Skip to content
Helen Bartlett Logo
HELEN BARTLETT / FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHY

Card Games on an Indoor Family Photo Shoot

Uno is a particular favourite for family portraits

Today I wanted to share a recent favourite, a picture from an indoor family photo shoot with everyone having a wonderful time playing Uno.  It’s been a remarkably wet autumn this year, there have been weeks where it hasn’t felt like the rain has let up for a moment and yet, of course, photo shoots continue whatever the weather.  It’s always a very busy season with the run up to Christmas and so weekends and half term get booked up months in advance.  This has seen me out and about come rain or shine, jumping in puddles and enjoying the completely empty playgrounds at the park, and also working indoors taking wonderful images that show family life as it’s lived at home.

I’ve always been a big fan of working indoors.  So much of children’s lives are spent at home that it’s a joy to record their favourite activities, the things they love to do and the games they like to play.  These pictures are often particularly resonant when the children get older, little details in the background will bring back so many memories.  Here the decorated bannisters are likely to remind the family that there was a Halloween party being prepared and the house was covered in glorious autumnal foliage. From this memory comes another and another as thoughts will likely move from family and card games to party and friends to school and trick or treating.  I love how memory works like this, jumping effortlessly from one thing to the next on a single visual clue.

This picture grabbed me though because of the action within the image rather than the details in the background.  I absolutely love the expressions and the activity.  As many regular readers will know I’m a massive game geek – I spend many an evening playing board games or card games with my family and friends.  I was so thrilled to hear that Uno was a family favourite, it always makes for brilliant pictures as tactics and laughter and interaction come to the fore.

I absolutely love the glorious smile as this wonderful little girl looks up at her mother laughing as the family play together.  Games are having a renaissance as they are such a wonderful way to spend time together and they are a wonderful activity for family photographs.

If you would like to know more about this type of shoot do take a look at my blog post on planning a family photo shoot at home