for their outfits and her long floaty dress which added movement and caught the light wonderfully. Dad's always look great in jeans and a shirt and sweater combination like this here. The trick I find is to dress as though you were going out for Sunday brunch with friends. You would dress up, but you wouldn't wear anything too formal or structured, which generally doesn't work so well in parks or gardens.
London family portraits
Now that summer is finally here we have some gorgeous sunny days to play with, although I am rapidly getting booked up for the summer months! Do get in touch if you would like to chat about a family photo shoot in Chiswick, or elsewhere in London, especially if your little one is celebrating an important birthday like this little guy here.
