Why South East London Families Are Choosing In-Home Photography (And I Think You’ll Get It Immediately)
By ANDREA WHELAN – a Greenwich Family Photographer Who Truly Gets Families
Discover why South East London families are swapping the park for their own front room, and getting their favourite photos in the process
There’s a moment I notice in almost every home session I do.
It usually happens about twenty minutes in. Someone puts the kettle on. A child disappears to get a toy they absolutely have to show me. The dog settles. And the family just… relaxes into being themselves.
That’s when the real pictures happen.
I’ve been photographing families across South East London since 2011, in parks, on heaths, in gardens and kitchens and hallways still covered in coats. And while I love all of it, there’s something that in-home sessions do that nowhere else can.
Your home already knows your family.
The sofa you’ve all piled onto for a thousand Saturday mornings. The kitchen table where the homework gets done and the arguments happen and the good news gets announced. The bedroom window with the light that falls in just right in the late afternoon.
These aren’t just backdrops. They’re the actual story of your life together.
Why it works so well in South East London
A lot of the families I work with are based in Blackheath, Greenwich, Brockley, Dulwich and all across South East London.
Many of them have beautiful Victorian terraces or purpose-built flats with enormous windows, houses with gardens that go on longer than you’d expect.
But honestly? It doesn’t matter what your home looks like.
I’ve photographed in tiny flats with a single good window and come away with images I’m still proud of. The light, the connection, the feeling, that’s what I’m looking for. Not square footage.
What actually happens
When I knock on your door, I want you to treat me like a family member you haven’t seen in a while. A long lost cousin from Ireland!
The first thing I usually do, after the intial hello, is ask the kids to give me a tour of the house (if they’re old enough of course). It sounds small, but it does a lot. It gives them a job. It gets them talking. It means by the time we actually start, they’ve already shown me their favourite room and told me something important about their Lego, and I’m not a stranger anymore.
If someone puts the kettle on at this point, even better!
One thing I do suggest beforehand: have a playlist ready. Music your family actually listens to, just whatever you normally have on. It means the house doesn’t feel quiet and a bit odd, and it gives everyone something to settle into.
From there, we move through whatever rooms we have permission to shoot in, and that have the best light that day, living room, bedroom, kitchen, garden. I’m not working from a shot list. I’m following where the light is and where you feel most at ease.
What I’m really looking for is for you to talk to your kids. Not to perform happy for me just to actually be with them, the way you are when I’m not there. I know that’s easier said than done when there’s someone with a camera in your living room. But the closer you can get to that, the better the pictures will be.
I’ll offer a bit of direction when it helps. Mostly I’ll follow the kids’ lead and match their energy, and if their energy needs a bit of gentle redirecting, I’ll figure that out as we go. We might end up reading books on the bed. We might end up doing something completely unexpected, if we all keep an open mind, that’s usually when the best pictures happen.
Is it for you?
If you want images that feel like your real life, not a version of it cleaned up for someone else’s benefit, then yes. In-home sessions are absolutely for you.
If you’ve been putting off booking because you think your home isn’t tidy enough, or pretty enough, or big enough: it is. I promise you it is.
Get in touch and we can talk through exactly what it looks like for your family.
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