Holmes Chapel in Cheshire has become an important destination for me over the last ten years. I’ve photographed lifestyle family portrait photography sessions, pet portrait photography sessions and equine portrait sessions in and around in some of Cheshire’s most beautiful villagesincluding Holmes Chapel regularly since 2010. The village and the surrounding countryside make beautiful backgrounds for family portrait photography.

When I went to photograph this session late last autumn we had a beautiful day and a bit too much sun really. I think photographers are a but like farmers; always complaining about the weather. Our clients booked this session because they wanted an up to date family portrait to give to Granny for her birthday. They also wanted the chance to have new portrait photographs of their own family groups, of their children and individual portraits of each person.

For me, family portraits are really important as they are a legacy for future generations, as well as a record of a family at a particular moment in time, captured forever. Family groups are special because they show a group of people and the relationships between them. It’s rare to find an exceptionally interesting location to use as a backdrop but in the first picture we were able to use the garden swing to bring everyone together and then arrange them in their family groups with as much symmetry as possible. I love symmetrical images that are well balanced. Everyone is looking athlete camera in this photograph because it’s what Granny wants. That’s how she wants to see her family who no longer live with her.

The individual portraits were each taken capture the faces of each person. Again, like the main picture, the parents wanted photos with the children looking into the camera so they had eye contact when viewing the photographs. As the natural light was quite harsh I used fill in flash from my Profoto B2 with a 24″ collapsible beauty dish with the bounce card removed. I photographed the whole session using a Canon 5d Mk iv camera and used 50mm and 85mm lenses.

Often it’s more interesting to take portrait photographs where the person is not looking at the camera, almost as though they are unaware ofd being photographed and I love this style, particularly in an environmental portrait. However when a client is commissioning you to photograph them and their family it’s important to understand what they want to achieve from the session.

Leigh is a town in what used to be South Lancashire (now Greater Manchester), and many people still see it as a Lancashire town. In its heyday Leigh was famous for coal, cotton, cables and tractors. My family are from Leigh and its always nice to go back to Leigh from time to time. Every once in a while I do a family portrait session there as I did for this family.

Why generational family portraits matter

Three generations of the same family arranged around a couple of garden chairs. Some people will look at this photograph and think, so what. Others will look at it and get the idea completely. This kind of photograph is what every grandparent asks me for. It’s a record of their family, three or more generations, all together in one photograph. As people get older material stuff becomes much less important as gifts.

So, older people become much harder to buy gifts for. But a family portrait, of their children and grandchildren all together becomes a much more important, sought after thing and in many ways is the perfect gift.

There are two parts to this and this and this is why a three generation family portraits make such great gifts. The obvious part is the picture itself. And this is something that grandparents always love to have and show off to their friends. The other bit is that it means getting all the family together in one place for a hours. Many families are spread across the country, or across continents. So this can take a bit of planning but it’s always a great occasion because some of the siblings might not have seen each other for a while.

Something for all parts of the family

As well as the full family group, we also have the opportunity to take portraits of all the grandchildren, the smaller sub-divisions of the family such was a son, his partner and kids or their daughter with her partner and children and so one. These smaller groups often mack great presents for grandparents to give to their children and are often ordered secretly.

Cousins living far apart and might not know each other very well and get the chance to reconnect and renew friendships. I remember one family portrait session taken to mark a golden wedding. Their son lived in Japan and spoke fluent Japanese. His wife was Japanese and the main language at their home was Japanese so their young children didn’t speak much English. If you’ve ever watched a bunch of two, three and four year olds playing together you’ll have noticed that the can communicate really well without speaking much. Watching all these young children playing together as I photographed them was pure magic.

You can see more examples of my family portraits here. If you’d like to have a chat about a session please call 01925 471091 or you can make a reservation here.

I love winter portrait sessions. Well I love every season as each season gives different types of light. Mother Nature is constantly changing which keeps things fresh and interesting. This lifestyle family portrait photography session was taken in Didsbury, South Manchester last winter. We had a very narrow window between rain showers and failing light, so we did the whole shoot in the family’s garden. That limited the selection of backgrounds I could use, but still gave me something interesting to work with.

Why I like photographing in Didsbury

Didsbury is an interesting area for lifestyle portrait photography. Many of the homes there date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and have good sized gardens and high ceilings in many of the rooms.

Fixed or zoom lenses?

I shot these photographs with a Canon 5D4 with a 50mm lens for the groups and an 85mm lens for the individual portraits. This combination suits me well.

It’s less convenient than using a couple of zoom lenses but fixed focal length lenses make you think differently about the compositions. If you want to zoom in or out then you step forward or backwards. I’m often asked about this by assuring photographers and it’s something I strongly recommend. I use zoom lenses for events and wedding work when you have to work really quickly but when I’ve a little more time, I prefer prime lenses.

When I did this session the natural light was failing fast and we had very heavy cloud. I used my Profoto B2 Off Camera Flash and a soft box to supplement the natural light. I also used my trusty Lastolite reflectors which I use all the time. Fortunately there was no wind but it was fairly chilly so we had to work quickly and only brought people outside as we needed them.

Editing, choosing and framing

The week after the session I edited the photographs. I cropped them and adjusted the colour and contrast to give me a pleasing result that would suit this family’s taste and style. I also made a few black and white copies to show them. They ordered a selection of photographs, for which I designed the bespoke frames for them and then had them made. They are unique reminders of a time in the life of one family that they will treasure forever.

How about a session for you and your family?

If you like the photos you’ve seen on this post why not contact us about a session for your family. Please call 01925 471091 or check out our availability here.

Scroll down to view the photographs.