Family Photo Shoot with Teenagers, Kensington, West London

I love photographing older children and teenagers and I’m getting commissioned for these shoots more and more. These family photo shoots with teenagers are always such great fun and have been some of my favourite shoots of the year. The variety of meeting and photographing children of different ages is one of the most enjoyable parts of my job and I love all the different ages, but there is something wonderful about children on the cusp of adulthood, so full of promise of what the future will hold.

I love the conversations we can have while taking pictures and I love to hear about favourite hobbies and interests. I’m sure there are so many more options available now, both in terms of school subjects and also which interests teenagers have the opportunities to pursue, especially in London where it feels as if you can find a class for anything if you look for it.

I had such a great time chatting with Astrid and Clara. I loved hearing about Clara’s passion for gymnastics and seeing her demonstrate all the different moves. As a child who could never even do a proper forward roll I was very impressed with cartwheels and handstands.

I loved talking to Astrid about her favourite books and finding out which authors are currently the most popular with young people. So many great novels for me to add to my kindle reading list, it’s always so interesting to read books aimed at different ages and I’m sure that a lot of the teen fiction is a lot more sophisticated then it was when I grew up. This can only be a good thing – inspiring a love of reading for so many people that I am sure they will take into adult life.

We had a brilliant time taking photographs, family shots and shots of these two beautiful teenage girls. We explored Kensington Gardens, close to the family’s stunning townhouse and took advantage of all the interesting locations and backgrounds this amazing royal park has to offer. I photograph in Kensington and around West London a lot when working with families, teenagers and young children and I love the challenge of using a location in a different way on each and every photo shoot. I’m always looking for new approaches, new angles and new ways to utilise the parks to its best advantage.

In this shoot I love how the tunnel outside Kensington Palace is bare of leaves and how this gives a very different feel to the images than would be the case on a summer shoot. This seasonality is fantastic and really anchors the images to this time of year. It also makes for such a dramatic backdrop, the play of light on the textures of the twigs, woven together to support the future growth works brilliantly in these portraits.

Sheltering from a brief shower we took a number of pictures in the folly in Kensington Gardens, a lovely building that made a great spot for family photographs. It was lovely to utilise the light in different ways working from inside and outside the folly to get a really lovely variety to the images. The portrait of Clara with the light from outside the folly giving beautiful shape to her profile is one of my favourites from the session.

From the park we headed back to the family home for some more pictures of the girls, I particularly love the shots of Astrid reading with the fabulous bookcase behind her. One day I dream to have a library, but that’s another story…

I’m thrilled with these pictures and so glad I had the opportunity to meet this lovely family and chat to these intelligent and beautiful young women. I’m sure they will go far in whatever path they choose for themselves and I look forward to photographing them again and hearing all about it in the future.