Paced for children
St James's Park sessions built round the pelicans, because a distracted child photographs far better than a posed one.
Family Photographer in Westminster
Relaxed family photography in Westminster, at home or beside the lake in St James's Park, with prints, frames, canvases and albums to keep.
★★★★★ Rated 4.8 from 580+ reviews
Family sessions in Westminster's Royal Parks by permit · free consultation
Westminster and nearby
Family sessions by the lake in St James's Park
- What the session includes: 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 Westminster: Your home or garden, or a park or open space such as St James's Park, Victoria Tower Gardens or Paddington Recreation Ground. We travel from Northwood, about 14 miles away. Newborn sessions can be photographed at your home, or at the Northwood studio if you prefer.
- To book: Call 07956 505383, send a WhatsApp message to the same number, or use the enquiry form on this page.
Plan on forty minutes of real photography inside an hour's booking, taken in short goes with sitting-down time in between and no march across the park to somewhere better, since walking is what uses a child up rather than photographing. If the rain comes in, the whole booking moves indoors and nothing is lost.
The frame that includes everyone is made first, while patience lasts, and then it breaks down: parents, children, each child by themselves. Everyone present receives the identical gallery, without anybody chasing copies later.
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We had a fun one hour family portrait session recently.Kaushik was friendly and patient during the whole session,he made every effort to make us smile,giggle which came out in the photos.The photos are lovely and we placed an order for 3 big frames. Thank you !
Had a lovely experience with the family photo shoot. Friendly man made us feel very comfortable and took some amazing shots
Highly professional and took very nice pictures of our family, most impressed. Will surely be coming back in the future. Thank you
What we offer
Family photography in Westminster
Newborn and baby sittings
Newborns and rained-off bookings happen indoors where you live in Westminster, on the baby's clock rather than ours.
Extended family groups
Group frame first, then parents, then each child alone; the whole family receives the same gallery.
Why choose us
Patient and relaxed with children
Young children get patience and play from us, so they soon forget about the camera. With three generations, we arrange the group around the oldest relative. Their seat is placed first and everyone else gathers around it.
Covering every grouping in one visit is why a family session runs longer than the photography alone might suggest. An album runs in order, opening on the whole group and ending on the youngest child.
Recent work
From our family sessions
Royal Parks and riverside gardens in Westminster for a family session
Here are Westminster parks and gardens where children could explore between pictures, with notes on permits where the Royal Parks require them. A family session in a Royal Park needs a permit from the park office, so that would be arranged before your date. Travel from Northwood is set out in your written quote before you book.
- St James's Park, the Royal Park bordered by three royal palaces, looks along The Mall to Buckingham Palace and has kept pelicans by its lake since 1664, when a Russian ambassador gave them to Charles II. 1
- Riverside Walk Garden between Millbank and the Thames, created in 1965 and re-landscaped in 2004, displays Henry Moore's bronze Locking Piece, on loan since 1968. 2
- Paddington Recreation Ground, 27 acres behind the mansion blocks of Maida Vale, has a 400 m athletics track, a cricket pitch with nets, tennis courts, a 3G football pitch, a fitness trail, a café and a wildlife area. 3
- Victoria Embankment Gardens on Villiers Street (WC2N 6NS), part of Sir Joseph Bazalgette's chain of Embankment open spaces opened in 1865, has formal floral displays including its Tropical Border and a summer bandstand. 4
- Royal Parks photography permits. Wedding, civil partnership and lifestyle photography in the Royal Parks needs a wedding and lifestyle photography permit from the park office, each covering up to ten people for one hour. 5
Sources
Good to know
Family Photographer in Westminster, FAQs
Yes, please do join in. A family session is about being together, so parents belong in the pictures. We start with the whole family, then smaller groups and each child alone, so you have every combination.
Most family sessions last about an hour, and we do not rush the end. With a newborn or toddler we allow extra time for feeds, naps and cuddles. The children set the pace and we follow it.
A baby who still feeds every couple of hours should not be carried across Westminster for a photograph, and St James's Park in February is no place for one either. We arrive with lights and work between feeds. Set aside two or three hours; much of that is waiting rather than photographing.
It is, though Westminster to Northwood is a journey, and that weighs more than the room does. The Broadway, 21 Joel St, Northwood HA6 is warm, private and has floor space to crawl about on, which earns the trip in January or when you want a plain backdrop behind everyone. From April to October, St James's Park is the easier answer and the pelicans do half the work.
The turnaround is quick, so there is little waiting involved. Once the session wraps up, we select and edit your best images by hand, then share them in a private online gallery. Choosing prints, canvases or an album can then happen at your leisure.
Serving Westminster
A family photographer near Westminster
Westminster is about 14 miles from Northwood, and we come to families across the borough. It sits close to Camden and Kensington and Chelsea, which we cover too. For Westminster families we work at home, outdoors, and travel from Northwood is set out in your written quote before you book.
St James's Park, a Royal Park bordered by three royal palaces, looks along The Mall to Buckingham Palace, and pelicans have lived by its lake since 1664. For families coming by Underground, Westminster station on Bridge Street is served by the Circle, District and Jubilee lines. Outdoor sessions in St James's Park need a Royal Parks wedding and lifestyle photography permit from the park office, which covers up to ten people for one hour, so larger families are worth mentioning early.
More in Westminster
More photography services in Westminster
The same photographer, experience and personal care apply to every service we offer in Westminster. Explore the rest: we also cover family photography across London, including Newham, Kingston upon Thames, Enfield, Ealing and the City of London.
St James's Park is the ground for a family sitting in Westminster, and the pelicans are the reason more than the lake or the view up to Buckingham Palace. A small child asked to look into a lens gives roughly two minutes. The same child watching a bird nearly its own size forgets there is a camera present, and almost everything a parent keeps comes out of the second state rather than the first. The trade is that a child looking at something is a child looking away, so the pictures get built by walking ourselves round the group instead of asking anybody to turn and perform. How everyone arrives decides more than it appears to. Families coming by Underground carry whatever they bring for the full length of the session: one bag, one change of clothes for whoever is likeliest to need it, and the snack held back until it is worth something. If three generations are coming, the thing worth checking is where the group can sit down, not what stands behind them, because how long an older relative stays comfortable sets the real length of the booking. Weather and babies are where outdoors stops making sense. For an infant too young to be walked round a park in February, the park is wrong and so is a train out to Northwood; we photograph indoors where you live instead, in the warm, to the child's clock rather than ours. Older children in steady rain are the same decision, reached faster.
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Guides
Family guides for Westminster
A few journal guides worth reading before a family session in St James's Park or at home in Westminster.
What the family might wear for a Royal Parks session
Read the guide
Fun Family Sessions With Kids
Read the guide
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How it works
Westminster sessions, on location
We travel to Westminster from Northwood (about 14 miles) rather than asking you to travel to us. In Westminster that usually means your home or St James's Park, with lighting brought along for indoor rooms.
Every family session is photographed by Kaushik Bathia himself, FBIPP and FMPA, who has worked from Northwood since 2001 and holds five European Kodak Gold Awards.
Not in Westminster? See family photography across Central London, where Kaushik comes to you. For every other service, see photography across Central London.
Popular sessions
Families in Westminster often book around a milestone: a maternity photoshoot before the birth, a cake smash photoshoot near Westminster at one, christening photography on the day, a birthday photoshoot later on, and a Christmas photoshoot for the cards each December.
Based in London
Book your Westminster shoot
Tell us what you'd like to capture in Westminster and we'll send availability, ideas and pricing.