Autumn portraits of the Clarke family in Bicester

This was an autumnal family photoshoot of two halves: a sunset shoot followed by a sunrise shoot. Read on to find out why we did two shoots instead of one, and see how we got on…

It was Friday afternoon and the trains were running late. The Clarke family were waiting to collect dad from the station so they could all take part in the family photoshoot, but time was ticking past and the sun was swiftly dipping towards the horizon.

Soon, the car pulled up, and the family arrived: Mum and wife Rachel, dad and husband Ashley, Rory (4 years old) and Seb (17 months old).

After brief hellos and introductions, we headed straight to an open area, with the family holding hands en route so I could capture the portrait above.

The children kicked up and jumped over the dijon-yellow and ochre-brown leaves across the floor. Little did the grown-ups know that how many of these leaves would be coming home with them…

We started playing some games, some with everyone together, and others in pairs or alone. In any family shoot, my aim is to capture the relationships between everyone, as well as individual portraits of the children, too.

I love this one (above) of mum and Seb backlit by the setting sun, and the matching scarves and cheeky smiles of dad and Rory (below).

The out-of-focus dots of lights in the background (known by photographers as ‘bokeh’) add a magical touch, too – they are caused by the setting sun twinkling through a row of trees in the distance:

We managed to capture some lovely family portraits, including this one of everyone together on the bench (below). However, the light was quickly falling so we wrapped up and headed home.

When I got back and took a thorough look through the images, I decided that I wasn’t happy enough with the range of images of young Seb, in particular. He had been a little bit tired and unhappy during the shoot, and there wasn’t a strong enough one of him on his own.

I reached out to Rachel to offer a free additional shoot the next week.

“Great,” she said, “Rory’s been asking, ‘When can we go and play games with Sarah again?’!”

This time, it would be at sunrise, which is often the time young kids are at their most energetic, engaged and happiest. Thankfully, the clocks hadn’t gone back yet, so sunrise wasn’t until just before 8am – although Rachel tells me she’s up anyway from 5.30am!

Sadly, dad was called into work that day and couldn’t make it, but nan and mum Stephanie offered to come instead. Despite being a ‘sunrise’ shoot, on the day we were greeted instead by cloud and fog. This gave the images a wintery chill and bags of atmosphere, such as in the group photograph below:

The early timing worked a treat: Seb was much happier, and Rory – who was great before – was in even better form now. We played some new games, and I focused on getting individual shots of both children.

Despite already having some good portraits of Rory from the previous shoot, I took new ones during the sunrise shoot. This means that if his and Seb’s images are displayed next to each other, they will have the same look, feel and mood as they were taken at the same time.

I particularly love this one of Seb (below). The trees in the background provide a partial frame around his face, helping to pull our eyes towards him:

Often, we are so focused on capturing photographs of our children, that we forget to record our own relationships. That’s why I love this one of Rachel and Stephanie together (below). Simply having children in an image steals our attention away from everything – and everyone – else.

By cropping the kids out of the frame (they were leaf-hunting around our feet at this point!), we get to see the bond between a mum and her daughter instead:

After a while, we started heading back through the wood. Suddenly both kids were drawn to the leaves on the floor. They started rifling through them, trying to find the best ones to take home. Rory held two up to his face to examine, and I quickly caught his look of careful consideration:

“Which leaf do you prefer, Rory?” I asked.

“I like them both equally,” he said. Both were added to the collection to take home.

Seb followed us more slowly, completely immersed in his hunt for the perfect leaf. His delay gave me the opportunity to capture this image of him:

Keeping Seb small in the frame emphasises how sweet, young and cute he is. The tree in the distance gently frames him; the low camera angle puts us right there amongst the leaves with him (rather than looking down on him); and the hint of fog in the top left lends that atmospheric and slightly eery mood of a dark, cold winter starting to roll in over the landscape.

We headed out of the woods and parted ways at the gate. Mum and nan led the kids back to their car, with Rory occasionally shouting a last goodbye over his shoulder.

Even if mum and dad decide not to forever treasure their new Autumn Fall Collection of Leaves, I hope these images bring back fun memories of quality family time spent together finding them.

Client feedback:

“Sarah is an absolutely brilliant photographer who had lots of tricks up her sleeve to get the best out of my children (and husband) and took fantastic natural-looking photos that captured us all in our best light.”

Rachel Clarke (née Tomkins)

If you are thinking of getting some portraits done for your wall or for Christmas gifts, please get in contact so we can get you booked in!:

Sarah Plater is a portrait photographer based in Bicester, Oxfordshire.

(c) Sarah Plater Photography