Family Photography in Islington and on Hampstead Heath

A fabulous family photography session on in Islington and then on Hampstead Heath on the blog today. I’m thrilled this set of pictures and I hope you enjoy them too.

Masha had been given the photography session as a gift from a friend. A gift voucher is such a wonderful present, giving something you can be absolutely sure your friends or family will keep for ever and enjoy more as the years go by.

We started the session in Masha’s beautiful Islington home and the kids were an absolute riot. I knew immediately we’d have such a blast. I love it when I photograph children who are full of energy and life, laughing uproariously as they take my ideas and run with them. We started took a few ‘formal’ pictures to start out with (well formal-ish – my suggestion that the children sit on the drawing room chairs was immediately abandoned; why sit when you can stand, and why stand when you can lie under the table?) We ended up with some lovely natural shots of everyone having a brilliant time. I love it when children take the lead in a session; it always ends up with pictures that are fun and lively and often so much more interesting than the straightforward formal shots would have been. The challenge for the photographer is to move with the action, framing the shots in a way that makes the boisterous behaviour a benefit rather than a hindrance. When you get that right you can provide clients with really interesting and fun pictures, that best reflect their children’s personalities.

After a few pictures sitting on the sofa, we headed out to Hampstead Heath. It was a beautiful day, and the heath is a real favourite location of mine for family photographs and a great place to go to from Islington.

We had a fantastic time. It was great to run about in the fresh air, and the children were really keen to explore and find cool places for pictures. Hampstead Heath has such great climbing trees and the children were up them like monkeys. Their tree climbing skills were amazing, and they even got everyone into a tree for one shot – brilliant!

We played loads of games and ran around thoroughly enjoying ourselves. The light was perfect, soft and flattering, and I especially love the shots of the children in the long grass. The soft light really shows up the textures and brings out a new element in the picture’s composition. Masha had bought along a wonderful cardboard kite, though it didn’t fly (isn’t that always the way with the most beautiful things; I’m sure a florescent plastic one would have worked brilliantly). Still, it was bird shaped and made for some great pictures. Theo looks a touch piratical with it mounted on his shoulder. I love it.

Tired and happy, we headed home after a brilliant day and with a wonderful set of children and family photographs from our session on Hampstead Heath. I do hope you will enjoy looking at the pictures. Do get in touch soon if you would like to arrange a session this autumn, as dates are booking up fast. We’d love to hear from you.