Family Photographer in Ilford
Family and children's photography in Ilford, in Valentines Park, at home, with albums and wall art to follow.
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Family sessions in Ilford's parks · free consultation
Serving Ilford
Family sessions in Valentines Park and at home
- Included in the session: A relaxed session of usually about an hour, led by the children's mood, with a private online gallery afterwards and the option of prints, framed wall art or a hand-finished album.
- Where we photograph in Ilford: Your home or garden, or a park or open space such as Valentines Park, Valentines Park size or Seven Kings Park. We travel from Northwood, about 21 miles away, by arrangement. Newborn sessions can be photographed at your home, or at the Northwood studio if you prefer.
- To book: Ring or WhatsApp 07956 505383, or leave your details in the form below.
Family sessions can be photographed at Valentines Park, and we travel to Barkingside, Chadwell Heath and Newbury Park on the same basis. Groups run from two people to two dozen, and the headcount changes where we stand more than anything else does. Newborn sessions are the exception: those are done indoors at your own home.
Worth mentioning when you book: whether a pram, a wheelchair or anyone who cannot walk far is coming. It decides which entrance we meet at, and how much of the session stays within a short walk of it.
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Local and experienced
How an Ilford family session runs
Sessions run for roughly an hour, photographed in short bursts with breaks between them, because that is how small children genuinely behave. Nobody is asked to hold a smile through the gaps, and the camera keeps running while they are happening.
You get the arranged frames and the unarranged ones in the same set. Everybody leaves with the picture that has all the faces in it, and with the ones where nobody was looking, which are usually the ones that end up on a wall.
Recent work
Every generation, in one gallery
Places for a family shoot in and around Ilford
For a relaxed family shoot, open space and easy access matter more than grand scenery. Here are some places in and around Ilford, each summarised from a linked source. Travel from Northwood is set out in your written quote before you book.
- Clayhall Park (IG5 0EB), a Green Flag park, has a formal rose garden with a small wheelchair-accessible maze, a pagoda, an avenue of mature horse chestnuts and two play areas for younger and older children. 1
- Valentines Mansion was built around 1696 for Elizabeth Tillotson, widow of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and given its Georgian appearance in the 1760s by Sir Charles Raymond. 2
- Valentines Park, run for Redbridge by Vision RCL, holds a Green Flag Award and has a 300-year-old field maple, ornamental gardens, flowering meadows, two cafés and the Grade II* listed Valentines Mansion. 3
- Ilford War Memorial Gardens on Eastern Avenue (IG2 7JY), created in the early 1920s from a public appeal, hold the memorial to the 1,159 Ilford men killed in the First World War, unveiled by Princess Louise on 11 November 1922, and a Memorial Hall bearing their names. 4
- Valentines Park size. Valentines Park, opened in 1899 as Cranbrook Park, covers 52 hectares (130 acres) and is the largest green space in the London Borough of Redbridge. 5
- Newbury Park bus shelter. The bus shelter at Newbury Park station, designed by Oliver Hill with a copper-covered barrel-vaulted roof, opened in 1949, won a Festival of Britain architectural award in 1951 and is Grade II listed. 6
Sources
Good to know
Family Photographer in Ilford, FAQs
Mostly. Valentines Park gives children enough room that they stop noticing us within about ten minutes, and the bulk of the set is photographed in that state: walking, being carried, arguing about a coat. Two or three frames are arranged, because there is always somebody who wants one with nobody missing from it. Dress everyone in tones that agree instead of matching outfits, since matching reads as posed.
Because you get a named place and a named hour rather than an adjective. We would meet you at Valentines Park in the last two hours before sunset, work the open ground while the light is low and warm, and keep the mansion frontage back for the arranged group frame, since a building gives a group something solid to sit against. Rain moves it to Northwood rather than cancelling it.
Around an hour in the park is typical. Newborn sessions at home allow time for feeds and naps, and toddlers get breaks on the grass between frames. Children set the pace, and the hour stretches if it needs to.
It is a working room at The Broadway, 21 Joel St, Northwood HA6, with a clear floor and nothing at toddler height worth pulling over. For Ilford families the journey is the real question, though, so a local session is usually simpler.
It happens, and it truly does not worry us. Tears, wriggles and unexpected naps are part of any baby session, so we simply pause, soothe your baby and continue. A grumpy first ten minutes seldom decides how the gallery turns out.
Serving Ilford
A family photographer near Ilford
As a Greater London family photographer based in Northwood, we travel to Ilford and the towns around it. It sits close to Redbridge and Newham, which we cover too. From Northwood it is about 21 miles to Ilford, so for a family session travel from Northwood is set out in your written quote before you book.
Valentines Park, opened in 1899 as Cranbrook Park, covers 52 hectares and is the largest green space in the London Borough of Redbridge. For a smaller group, South Park is another option: an Edwardian park with a large lake and mature trees, holding a 2026 Green Flag Award. With flowering meadows, ornamental gardens and two cafés, Valentines Park gives an Ilford family space to spread out, and Valentines Mansion adds a period backdrop for the group picture.
More in Ilford
More photography services in Ilford
The same photographer, experience and personal care apply to every service we offer in Ilford. Explore the rest: we also cover family photography across Greater London, including Heathrow, South Harrow, South Ruislip, Pinner, Chiswick and Park Royal.
Guides
Family guides for Ilford
How it works
How we work in Ilford
We are based in Northwood, about 21 miles from Ilford, so a family session there would normally be outdoors or at your home. Family sessions are photographed on location, with lighting brought in as needed.
Kaushik Bathia, FBIPP and FMPA and holder of five European Kodak Gold Awards, photographs every Ilford family session himself and has worked from Northwood since 2001.
Popular sessions
Families in Ilford often book around a milestone: a maternity photoshoot before the birth, a cake smash photoshoot near Ilford at one, christening photography on the day, a birthday photoshoot later on, and a Christmas photoshoot for the cards each December.
I was nervous about my newborn's photoshoot but Kaushik made the experience unforgettable. He knew how to handle my two week old baby with care. The pictures came out very beautiful.
Based in London
Book your Ilford shoot
Tell us what you'd like to capture in Ilford and we'll send availability, ideas and pricing.