Documentary Family Photography: Why I am obsessed with the light in your house

If you’ve had a visit from me, as you welcome me into your home, you will probably have noticed my eyes darting around all over the place… and I am just searching, searching for light and their sources. Believe you me, I have shot in all types of houses, big, small, tiny, terraced, both incredibly well and incredibly poorly lit. But light is there, everywhere. It really is, however small its rays are, they are there.

As you know, I am pretty passionate about documentary photography. And one of the reasons I love this genre so much is because I am totally in love with light. With a documentary family photoshoot, because I am merely an observer, and I am left to get on with my work, I can basically take time to find that light and frame my shots. My two hour sessions don’t give me as much time, of course, but with my day shoots for example, I can produce shots like these ones below… where I take my time, and I wait for the right shapes, the right atmosphere, the right moment to capture and preserve those memories for you.

Whether you are looking for a family photographer in London or anywhere really in the South East, wherever you live, whatever the space, light is always t here and I make it my mission to find it.

Above ,for example, is an image from a summer family photoshoot. I can turn up (totally up to you of course) as early as 6am… to capture that calm before the storm, to capture the early morning light and silence shortly followed by breakfast table chaos. I am after all telling the story of an ordinary day for you. And sometimes, stories can be best told with contrast: silence vs noise, light vs dark, laughter vs tears. It’s the perfect ying and yang of our normal lives. Because a life doesn’t have to be perfect to be normal, right? I guess balance is what often makes us “happy”?

And this is the second reason why I am so passionate about family documentary photography. It gives us an opportunity to capture life as it is, not as perfect Pinterest or Ikea catalogues would have us believe… Of course we want some of our photos and images to reflect the great happy moments of our lives. After all, you parents work so hard for those, right?

But I think it’s nice to cover our walls with who we really are and indeed images that reflect us as a family, rather than images that everyone else would have on their walls. Cos it’s okay to be us, right?

Anyway, going off tangent here… back to my obsession with light. I am also drawn to negative space, diagonal lines and contrasts. So again, the images you end up with aren’t necessarily textbook family photographs, they often make the best of the space and atmosphere of your home. With all this in mind, I very much try to create artistic images that are totally unique to you as a family. Here, for example, You know your daughter leaves her stuff strewn all around the house and it drives you mad. So some of my shots tell that story too, with light, with diagonal lines, with negative space, so that your images are also memories of how your family life was really like, whether in central London, or remote Hertforshire!

Storytelling is definitely crucial to my work. That’s the whole point really. I understand that most of the time, you will be hiring a professional photographer so that you can end up with professional images on your walls, and you’ll get plenty of those, but my commitment to telling your story is paramount. Here are two shots that demonstrate that perfectly: a wall photograph and a story photograph.

Both images make the most of light and both celebrate your family life.

Documentary Family Photography is also perfect for those who just can’t bear posing or find having photos taken very awkward. Because I am with you for a few hours and behave more like someone who’s coming round for a cuppa, you don’t feel as intimidated by the camera and soon enough, you forget I am there and I can capture memories like these.

Interested in a photoshoot or want to ask some questions without committing to anything? Just get in touch. I don’t bite!