We Are Family: Cousins Photoshoot

Mum-of-two Adele was thinking of giving some portraits of her children as Christmas gifts to their grandparents. She teamed up with her sister-in-law, Michelle, and we all headed to Waterperry Gardens to capture some group and individual portraits.

With four children involved – Amelia, Anthony, Summer (all 9-years old) and Harvey (5) – I wanted to choose a location that would offer scenic yet varied backdrops. This is because I like my outdoor portraits to offer plenty of visual interest and a sense of place. It also means that when the individual portraits of the children are displayed together, there will be something unique about each one, while retaining a consistent overall look and feel.

Adele and Michelle live near the central Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire border. After a little bit of research, I came across Waterperry Gardens, which is close to them both and offers everything I wanted visually. To avoid the challenges of shooting around members of the public, I organised for us to have private access to the gardens, before they officially open. This meant that we had free run of the entire grounds.

So, at 9am one bright Saturday morning, we headed in to explore the gardens. As it was December, we started off with a few games to get everyone warmed up:

Family Portraits by Sarah Plater Photography - Sarah Plater is a child and family portrait photographer based in Bicester Oxfordshire

I love the energy in this shot as Summer (second from right) pulls everyone towards the camera. As well as shaking off the cold, a few high energy games help to burn off energy and dispel any nerves that my clients feel about being photographed. By making the games fun, everyone relaxes, which enables me to capture the authentic expressions that I love.

However, I didn’t need to worry: Amelia, Anthony, Harvey and Summer were great fun and threw themselves into each game. They clearly all got on really well, and I could tell that they will have a lot of fun growing up together!

Next up I captured an individual portrait of each child on their own, using a slightly different background for variety and visual interest:

Family Portraits by Sarah Plater Photography - Sarah Plater is a child and family portrait photographer based in Bicester Oxfordshire

By keeping these individual portraits in the same landscape orientation, I made sure that they will look fab together as a wall display, whether in a row of four or as a square block.

We kept on moving and came across this metal bench:

With gorgeous tree branches like a sculpture on the left-hand side, yellow-green leaves on the right and paving slabs dusted with fallen twigs underfoot, it was the perfect setting for a relaxed image of the full group including the mums. Everyone squished on (braving the cold of the metalwork) and this is the result. I love everyone’s big, natural smiles and welly boots!

Our next stop was the formal pond for one more big group portrait:

I love how happy everyone looks, and the beautiful lily pads and reflections in the foreground.

Next up was portraits of each family group:

I love the great expressions on both of these, with the full grins of Adele, Amelia and Harvey in the first one, and the spontaneous hug between Michelle, Summer and Anthony in the second. And what fab-looking families they both are!

Our time in the gardens was drawing to a close when we turned a corner and found these vibrant red leaves; a lipstick-pop of colour in an otherwise wintry garden. The children’s accessories featured several splashes of red, so I simply couldn’t miss the opportunity to stop for one more portrait of all the children playing and interacting together:

We headed back to the car park just as the first drops of rain started to fall. It had been a fun, energetic photoshoot and I was so excited to get the images over to Adele and Michelle ready for them to wrap up for Christmas.

Afterwards, Adele said, “You were brilliant with the children; so patient and gave us so much time. We would highly recommend you to all our friends and family. We all had so much fun. The photos made such a wonderful Christmas present, we struggled with which ones to print and frame for gifts as they were all so good. My parents were delighted with the photos – tears all round!”

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