Brill Family Photography for a Father’s Day Gift

When Heidi was looking for a unique Father’s Day gift for her partner, Graham, she decided to commission a top secret Brill family photography session with her step-sons.

At this time of year, the shop shelves are stuffed with the usual Father’s Day gift ideas: beer glasses, socks, personalised hammers… But what if you want to get something he will treasure forever, something that avoids the usual cliches?

Heidi lives in Bicester and runs the Unique Flower Boutique (bespoke floral displays). She knew that her partner would love a piece of wall art featuring his sons, Fynlay (11) and Charlie (10), and had just the spot in mind where it would hang in the house. We were shooting for a montage, featuring multiple images, so we would also have the opportunity to capture portraits of the family’s Cocker Spaniel, Stanley, and some of Heidi and Stanley with the boys, too.

It’s said that it’s the thought that counts, and there certainly was a lot of thought that went into this. From making an excuse to steal away with the boys one Saturday evening to choosing the wall art and keeping the huge box containing the montage hidden, the whole operation was successfully kept top secret.

Brill Family Photography at Sunset

Our shoot took place just before sunset at the beautiful Brill Hill Windmill. We worked our way around the area, stopping for portraits in a few different locations. These are just a few of my favourites:

As we were shooting for a montage, I knew that we needed a wide range of images that would have visual variety, look great together and fit well in the square apertures of the montage’s mount. I captured several individual portraits of the boys, as well as plenty of them together, too:

Heidi, Fynlay, Charlie and Stanley were all incredibly good fun, and we spent an enjoyable hour joking and interacting. This helps everyone to relax despite the camera, enabling me to capture authentic expressions like this grin:

Walking around a location during a shoot helps give everyone time to relax and enables us to take advantage of a range of backgrounds, like this superb stone wall and door:

Fynlay and Charlie get on really well together, and for me this portrait captures that brotherly relationship. I love how they’ve wrapped their arms around each other, and how the barn door behind them frames them both.

The boys clearly adore Heidi, so I was keen to capture them together with Stanley, who very nearly steals the show here. And yes, Heidi always looks this amazing!

Countryside Idyll

Just a few metres away was the perfect place for some portraits with a very special countryside feel:

We took a few different portrait variations in this beautifully idyllic spot, complete with tyre swing and stone barn. I particularly love this one, as Stanley has taken a minute out from exploring to admire the view (or at least try to figure out what everyone else is looking at!). The sun’s flare and warmth evokes lazy, golden summer afternoons and this gives the image a lovely atmosphere.

We started to wind our way back towards the windmill, stopping to capture a few portraits of Stanley on his own. I love the dots of colour from the yellow flowers around him in this one, as well as the light on his ears and in his eyes.

Epic Silhouettes

The sun was disappearing below the horizon, which was perfect timing for our last portrait of the day. I wanted to capture a stunning shot of the four of them next to the famous windmill, all silhouetted against the dark blue sky:

The lovely evening drew many locals and visitors to the windmill that evening. This meant we needed to be patient until we got a gap in the crowds. I hope you’ll agree that it was well worth the wait!

Early on Father’s Day, Heidi text me to say:

“Graham loved it! It’s on the wall already! Thank you so, so much Sarah!”

Afterwards, she said:

“From the word go Sarah completely understood what I wanted to achieve with a bespoke father’s day gift. Sarah made the boys feel very comfortable and got them to loosen up ensuring everything was natural and not forced. I really wanted some timeless pictures of the boys just being boys, in the countryside with a sunset backdrop. Sarah achieved this above and beyond and captured the most stunning photographs. We wanted to include the dog in some of the pictures and again this was not too much trouble. The end result was emotional as I struggled to choose my favourite pictures. A gift that truly will last a lifetime with memories encased in the photographs. One very happy daddy and a bare wall transformed into a piece of art! Thank you so much Sarah.”

If you’re interested in family photography and would like to find out more, please get in contact. You can email me via [email protected] or submit the form below:

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

(c) Sarah Plater Photography