Storytelling Family Photography

I love story-telling family photographs, pictures that go beyond sitting still and looking at the camera, pictures that tell us about the families, about the children and about the fun that everyone has together.

Family portraits can tell stories in so many ways – they can tell us about how a child looks, their smile (or their grumpy face) how their hair was cut at a certain age and when their teeth fell out. But they can also tell us about the children’s personalities, are they boisterous or quiet for example. These story-telling pictures from Penny’s family photo shoot in London tell us so much about the family and for that reason will, I am sure, be treasured as the children grow up.

Our photo shoot started with Penny and baby Theodore, older brother Aristos needed a lie in as he had been up in the night. We had a lovely calm start to the morning, playing in the attic, which was an incredible space with fabulous light. Baby Theodore was so joyful, happily crawling around and playing with his shaking jar and then with his brothers toy plane, you get the feeling that it’s fun to play with the toys when he has the chance.

When older brother Arisots woke up then the photo shoot got a *lot* more energetic. He was fantastic, a photographers dream, not sitting still for a moment but full of fun and laughter. I love the pictures of him jumping on the bed, his baby brother sitting watching clearly thinking ‘I’m sure the photographer said we should both sit quietly’ while the photographer was enjoying getting much more interesting story-telling pictures. I love these shots and the insight they give into the children’s’ personalities.

I love how storytelling images can tell us so much about family pets too and the relationships between animals and children within the context of a family photo shoot. The dog clearly loved the children and really enjoyed running around with Aristos in the garden.

I love to see the joy on parent’s faces as they play with their children and the interactions between parent and child have so many stories to tell. Taking these photographs and providing them to my clients so they can enjoy looking back on them as the years pass is such a privilege. To be invited in to family homes and asked to photograph them, to tell their stories is something that I know I will continue to love until I’m too old to hold my camera.

If you like this approach, this idea of story-telling images and family portraits that capture everyone’s personalities shot in a really relaxed documentary fashion then do get in touch, we still have some availability in the run up to Christmas and I’d love to hear from you.