Playing Under the Table – a Child Portrait in Notting Hill

When I arrive at my clients homes there is usually a little settling in period, a cup of coffee as the family finishes getting ready and it’s a lovely time to get to know new clients and to catch up with old ones before the serious business of photography begins. It’s also often a time when I take pictures that I really love, informal moments with the kids playing and everyone super relaxed.

This is one of those pictures, an early moment before we headed outside for out family portrait session in the incredibly garden square behind Martyn and Katie’s Notting Hill home. It was my third shoot with Martyn and so lovely to see everyone again.

Theo was playing super heroes – in fact Theo played super heroes for much of the morning and I was so pleased that Martyn and Katie embraced that, allowing him to wear his cape for a good chunk of the day – apparently he wears it all the time normally and so it was lovely to have pictures that reflect that. Also, Theo just looked so cool in his super suit and I have some brilliant pictures of the masked iron crusader (the costume was a bit of a mish-mash of Iron Man and Bat Man at various points). They are just the kind of pictures that I can see being used as Facebook profile pictures when he is in his thirties, comedy childhood pictures but shot with style and class. This is always something I aspire towards, pictures that the children will love when they are adults.

In this shot the game had taken Theo under the dining table where I was drinking my coffee and there was fabulous light from the window behind. The leading lines of the sofa and the floor draw our eye towards him and his wonderful expression pulls us in. I think it’s a lovely portrait and I’m thrilled to share it today as my Just One from this recent family portrait session in Notting Hill.