Forest Hill Family Photography | Saturday Morning With Freddie and Olav

I offer two types of family photo sessions: a Slice Of Life shoot and a Morning In The Life photography session, so what’s the difference between the two shoots?

I’m all about documenting family life in an authentic, honest and joyful way so both these shoots have a documentary approach - but the main difference is the length of the shoot.

My Morning In The Life session is a much longer, much more detailed family photoshoot than the Slice Of Life session. A Morning In The Life shoot is all about documenting your typical Saturday or Sunday morning with the kids in full. And, as we have up to 5 hours, this photoshoot allows me to capture your family’s routines, little traditions, idiosyncrasies and personalities in much greater detail.

On the blog today is one of my favourite Morning in the Life photo sessions of last Summer, where I joined a family in Forest Hill, South London, to capture their typical Saturday morning with their sons Freddie and Olav.

We started off early - Olav was still asleep when I arrived, and Freddie was just having his breakfast whilst watching some telly. We did some jigsaw puzzles, Freddie decided to have a second breakfast, and we played upstairs in the kids’ bedrooms, before we headed out for a walk to Mayow Park. We had some fun in the playground and decided to finish our morning photoshoot with coffee and cake in the cafe.

I love it when families truly embrace the documentary approach to family photography and let me have a glimpse into their family life. When you book me to photograph your family story there’s no need to create a “perfect” morning or clean up every corner, this session is about capturing life as it is. Let the kids run around, leave their favourite toys out, and just enjoy the day. The magic comes from everyday interactions, so let everyone feel free to be themselves.

Here are a few of my favourite images from my photoshoot with Freddie and Olav!

The best way to enjoy a family documentary session is to act as if the photographer isn’t there. Engage with each other and do the things you love to do together. Trust the photographer to capture those spontaneous, in-between moments that truly reflect your life as a family and you will end up with some gorgeous unposed family portraits! If you’re getting excited about your own family photoshoot with me then I’d love to hear from you! Although I live in Brighton, I regularly travel to South London to photograph families in East Dulwich, Forest Hill, Sydenham, Herne Hill and Peckham.