I’m often asked where I would recommend as a good location for family photo sessions. I think it’s quite a personal choice about where you’d like to have your photos taken. With all my family sessions I want to capture you & your family as you are, no forced poses, nothing awkward, just documenting genuine moments that remind you of a happy time together and which you will keep coming back to again and again. With that in mind, these are my top 5 suggested locations:
Your choice - One of the first and most important things I always suggest is to have your photographs taken somewhere you feel comfortable and completely at ease. This will be different for each person, but if there’s somewhere you’d particularly like to be or regularly enjoy visiting as a family then choose that.
At home - It might seem like the most obvious choice, but often families who contact me assume that they need to ‘go somewhere’ to have their photo taken. You don’t. There’s nothing better than being in your own comfortable surroundings at home. It might not be ideal for everyone and for some there’s a level of anxiety about making things ‘perfect’ before inviting in any guests . You definitely don’t need to worry about that. Just be yourselves and think of me as a welcome family member who is happy to come and spend time with you as you are.
Outdoors - I’m a huge fan of being outdoors. You can get your steps in too - two birds with one stone and all. Any location is good - local parks, local walking routes. Anywhere you feel happy to roam.
National trust venues - Another outdoor venue of course, but with a number of locations to choose from round and about Manchester - Lyme Park, Tatton Park, Quarry Bank Mill, Dunham Massey to name a few, it seems wrong not to give them their own unique mention. There’s also the added bonus of seasonal events, a good national trust shop, cafe & facilities, to make it into more of a day out, if you’d like to. I think Lyme Park deserves a special mention for being the location of the ‘Mr Darcey lake scene’.
Around Chorlton, Didsbury & Sale - Incase you need some more food for thought, and as they’re local to me, here are a few of the locations where I’ve photographed families: Chorlton: Chorlton Ees, Chorlton Water Park, Longford Park, Alexandra Park (technically more Whalley Range I guess) Sale: Walkden Gardens, Sale Water Park Didsbury: Fletcher Moss Gardens, Didsbury Park
If you’d like to find out more about my family sessions, get yourself a copy of my family brochure.