Bicester portraits of Silva and Sean’s Family

When an opportunity arose to capture immediate and extended family portraits, Silva and Sean made the most of it.

Mum Silva and dad Sean were looking for some informal family photography to update and replace some wall portraits that they had commissioned many years ago. We pencilled in a date for the shoot, and Silva made the most of the opportunity by inviting her parents, sister, niece and nephew to join us. The focus would still be portraits of the immediate family of four, but we’d also look to capture some images of the wider family, too. The more the merrier, I thought, and indeed we did have a lot of fun 🙂

On an unseasonably warm and pleasant Saturday evening, we headed en masse to a local beauty spot to make the most of the last rays of summer sun. These are some of my favourites from our shoot:

In portrait photography, we interpret the relationship between people in the image by their expressions, body language and proximity. I love everyone’s big, natural smiles here, and how connected they all are: a hug here, a loving clasp on a shoulder there, hands held together in the middle. You can tell that these guys mean the world to each other.

Lily (11) and Sam (14) are Silva and Sean’s two children. I wanted to capture them both as individuals and as siblings, with matching shots that will look great displayed together:

I captured a few variations of Lily and Sam together in this spot, but particularly loved the affection of this one, above middle. Sam’s arm is wrapped protectively around Lily, and his smile is so sweet and gentle.

Next it was time for all the cousins together:

I love how the path leads your eye in towards the group, the sparkle of sunlight through the tree and – most of all – the hugs and smiles between the quartet in the middle. If there was a prize going for cheekiest smile, Cormac (2) would certainly win it!

We wandered on a little, and came across a lovely patch with majestic, mature trees either side of the path. This was a great location for a wide shot, perfect for going on the wall, showing this gorgeous family in a simply beautiful setting.

Kudos to Silva for some awesome wardrobe planning, too: everyone’s outfits go well together, with a palette of whites and blues that complement each other perfectly.

Further on our route was a perfect patch of light in front of a characterful wooden bench and aged stone wall. These textures look great as out-of-focus details behind the kids.

Up to now the kids had been stealing the show, but now it was time for a portrait of Grandma and Grandpa together:

I asked the kids to guess how long Grandma and Grandpa had been married. “Forever!” they chorused. Grandma and Grandpa laughed, “Actually we’ve been married for 50 years, but I guess that is ‘forever’ to children!”. Don’t they look amazing together?!

I had been planning this shot of the immediate family from the start, but needed to wait until the sun was low enough in the sky to make it work. I love the golden kiss of sunset light on the backs of everyone’s head, the shape of the family across the frame and those amazing smiles, of course.

It was time to start walking back home, which provided me with an opportunity to capture Silva, Sean, Lily and Sam with the grandparents. I love the sense of movement in this one, and grandpa’s reaction as everyone looks towards him. It’s the perfect portrait to end a perfect shoot 🙂

Afterwards, Silva and Sean said:

“The photo shoot with Sarah was fun and informal as I had hoped and it was great to capture memories with the wider family visiting. Sarah’s approach put everyone at ease and her ability to keep the attention of the ‘little ones’ has meant some beautifully captured moments. Sarah has been flexible and professional through what has been an enjoyable experience.”

If you’re interested in family portrait photography, please get in contact by emailing [email protected] or submitting the form below:

Sarah Plater LMPA is a qualified, professional family portrait photography based in Bicester, Oxfordshire.

(c) Sarah Plater Photography