Family photo shoot on Hampstead Heath

A lovely local photo shoot for me on the blog today – a family photo shoot in Hampstead -just a hop, skip and a jump from my home in Crouch End. I love a local shoot, a slight lie in before an 8am start, and the ease of being able to walk home. That, in combination with seeing one of my favourite regular clients and beautiful summer weather, made for a brilliant morning.

This was my fourth photo shoot with this lovely family and we have another lovely set of images to add to the collection, images we’ll print in a beautiful album and add to the stunning and growing gallery on the wall.

I’ll be sharing the full selection with the family soon but today, a sneak preview to put a smile on everyone’s face on this sunny Monday.

It was a bright and hot day for our family photo shoot and so we headed out early to nearby Hampstead Heath to enjoy the glorious weather before it got too hot and before the heath got too crowded. Apart from ourselves, some dog walkers, and the park run, we had the place to ourselves at 8.30am and it was a perfect day for exploring.

We Found a lovely shady spot under a large tree for a game of hide and seek and enjoyed the warmth of the sun in the middle of one of the meadows that was filled with wild flowers, the giant daisies adding a beautiful setting to some family pictures.

Different activities always add different dimensions to family photos and I love the look of concentration children get when climbing trees, focused and determined, they always make for a lovely shot.

One o my favourite pictures from the session is the shot of the three girls where personalities shine out of the image. Two girls sitting looking straight at the camera and the last one doing a head stand. It’s such a perfect picture of that pre-teen age, a bit of random gymnastics (oh to be able to do a headstand) combined with an eyes to the camera stare and the little one chilling in the background and looking on with a curious gaze, its’ the sort of image I think will make me smile for a long time.

At the end of the morning we headed home for a cold drink and a few shots in the garden. It was here we took my favourite family shot of the day. This often happens, something more formal at the beginning – and always important to ensure there is something in the bag as there is nothing more unpredictable than a photo shoot and you never know what will happen – and then more at the end when everyone is relaxed. The end ones are often my favourite as people embrace the madness and each other.

Then some water play for the last thing, a hosepipe is a real joy on a photo shoot just now with this really hot weather and I hope to do a few before an inevitable hose pipe ban kicks in later in the summer. The kids spent a lovely ten minutes spraying each other and jumping through the water giving an extra element to the photo shoot at the end of the day.

Tired and hungry we were finished in time for lunch, a lovely morning with wonderful people and a beautiful set of images.

Do drop me a line if you like what you see here today and would like to arrange a photo shoot for your own family this summer. Dates are booking up fast and it would be great to get your family photo shoot in the diary.