At Home and a Stroll Around Holland Park – A Family Summer Session

A family I’ve photographed for years

It was one of those proper summer days, the kind where the heat hits you the moment you step outside, when I arrived to photograph these guys at their home in Holland Park. The children were already out in the sunshine, making the most of it, and I got the loveliest welcome of all: a little tour of the house from the people who know it best.

I’ve known this lovely family for a while now. I photographed their wedding, and then, not long after, I was there again when their first baby arrived, that gorgeous newborn session with the grandparents in the room, everyone a little tired and completely besotted. So walking back through their front door didn’t feel like turning up to a shoot. It felt like catching up with old friends. And that’s honestly one of my favourite things about this job: getting to watch a family grow, and being the one they call each time.

Around the house

We started indoors — some quieter, some not so quiet moments in the living room, then downstairs to the kitchen, the heart of so many family homes. Upstairs is where it got wonderfully silly: a lot of jumping on the bed, a few books read together, the kind of ordinary, giggly chaos that always makes the best photographs. Nothing too posed, just them, at home, being themselves.

A stroll through the streets of Holland Park

And then, shoes on, we headed out. Holland Park is such a beautiful corner of London to wander, and the streets around where they live are genuinely stunning, soft afternoon light, pretty houses, leafy little corners at every turn. We took a gentle stroll and made some of my favourite frames of the whole session right there on their own doorstep.

The whole thing took around 90 minutes, from the courtyard to the last street corner. That’s usually all it takes, no big production, no forced poses, just a relaxed hour and a half of real life, gently guided. The children never once felt “photographed,” which is exactly the point.

Why I love photographing families at home

There’s something I really love about photographing families in their own space. A home holds all the little details, the bookshelf, the worn-in sofa, the light coming through the bedroom window — that end up meaning everything a few years down the line. And because everyone’s comfortable, the pictures simply feel like them.

It was so good to see this family again, and I can’t wait to see where their story goes next.

If you’d love something like this for your own family — relaxed, at home, wherever you feel most yourselves — here’s everything about family photography sessions in London →.