Indoor Photography on a Rainy Day

I have always adored the challenge of photographing indoors in my clients homes – exploring new environments, finding the light and angles and working out ways to incorporate the interior design and decor into striking environmental family portraits.

When the weather decided not to play ball for the first part of my photo shoot with Rana I wasn’t worried, they have the most incredible house and the interiors were stunning with such an attention to detail in decor and design. I immediately thought there would be potential in the front room which was painted a beautiful deep green and had high windows on one side. It was the kind of room that would have made me nervous to work in when I first became a family photography and hadn’t yet gained the experience working with light and shadow that I have gained over the last fifteen years. A bright white room is always an easier studio space. But shadows and depth can provide really interesting and exciting spaces to work.

I also loved the ceramic masks that were mounted high on the wall and immediately felt I wanted to incorporate those into a shot, use them to add an element of personality to a darker portrait and really show the room which is so personal to the family.

I took a number of shots in this room over the course of the morning – and lots of shots in different rooms too as I like to move around. But this is a real favourite.  Music is clearly a big part of family life and watching father and son play the guitar together was a real joy – here they are playing with Darius’s small guitar while his dad’s bigger one lies within arm’s reach on the table. As they looked up towards the light there is wonderful modelling on their faces and we can see the light and happiness in their eyes.

I shot this using my 35mm lens and I was pretty much sitting in the fireplace to get back far enough as I wanted to incorporate the reflection in the glass table. This adds both to the feeling for the environment, showing another well-chosen piece of furniture, and also adds to the graphics of the picture with a strong diamond shape enclosing the subjects and their guitars. I like how you can’t really see the reflection of the guitar on the table so it almost feels as if the reflections hold the electric guitar while the main subjects play with the classical instrument.

Creating images like this fills me with so much joy, finding an exciting composition and creative way to photograph in my client’s homes and producing images that are unique to their lives and how they live them.

If you like the images that you see on the blog and are interested in booking your own family photography session then do get in touch, I’d love to hear from you and it would be wonderful to arrange a family shoot for you this year.