What does an 'Extended Family' photo shoot in the cotswolds with claire westaway photography look like?

Visiting the Cotswolds with family and want to document your time together?

Live near Cheltenham and having a family reunion?

Organising a photo shoot while you’re all together is a great way to take advantage of having everyone together and getting the photos you’ve always wanted.

A large family group stand together in front of the of the lake and pump rooms at Pittville Park in Cheltenham as part of an extended family photo shoot with Claire Westaway Photography. It is autumn and golden leaves are on the ground.

Let me talk you through a typical Extended Family session…

 

The Whole Group Shot

I will often start with this shot as it’s the most important. Getting a large group of people together for a photo, especially when children are involved, can pose its challenges so it’s always best to get it done early on. Then if there’s time we can always try and get an additional shot later in a different location.

With this family, we got a range of whole group shots at the beginning of the session, stood in front of the lake at Pittville Park. And then we took this second one about half way through the shoot on the steps of the Pump Rooms.

You’ll see that I always aim to get the one shot of everyone looking at the camera as well as ones where people are interacting with each other and enjoying each other’s company.

 
A family of two parents and two children walk hand in hand next to a lake with their back to the camera on a family photo shoot in Cheltenham

Smaller Group Shots

In preparing for your extended family photo session, I will write out a list of all the small group combinations I think you would like and I will run this by you before hand to check you are happy.

These could include:

  • family groups, e.g. parents and children - of any age!

  • siblings or cousins

  • couples

These photos tend to be a bit more relaxed and informal than the whole group shot. I run these like a mini photo session, playing games with small children and looking for genuine, natural moments.

 
a young boy looks up at the camera smiling whilst holding his dad's hand.

Portraits

Time allowing, if children and teenagers are involved, I will always try and get an individual portrait of each of them.

Again, I make it as relaxed and natural as possible so their real personality really shines through.

a teenage boy with curly hair looks directly at the camera smiling for a family photo shoot in the cotswolds
 
Two parents and their teenage sons stand together in front of the lake in Pittville Park. They are looking at each other and laughing on a cheltenham family photo shoot

Location

With a large group of people on a photo shoot., choosing the right location is key so that everyone feels comfortable and we’re also not causing a traffic jam!

  • Your home/garden if you are local or the holiday home you are staying in may well work perfectly. I would need details of the kinds of spaces available and wet-weather options etc before making a decision but it’s definitely one to consider.

  • You may be staying in a hotel and in which case it’s up to the venue to give permission for us to hold a photo session in the hotel grounds.

  • We could use one of the locations I use regularly.

In the case of these photographs, Pittville Park in the centre of Cheltenham works brilliantly.

  • I take my families on a little route around the park so we can make use of the different spaces: the lake, the bridge, the bandstand and the pump rooms.

  • There is plenty of space for a larger group of people

  • There are plenty of paths and accessible walk ways. This is particularly important is there is a range of ages and also depending on the season of your photo session. The shoot in these photographs was in the autumn so we avoided the mud and grass!

 

The Extended Family Package

I have two payment options for a large group photo session:

Option 1

  • You select one of my standard base session fees (week-day £345/week-end and school holidays £365) which gives you the 2 hour photo session and 5 digital images to keep.

  • Once you have viewed your gallery you can then choose to purchase further images and/or prints using my 3 upgrade packages which are set out on my website.

  • With this option, there is an additional fee for each person over a group of 6. This is because of the extra work it takes in running the session and editing the photos with a large group. The extra fee is £25 per person.

  • So, for example, if you chose my weekend/school holiday base fee of £365 and you were a group of 12, there would be an additional fee of £150. So your base fee would total £515.

Option 2

  • I have a specific package for ‘Extended Family’ sessions.

  • You receive the 2 hour photo session and all the digital images from the session for £699.

  • There are no additional fees for extra people and no upgrades.

So, if you would like a relaxed, natural photo shoot in Cheltenham or The Cotswolds to mark a family get-together or reunion, why not get in touch and we’ll start planning your session!

Claire WestawayClaire Westaway PhotographyComment