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HELEN BARTLETT / FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHY

Child photo shoot in Great Warley, Essex

Great Warley as a location for child portrait photos

Some photo shoots it’s almost impossible to choose a favourite for my sneak preview and this is definitely one of them. There are so many great pictures from my recent family shoot in Great Warley with Lynzy and her family that narrowing it down to just one has proved very difficult indeed, we had such a brilliant time.

This was our third shoot and each time they have got better and better as the children grow up. It seems almost yesterday that we were working around naptimes and now it’s acrobatics, sports and music that feature heavily in the pictures as well as lots of beautiful portraits.

I really enjoy photographing older children and it’s something I do a lot now as my regular client base grow up, children I first met as babies and toddlers are now approaching secondary school. It’s such fun but it is a different skill – a toddler will happily play while completely oblivious to the camera. With older children and teenagers interaction is necessary to keep things going, keep everyone having fun, and get the really wonderful, natural expressions that all parents quite rightly want in their pictures. Cheesy grins don’t stand the test of time.

I was so lucky that Lynzy’s children are all such naturals in front of the camera, happily chatting away and keen to get involved in whatever we decided to do, from swings and climbing to scooter tricks and drums. A whirlwind morning of activities that will provide the family with a wealth of memories, not of photo shoot day, but of what the children are interested in at this time in their lives.

In the end I kept coming back to this shot of Tommy on the swing as I love the dynamism of the composition, legs outstretched, Tommy shooting into the frame, swinging as high as he can. I love how you can see his dad in the background, leaning forward from the massive push he’s just given. Matching smiles show the shared joy in this lovely moment, it encapsulates all the fun we had that morning. I’ll share more in due course but in the meantime, I hope you like this picture, today’s ‘Just One’ from my recent family photography session in Great Warley in Essex.