Charley, Mark, Artie, Rodney & Cassie | Oxfordshire Family Photography

Charley and her family had just moved in to a new place in Upper Heyford and wanted to add some portraits to the walls to make it feel like home.

We met for our photoshoot down a quiet country lane on a warm July evening. There’s a little-known gem of a place just outside Bicester, Oxfordshire, that’s perfect for family photography. It has wide, open spaces, dense woodland and meandering paths that take you from vista to vista. We saw only a handful of other people during our shoot, and it’s not uncommon to have the place to yourselves.

So we took a slow walk around, stopping in places where the light and location were particularly beautiful. These are a handful of my favourites from our shoot:

Here, the family are surrounded on all four sides with greenery from the scene, providing a beautiful frame-within-a-frame. I love how everyone is connected up, and also that Mark’s red shoelaces echo the colour of Charley’s dress (“Oh, that was totally planned,” Mark said with a smile afterwards).

When we first met to plan the shoot, Charley hadn’t been sure whether she wanted her and Mark to be included in some of the portraits. but I’m so glad she decided to have a few done of the whole family. The red dress… the sunglasses… the amazing smiles… I think they look like ROCK STARS in this one:

Next, I cropped in close and interacted with Artie to get this smile:

I love how the hands and arms of Charley and Mark provide scale and context, while the focus of the shot remains completely on Artie and his perfect, cheeky smile.

My brief for the shoot included family portraits, portraits of Artie, and portraits of both the dogs together too. We encouraged Cassie (white and grey poodle) and Rodney (brown labradoodle) to pause in their explorations of the woodland for a few seconds so I could get this shot:

I love how the dogs are facing their bodies towards each other, and how the lines of the path draw your eye in to the dogs’ faces.

The sun was dipping towards the horizon, producing the beautiful, soft light known by photographers as ‘golden hour’. I faced Artie towards the brightest part of the sky, and we played a quick game, which led to this smile:

This portrait is my absolute favourite from the shoot. Artie is great fun, super-smart and just the right sort of cheeky, and I feel this shot captures those attributes.

When he saw the photos afterwards, Artie declared that he wanted to keep them all, then ran to get his dinosaur-shaped piggybank and started counting out his savings! We didn’t let him pay for anything, of course, but he did help his mum and dad make some decisions. Oh, and he told me that next time I should include his lamp post figurine in the pictures… I love that Artie knows what he wants and doesn’t hesitate to ask for it!

We had time for one more portrait of both dogs together, so paused to capture them in this leafy spot:

I love the dogs’ matching body language here, and how the curved arrow of Rodney’s tail points your eye back towards the dogs’ faces.

Afterwards, Charley said:

“We are absolutely in love with the photos that Sarah took of our family. She has beautifully captured the personalities of everyone, and they are just stunning. She is so talented, and our photo shoot was so much fun. Initially my husband and I didn’t want to be in the pictures, but Sarah persuaded us, and we’re so glad we were, as we now have some beautiful family pictures to treasure forever. We will definitely be back for more photos in the future! We are so excited for our wall art to arrive ?.”

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