Hardest Family Portrait Session
The hardest Family Portrait Session is not by any means about the family involved in fact they were probably one of the easiest families I’ve worked with over the past 7 years as a family photographer; this is all about the weather. I’ve been caught out in some strange conditions over the years, photographing while bouncing around a boat, rain pouring, even cancelling or rescheduling sessions because of flooding and even a cyclone on one occasion in Croatia.
New Year 2023 was very much a miserable weekend as we entered 2023. The winds were howling and rain just pouring down with no end in sight. Granted, if we started the session any earlier we would have been looking more like we had taken a fully clothed dip in the sea as opposed to getting caught in torrential rain, which there is a difference, believe me, I’ve experienced it all, just not extreme cold, that’s not for me. During the session, the winds sent the rain horizontally, so I constantly had to clean my lenses as I used them to remove raindrops. Despite clearing my lenses, many shots ended up with loads of fuzzy drops in the shot. Thanks to trusty Photoshop, I could do some major damage control, although I was still left with a few key shots with noticeable spotting on them, that’s the way it works sometimes. At least this shows quite how horrendous the weather was during that day.
I have fallen in love with the location of this shoot, on Rustington Beach. With beautiful coloured beach huts, a grassy green, a large rock outcrop and ultimately the beach itself of sand and sea. I cannot wait to be able to have some sunny family moments in this location. The upside to having the session during miserable weather is the fact that generally, most people are not out and about to photobomb in the background of all the photographs so it’s easy to get uninterrupted shots, not requiring any editing to remove any unwanted public.
The family were such good sports during this session. The rain poured but they were full of smiles and happy to get a variety of shots without complaint from the kids. In about 30 minutes or so, I managed to capture as many shots and variety as I have done in other sessions that have lasted an hour where we change location a lot more dramatically and kids decide they don’t really want to smile or do what is asked. Every member of the family did their bit to get great shots as quickly as possible to then escape the rain. The blessing of the location meant that we had a great variety of backgrounds and landscapes to play with, within just 200m so it seems like we changed a lot but the reality was we started on the top green with the beach huts, moved to the other side of the beach huts and carried on down towards the sea and captured shots looking both directions. With the sun hidden behind the heavy clouds, it meant we were not restricted to the direction of light, only by the power of rain in the face compared to the sun in the eyes. In this location it would be great to capture it in drier weather conditions then even more variety can be included in such a small area as clients are able to sit down or lie down if they wish without fear of being completely wet and dirty.
I do love shots where families walk together towards and away from me. They always have one of two reactions, they relax and create wonderfully natural shots, or they feel uncomfortable but then start laughing away which also creates just as fantastic shots. Large groups of families or even friends, create wonderful dynamics and with a little bit of imagination from a few members, things can get creative quickly for unique shots.
