Photo Shoot at Home

There is little doubt that when you have just given birth your first instinct is to hunker down and nest with your newborn child.  You want to get to know them, rest, cuddle, spend time watching them and cooing at them.  It's hard to think about leaving the house to go to a photography studio.  So I am a strong believer that home photo shoots are the way to go for newborns.  I think if you're close to my West London Photography Studio then the studio lighting does give you more in the way of options as I can control the lighting and have a nice space in which to relax and take the images, however I do the majority of newborn shoots in peoples homes.  That way no one has to leave the house, the baby is more relaxed, the parents are more relaxed and generally things go more smoothly.

Here are a couple of images from a recent newborn shoot that was taken in their home in Kensington.

All images by Susan Porter-Thomas Photography LSWPP London

A family photo shoot in Kensington

Kensington family photo shoot

As a London Family Photographer, Kensington is one of my favourite locations.  I've done quite a few this summer in various locations around the area, all with young children.  Firstly Holland Park has particularly great vistas and great light that is shaped by the abundant trees, take a look at a few from a recent shoot there..  I love the low wooden fences too.

The next place I love is Kensington Gardens itself, even though it can be crowded I just did a shoot there on a very busy Saturday in August and still managed to crop out the crowds and use the lovely landscapes there to get great family shots.  A Kensington Photographer is spoilt for choice really..

I highly recommend that when doing a shoot for a young family, location is best, the outdoors is so much fun for the children that they don't need any special handling and the backdrops in London are fabulous.

Susan Porter-Thomas Photography - LSWPP Award winning portrait photographer in London

British Summer time!

The Weather

So most of my shoots are location family photo shoots in London and as such we have the not insignificant issue of the weather to deal with.  This spring has been a very good case in point with drastic swings in weather meaning it could be perfect conditions in the morning and clearly the opposite by mid morning~!!  So what to do, Well I really do think that as family photographer London is pretty much perfect despite this, it's usually got great overcast diffused light usually with a bit of a breeze (wind machine) and because of this, the outdoor locations I usually use are not too crowded and I can find a great vista without having to airbrush out random families in the background.

I find that everyone young and old relax far easier if they are outside as it's not too abnormal a setting, so once they've got used to me holding a camera, things settling down very quickly.  A studio environment certainly has its place, but for natural relaxed portraits nothing beets a trip to the park.  Little kids who have a very short attention span are ideal for location shoots.

The above photo was taken in Kew Gardens, a stunning location all year round.  

Susan Porter-Thomas LASWPP Family Photography London

Newborn baby with both Grannies!

This is a baby that I first met whilst doing a Pregnancy photo shoots not long ago, and now she's the cutest little thing at just 2 weeks old.  It was a unique shoot as not only were both grannies there but the baby stayed asleep for the whole shoot...it was the quietest baby photo shoot I've ever done!!  Even when being handed from one doting grandparent to the next, there wasn't a peep!  I look forward to the next shoot when I imagine things won't be quite as quiet!  These guys opted for digital images as their families are spread across the atlantic, so sharing images of their newest member was going to be a must!!

Regents Park narrowly missing the rain

Sunday was such a mixed day of sunshine and showers, making for rather difficult conditions for photography..one minute we had lovely diffused lighting from lightly cloudy sky, the next it was bright sunshine, the next it was raining!! Thankfully there are lots of shady areas in Regents park so that is where I met Tara and Jake and their 2 little boys for their Family photography shoot.

A very good looking family from California, this family were given a Voucher to celebrate the birth of their second son and both little boys were just gorgeous.  Tanner and Brooks both blond haired, blue eyed boys and great fun to play with.  We just managed to fit in an hour before the heavens really opened and here are some of the resulting photos

Henri's 3rd Photo shoot - in Holland Park

This is now the 3rd time I've met Henri for a photo shoot as his mother Joanne decided on a 3 shoot deal when he was born, and having already photographed her pregnancy it was so great to watch little Henri grow over the last 18 months.  He's got the best eyes in the business and his hair seems to be growing vertically which is sooo cute!!
We decided to go to Holland Park for this shoot, which is a brilliant place for photography..lots of places for little people to explore and run around.  I've done family photo shoots here loads of times to great effect..

I have to say I was slightly worried when we arrived, as Henri nearly threw up in the car from travel sickness..not a great start.  But we took in gently and he soon forgot his stomach and started playing with sticks..(well done Mummy!!)..

We spent about an hour pottering around hiding, looking at peacocks, climbing, spotting squirrels etc..he was just gorgeous and terribly animated when he wants to tell you something.

Family photo shoot at Kew Gardens

This gorgeous little boy was suffering from teething pain for his first London photo shoot at Kew Gardens but still managed to put up a good show..bless him