Family Photography on Putney Commons

Helen Bartlett is an award winning, London-based family photographer with over 20 years’ experience and a Canon Ambassador since 2017, specialising in natural, lifestyle and documentary-style black and white family photography. This post shares a sneak preview from a summer family photo shoot on Putney Commons, with bubbles, foam aeroplanes, and woodland adventures, finished with relaxed pictures in the family’s own garden.

A joyful family photo shoot on Putney Commons, with bubbles, foam aeroplanes, and woodland games, finished with relaxed pictures in the family’s own garden.

I spent a wonderful morning of family photography on Putney Commons in South West London recently and I’m thrilled to share a few favourites today. I had a great feeling about the session from the communications we’d had before the date, and I wasn’t disappointed. It was a brilliant morning full of joy.

The session had been booked as a birthday gift, but its main aim was to record the fun and laughter of everyday life. These are my favourite type of sessions: relaxed days where the aim is to record how everyone interacts and plays together. As a bonus, we went to one of my favourite locations for family photography, Putney Commons, as well as doing some fun pictures in the garden at home. I love a mix like this, as it adds lovely variety and keeps everyone entertained. It was a brilliant morning, and I hope you will enjoy this sneak preview of some of my favourite images below.

Family Portraits on Putney Commons

I’ll often start my family photo shoots with a group shot or two. I like to get something in the bag at the beginning of the session, as then everyone can relax knowing there are some lovely family pictures already taken.

Putney Commons is an amazing spot for photos, as even on the brightest days it’s possible to find wonderful shaded paths. These are particularly great spaces for photos, as they not only provide diffuse light for beautiful, flattering portraits, but also create a lovely sense of space for compositions with a real sense of environment and atmosphere.

Bubbles and Laughter Outdoors

I always love to include an activity or three on my photo shoots, as it keeps the children engaged and having fun, and the best pictures are always when people are enjoying themselves.

Bubbles were a huge hit on this photo shoot, and I love the shots of the boys as they enjoy these tiny floating orbs. There is something about a bubble that never fails to delight at every age, but for tiny ones it’s a particular joy to leap about and try to pop them they were one of my favourite activities during our day of family photography on Putney Commons.

Flying Foam Aeroplanes

I think the real hit of this photo shoot though was the aeroplanes the boys had brought with them. I’ve seen these planes on a few photo shoots, and I love them. My childhood involved a lot of time trying to fly planes. My dad used to painstakingly make them from balsa wood and tissue paper, and we’d head out to a nearby hill to fly them. It was great fun for the first few goes, and then inevitably there’d be a crash, and months of painstaking work disappeared. Nowadays foam aeroplanes can take any amount of crashes into trees and be absolutely fine, making them an amazingly fun toy. They also work so brilliantly for pictures, with the distinctive shape combined with the excitement of flying them aiding some creative compositions.

Woodland Games on Putney Commons

The wonderful thing about the woods is that they are like an amazing adventure playground, but so much more beautiful. There are logs to balance on, undergrowth to hide in, paths to explore, so much fun to be had. Woodland is always my favourite place to work.

Pictures in the Garden at Home

I find that towards the end of the morning it’s always helpful to have a change of scene, a bit of a snack, and then we get a burst of energy for a short extra chunk of photos. As it was a beautiful day, we headed into the family’s amazing garden, which was such a great spot and beautifully shady.

The boys had a lovely time chilling out and relaxing as I took some final images, some of which are my favourites from the day.

Book Your Family Photo Shoot on Putney Commons

This was a brilliant photo shoot, and I’m so thrilled with the result. It was such a pleasure to meet such a lovely family, and I hope that I’ll get to see them again and again as the years go by.

If you like what you have seen here on the blog today and think you might like to arrange something similar for your family this summer, then do get in touch. I have some limited availability left over the summer months, and I always love an opportunity to go to the woods.

Drop me a message via the contact form or give me a call on 0345 603 1373, and together we can plan the perfect photo shoot for your family.

This kind of session suits families who want relaxed, joyful photographs that capture everyday play and connection, whether that’s booked as a birthday gift, like this one, or simply because it’s time for some updated family photos. I’m based in London and photograph families across Putney, South West London, and the wider city, as well as further afield in the UK. If a morning of bubbles, planes, and woodland adventures sounds right for your family, I’d love to plan a session with you.

Helen Bartlett | June 2026