How to Plan a London Family Vacation Photo Shoot
A guide to planning a London family vacation photo shoot
A complete guide to planning a London family vacation photo shoot — from choosing locations and timing your session to booking your photographer and making the most of everything the city has to offer.
You’ve arranged the flights, booked the perfect hotel, and your family are excitedly counting down to your vacation in London.
Maybe it’s the holiday of a lifetime, an annual summer visit to your second home, or a trip to spend time with overseas relatives. One thing’s for sure: it’s going to be a great adventure – and one you’d love to have captured on camera.
A London family vacation photo shoot is a wonderful way to create photographs your children can look back on, sparking happy memories of the time you spent together in this amazing city.
With a little forward planning, you can get photographs that record your vacation in a style and manner that suits your family perfectly.
Helen Bartlett is a London-based family photographer and Canon Ambassador with over 20 years’ experience, specialising in natural, documentary-style black and white photography for families visiting the city from around the world.
Choosing the right style for your London vacation photo shoot
London is a fascinating city. There’s so much to see and do, it can be hard to know where to start. And when it comes to choosing where to take your family photographs, you can also be spoilt for choice.
A good place to begin is by asking yourself: what do I want to remember?
If your trip is all about sightseeing, you can base a session around some of London’s most iconic landmarks, such as Big Ben, the London Eye, or St Paul’s Cathedral.
If you have young children, you might prefer to simply record the fun you have together as a family without moving from one place to another. London has so many beautiful green spaces such as London’s Royal Parks, and children always love being able to run around, play games, and enjoy a day relaxing with mum and dad.
Another option is to do a mixture of both: start with a couple of famous sights and then move to a park so the children can let off some steam.
How to choose the best locations for your family photos in London
London has so many awe-inspiring landmarks to choose from that it really helps to have a photographer who can advise on what will work best for your specific photo shoot.
It’s worth taking a few things into account:
- Where you’re staying, to keep travelling to a minimum
- The age of your children, to make sure they enjoy the experience
- Permits and crowds, as some spots are easier to work in than others and some can get very busy
Once you’ve thought about these points, you can plan how to make the most of both your session and everything London has to offer.
Planning your family photo shoot around your children and the crowds
One of the first things to consider is your children’s age and their usual routine.
Very young children will often need a nap at some point. If they’re happy to sleep in their buggy, this can work well if you’re walking between a landmark and a park, and it also adds variety to your final set of images.
Toddlers usually love spending time in a beautiful green space, where they can run around and play while you capture the fun and closeness you share as a family. Busy landmarks don’t always suit this age as well.
Older children often enjoy moving around and exploring different well-known places, which can help keep the session lively and engaging.
It’s also sensible to think about the crowds that are naturally drawn to London. To get clearer views of some of the most popular sights, starting early in the day will make a big difference. Arrive too late and it can be difficult to spot your family in the middle of somewhere like Trafalgar Square.
Some areas of London do have restrictions on photography or require permits, and these arrangements can change. It’s best to talk this through with your photographer, who can advise you and arrange anything that’s needed, passing on the charges at cost.
How to choose the right photographer for your London vacation
So, you’ve decided you want family photographs taken while you’re on vacation. Perhaps you’ve even made a wish list of favourite landmarks or beautiful parks. Now it’s time to choose your photographer.
This can feel a little overwhelming, as there are so many photographers working in London, all with different styles, levels of experience, and budgets.
You’re going to be keeping – and looking at – these photos for years to come, so it’s worth spending some time making the right choice.
Browse through websites and you’ll soon get a sense of the variety out there. Look not only at portfolios, but also at blog posts showing individual sessions. This gives you a much better idea of consistency – after all, you don’t want just one great image, you want a whole collection that tells your family story.
It’s also worth reading reviews and seeing whether clients come back again and again. Galleries showing the same children growing up, or blog posts linking back to earlier sessions with the same family, are a great sign of happy clients who value both the photos and the experience.
Social media can give you a feel for a photographer’s style and approach too. Following them for a little while helps you decide whether they seem like the right fit for your family.
Most photographers who work in London know the city very well, but it’s sensible to check this. Local knowledge helps the day run smoothly and can also lead to creative ideas that add something extra to your images.
When it comes to price, in photography you really do get what you pay for. Experienced, skilled photographers charge more, but investing in quality work is something you’re unlikely to regret – from quality of images to dependable equipment and careful, sensitive retouching.
Photographers are always happy to answer questions, and finding the right fit makes the whole experience more enjoyable and the final images even more meaningful.
For context: I’m Helen Bartlett, and I’ve been photographing families in London for over 20 years. I’m a Canon Ambassador and a multi-award-winning photographer — the only family photographer in Europe to have been singled out by Canon in this way. I know London extraordinarily well, I work with families visiting from the US, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, and beyond, and I would love to help you plan something wonderful.
How will you view and use your family photographs?
It’s worth thinking ahead about what you’d like to do with your pictures. It would be a shame to put all that effort into a family photo shoot only to leave the results on a disk in a drawer.
Talk to your photographer about the options. If you’re in London for the whole summer, you may have time for a viewing session where you can see your images on a big screen and choose which you’d like as prints or in albums.
Photographers spend a lot of time sourcing beautiful printed products, from albums to fine art prints and frames, and the quality will usually be far beyond anything you can order yourself.
If you’re only in London for a short trip, you’ll generally be able to view your images digitally and choose your favourites from there. Some photographers may also offer a “straight to files” option, which can be very convenient when you’re travelling.
When should you book your London family vacation photo shoot?
It’s best to contact your chosen photographer as far in advance as you can, especially during the summer months when the most popular dates get booked up quickly.
That said, even if you’ve already arrived in London and suddenly decide you’d love some photos, it’s always worth getting in touch to check availability.
To find out more, visit my London vacation photography page or give me a call and we can plan your perfect family portrait session.
Frequently Asked Questions about a London family vacation photo shoot
Many of London’s best-known places become much busier as the day goes on, so earlier sessions are often calmer and easier. Starting sooner can help you avoid crowded backgrounds and keep the experience more relaxed. Your photographer will help you choose a time that works well.
There’s no single right choice – it depends on what matters most to your family. Some families love including recognisable sights, while others prefer staying in one green space where children can play freely. A combination of both can work well too, giving you variety without making the session feel rushed.
It helps to think about your children’s usual routine and energy levels. Babies may need sleep breaks, which can fit naturally into moving between locations, while toddlers often do best when they have space to run around. Older children usually enjoy a more active session that includes exploring different places and enjoying some of London’s history.
Yes, this is definitely worth considering when you’re planning. Some parts of the city can become very busy, which affects both the atmosphere and the photos themselves. Choosing the right time and locations with your photographer can make the whole experience much easier.
In some locations, photography is restricted or permission is required, and the rules can change. This is something to discuss with your photographer, who can advise you and take care of any necessary arrangements, passing on the costs at cost.
The earlier you get in touch, the better, particularly during the busier summer months. Even so, last-minute enquiries are still worth making, as you may find there is availability.
Many photographers offer an option to purchase the digital files directly for clients who are only in London for a short time. This keeps things simple when you’re travelling.
Take time to look through full galleries, blog posts, and reviews to get a sense of consistency and style. Social media can also help you understand a photographer’s approach. Choosing someone whose work and manner you genuinely like makes a big difference to both the experience and the final photos.
Helen is a gem! We wanted to document our first London trip with our toddlers and after looking through numerous IG photos for photographers, hers stood out. She is so charming to work with and great with kids! Her speciality is black and white photos which is so classic. She captured the joys of childhood so perfectly! Annnd it’s true that black and white photos makes any miss matched outfit (like ours) looks stunning! Highly recommend Helen and we will definitely have her do our family photos again!
Planning your session – your questions answered
It’s always good to book your photography session in advance of your holiday, as dates get booked up quickly. You can fill in your details on my contact form, send me an email to [email protected], or WhatsApp me on 07713 329090 with your email address, your holiday dates, the ages of your children, and where you are staying. I can then send you some information and together we can plan a brilliant photo shoot that will be a highlight of your holiday.
As soon as you have your holiday dates, do get in touch. Summer is particularly busy, as are the Easter holidays and the period around Spring Break when many American families visit London. The earlier you book, the better — but it is always worth getting in touch even at short notice, as sometimes dates do become available.
London is endlessly creative as a backdrop and there is almost always a wonderful viewpoint or angle near even the most famous sights. Some locations do require permits, which I can arrange and pass on at cost, and security arrangements in central London can sometimes mean adjusting plans on the day — but this is where local knowledge really comes into its own. I know the city extremely well and if one spot is unexpectedly closed or crowded, I will always have somewhere equally exciting up my sleeve. The beauty of London is that its great options are truly inexhaustible.
Sessions last a morning, which gives us time to visit different locations while keeping the pace relaxed and fun for everyone. Short sessions can be stressful — children need to be ‘on form’ every minute — whereas a longer session means we can let the little ones play and capture those glorious candid moments alongside the landmark photographs. We always work around the children, with breaks for snacks as required, and with an encyclopaedic knowledge of London’s best playgrounds as well as its best viewpoints, you can be sure that even the most camera-shy children and most reluctant parents will have the most wonderful time.
This guide is for families visiting London on holiday who would like professional photographs to remember their trip — whether you’re coming from the US, Europe, Australia, or further afield, whether your children are tiny babies or heading into their teenage years, and whether you want iconic London landmarks, beautiful parks, or a combination of both. I photograph visiting families regularly and it is always one of the most joyful sessions in my calendar. If you’d like to find out more or check availability, do get in touch — I’d love to hear from you.
