Cake box on the Met line
From Amersham, Chesham or Chalfont & Latimer the Metropolitan line runs to Northwood Hills, two minutes from the studio, if the train suits you better than the car.
Cake Smash Photoshoots for Buckinghamshire Families
A first birthday session for one-year-olds from Denham to the Vale of Aylesbury, held at the Northwood studio, with a family walk in a Bucks park as an optional follow-on.
The short answer
Where can I book a cake smash photoshoot in Buckinghamshire?
Cake smash sessions run at the Northwood studio on Joel Street, about 4 miles from Denham, 6 from Gerrards Cross and 10 from Amersham, and the backdrop and props are ready at the studio. The best age is around 12 months, usually 11 to 13, once your baby can sit confidently. Allow one to two hours. Prices are given on request by phone or WhatsApp, and travel for any follow-on family session at your home is set out in your written quote.
Our usual session area is within about 20 miles of the studio. Further out in Buckinghamshire, sessions are by arrangement, with travel quoted in writing before you book.
We had a baby and family photo shoot with Kaushik over the weekend. He was extremely professional and very good with our baby! He has all the tricks and toys to make our little one smile and laugh during the shoot (which kept us entertained too!) would highly recommend Kaushik for baby photo shoots! Many thanks for capturing such beautiful photos for us!
Kaushik has photographed my wife and me for the bump to baby photo shoot. We really enjoyed it. He knows how to make us smile and look happy and relaxed. We really appreciate his work and we look forward to meet him on our next appointment for the newborn photo shoot! Thank you again Kaushik!
Amazing experience with Kaushik photography. Pictures came out very high quality. The studio is also very nice and family friendly. The photographer there took his time to capture very memorable detail and that meant a lot to my family and I. I’ll definitely recommend Kaushik Bathia
Timing
Fitting a first birthday smash around a Chiltern morning drive
Pick a date close to the first birthday, then plan the morning backwards from the studio door. From Marlow, about 16 miles out, or High Wycombe, about 15, the car ride is long enough for a full nap, which can work in your favour: a baby who dozes on the way in can arrive ready to play. From Denham, about 4 miles away, the drive is too short for that, so let the nap happen at home before you set off.
If your child's brightest hour is mid-morning, that is the slot to ask for. Later in the day a one-year-old who has missed a sleep is harder to engage, however tempting the cake looks. When you call, say how long the weekday drive from your part of Buckinghamshire takes and when your baby usually sleeps, and the start time can be chosen around both.
How it runs
From the car park to the cake: a Bucks morning at the studio
Arrive with a few minutes in hand for a feed and a nappy change after the drive. The session opens with neat portraits in a smart outfit, which is the moment for parents or an older sibling from Amersham or Gerrards Cross to join a first birthday group before anything gets sticky. Then the outfit changes, the cake goes down and the camera follows whatever your child decides to do with it, from one cautious finger to both fists.
Interest in the cake rarely lasts long at this age, and that is fine. The studio session can finish with a splash, and nothing is forced: if your baby has had enough, we stop, and there is time to get them warm and dressed for the drive home to Bucks. Allow one to two hours in all, with the journey on top.
Where
The Joel Street studio, a short trip from the Chalfonts
At the studio the backdrop and props are ready, and the mess stays out of your house. It sits on the Joel Street parade, two minutes from Northwood Hills station on the Metropolitan line, the same line that serves Amersham, Chesham and Chalfont & Latimer. Families in Denham, Gerrards Cross and Chalfont St Peter are about 4 to 6 miles away by road.
Getting a one-year-old to Northwood is easier than it sounds from most of south Bucks. From the Chalfonts the drive is about 6 to 7 miles, and from Amersham or Chesham the Metropolitan line means a pushchair and a cake box can come by train. The national cake smash photoshoot page shows how the studio session looks.
Cake and clothes
A smash-friendly cake and a simple colour theme
Please bring the cake. A soft sponge with plenty of frosting is the easiest to smash, while firm icing or a tall tiered cake can defeat a small pair of hands. Pick a colour theme of one or two shades and let the cake, the outfit and any small decoration follow it, because a simple palette keeps the pictures clean and lets your child's face lead.
For the outfit, plain clothes in a theme colour work better than busy prints, and bring a full change for afterwards. Pack plenty of wipes, a towel and a favourite toy for the moment attention wanders. If the birthday falls in a Buckinghamshire winter, layers for the journey home after the splash are worth adding to the bag.
Around the first year
The follow-on: a birthday walk in Lowndes Park or Black Park
Brothers, sisters and grandparents are welcome for the clean portraits at the start. If you would also like relaxed family pictures nearer home, that is a separate family session in Buckinghamshire, at your house or in a park, with travel from Northwood set out in your written quote before you book. Lowndes Park in Chesham opened a new playground in 2025 and has woodland walks towards the Pednor Valley, while Black Park near Wexham has a lake, pine stands and a children's play area.
The smash can close a year of pictures that began with a newborn session at home, which the Buckinghamshire newborn page covers, with a sitter session in between if you like. For how baby portraits run across that first year, see baby photography.
Planning
Planning around Buckinghamshire
Mind the M40 nap
From High Wycombe or Marlow the drive to Northwood is 15 to 16 miles; a baby who sleeps in the car can arrive rested if you plan for it.
A park on another day
Lowndes Park's pond and woodland paths suit a gentler family session after the birthday, at your pace and close to home in Chesham.
Pack the bag
A change of clothes, plenty of wipes, a towel, a favourite toy and warm layers for the trip home to Bucks after the splash.
Parks for a first-birthday walk in Buckinghamshire
These Buckinghamshire parks and playgrounds, with their sources, suit a relaxed family walk or a separate outdoor session around the first birthday.
- Frays Farm Meadows: Frays Farm Meadows, 29 hectares of wet grazing meadow next to Denham Lock Wood and partly designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest, is grazed by cattle and managed by London Wildlife Trust, which requires dogs to be on a lead. 1
- Langley Park Country Park: Langley Park Country Park (Billet Lane, Iver, SL0 0LS) is known for the rhododendrons of its Temple Gardens, which flower from April to June with views towards Windsor Castle. 2
- Commons byelaws on vehicles and golf: The Commons Act byelaws for Gold Hill and Austenwood Commons ban riding a cycle or bringing a vehicle onto the commons without the parish council's consent, and ban driving, chipping or pitching golf balls there. 3
- Forestry England dog guidance: Forestry England asks dog walkers in its woods, including Hodgemoor, to bag and take home dog waste, take care around water and follow on-site notices about wildlife such as ground-nesting birds. 4
- Black Park Country Park dog rules: Buckinghamshire Council's country parks, including Black Park, welcome dogs but bar them from play areas, fenced heathland and Black Park's Foxley Copse dog-free picnic area. 5
Sources, facts checked October 2026
Town by town
Coming to the studio from Buckinghamshire
Each Buckinghamshire town below is listed with its distance from the Northwood studio, to help you plan the drive to the cake smash around a morning nap.
- Denham (4 miles from the studio)
- Gerrards Cross (6 miles from the studio)
- Chalfont St Peter (6 miles from the studio)
- Chalfont St Giles (7 miles from the studio)
- Amersham (10 miles from the studio)
- Beaconsfield (11 miles from the studio)
- Chesham (11 miles from the studio)
- Bourne End (13 miles from the studio)
- High Wycombe (15 miles from the studio)
- Marlow (16 miles from the studio)
- Princes Risborough (20 miles from the studio)
- Aylesbury (23 miles from the studio)
- Milton Keynes (34 miles from the studio)
- Buckingham (37 miles from the studio)
Good to know
Cake smash photoshoots in Buckinghamshire: questions answered
Call or WhatsApp 07956 505383 and the current cake smash price is given then. The smash itself is at the Northwood studio; if you add a family session at your Buckinghamshire home, the travel from Northwood is shown in your written quote before you book.
No. Every cake smash takes place at the Northwood studio, where the backdrop and props are ready. What can happen near home is a separate family session, at your house or in a park such as Black Park or Lowndes Park, with travel from Northwood set out in your written quote before you book.
Beaconsfield is about 10 miles from the Northwood studio, a short drive from the Old Town. Book a mid-morning slot, feed your baby before you leave and let the car ride be a quiet rest. The smash itself happens at the Northwood studio, where the backdrop and props are ready.
No, because the smash happens indoors at the Northwood studio whatever the weather on the Chilterns. Allow extra time for the drive on frosty or wet mornings and bring a warm layer for the trip home. An outdoor family session to go with it is better saved for a drier, lighter month in a park such as Bourton Park in Buckingham or Lowndes Park in Chesham.
Yes. Siblings and parents can join the clean portraits before the cake comes out, which gives you a first birthday family group. You may prefer to keep the smash itself for the birthday child; if an older sibling would love to help, tell us and we will plan it in.
Allow one to two hours. That covers the clean portraits, the cake and, at the studio, the splash finish, with time for a feed or a cuddle in between. For families coming from Chesham, Wycombe or further, build the journey into your morning as well.
Yes. Milton Keynes is about 34 miles from the studio and Buckingham about 37, so the cake smash means a morning drive to Northwood. Choose a late-morning slot so your baby can nap on the way. A separate family session at your home can be arranged by phone or WhatsApp, with the cost of that trip written into your quote.
Yes. A first birthday portrait works perfectly well with no smash at all, since the tidy portraits that open every cake smash session are just that. You can also choose a simple portrait session instead and keep the cake for the party in Buckinghamshire.
Kaushik Bathia, FBIPP and FMPA, photographs every session personally and has done so from the Northwood studio since 2001, with five European Kodak Gold Awards along the way.
First birthday coming up?
Book a cake smash for your Bucks one-year-old
Tell us the birthday and your town in Buckinghamshire, and we will suggest a studio date and time around your baby's routine and the drive.
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