Clothing advice
Studio or outdoor sittings across Bushey, with light and clothing settled in advance rather than improvised.
Portrait Photographer in Bushey
Portraits for individuals, couples and small groups from Bushey, taken in the Northwood studio or out in the town.
★★★★★ Rated 4.8 from 580+ reviews
Studio in Northwood HA6 · free consultation
For Bushey
Beautiful portrait photography in Bushey
Plan on around an hour for a portrait sitting. We take the frames that need concentration early and loosen off afterwards, because the last twenty minutes are usually when people stop performing for the lens. You see every usable frame rather than a curated handful chosen for you.
Retouching is done only on the frames you pick: colour, skin left with its texture intact, and anything distracting cleared from behind the head. Files arrive sized for print and for screen, and the originals are kept, so a reprint in ten years does not mean sitting again.
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What we offer
Portrait photography in Bushey
Retouched and delivered
An hour in front of the camera, every usable frame shown, and retouching only on the ones you pick.
Edited files delivered
Files sized for print and for screen, with originals kept so a later reprint never means sitting again.
Portraits by an FBIPP fellow
An unhurried sitting, planned in advance
The session is planned beforehand so the hour is well spent, with space left for moments nobody scripted. Plenty of people feel unphotogenic, so the first ten minutes of a sitting go on posture and breathing rather than on anything technical.
For a graduation portrait we take the gown on its own, the gown with family, and one frame without it, because the graduate matters as much as the robes. Digital files can be ordered on their own, or with prints, wall art or an album.
Recent work
Recent portraits from the studio
Outdoor portrait settings around Bushey
A location portrait works when the light, the background and getting there all line up. Some Bushey-area locations follow, each drawn from a published source.
- Mary Forsdyke Garden and Warren Lake Mary Forsdyke Garden and Warren Lake, a 0.7-hectare garden and lake opposite St Peter's Church in Bushey Heath, welcomes dogs; the lake began as an ornamental feature in the grounds of a Victorian house called The Warren and was given to the council in 1961. Source: Mary Forsdyke Garden and Warren Lake | ParksHerts
- King George Recreation Ground dog areas King George Recreation Ground in Bushey has a designated dog-free area alongside areas where dogs are welcome, and its events programme includes an annual dog show. Source: King George Recreation Ground, Bushey | ParksHerts
- King George Recreation Ground King George Recreation Ground opened in 1912 to mark the coronation of King George V, grew to 22 acres in the early 1920s, and has a splash pad, play areas, tennis courts and a café, with dogs welcome in some parts and a dog-free area in others. Source: King George Recreation Ground, Bushey | ParksHerts
- Bushey Rose Garden dog rules Hertsmere Borough Council welcomes dogs in Bushey Rose Garden but requires them to be kept on a short lead at all times and out of the flower beds, and ball games and cycling are not allowed in the garden. Source: Bushey Rose Garden: Frequently Asked Questions | Hertsmere Borough Council
Good to know
Portrait Photographer in Bushey, FAQs
Two options, and you choose on the day. At the Northwood studio we use plain backdrops in a few neutral shades with lighting we control from scratch, which is the reliable choice when the forecast is poor. In Bushey we work with what the location gives and carry portable lighting to lift shadows on dull days. Tell us which you are leaning towards when you book, since the studio has to be held in advance.
We cover Bushey from the studio at The Broadway, 21 Joel St, Northwood HA6, and we cover Aldenham, Elstree and Carpenders Park on the same basis, so relatives spread across those towns can meet at one location instead of two. The choice between the studio and a Bushey location stays open until close to the day, which is worth having in unsettled weather, and you are not committed to either when you first book.
Yes. Bushey is inside the area we cover as standard. Outdoors we would suggest Bushey Rose Garden or the Church of St James by the village pond, and indoors the studio is at The Broadway, 21 Joel St, Northwood HA6. If you have somewhere else in Bushey in mind, send us a photograph of it taken at roughly the time of day you want the session, and we will tell you honestly whether it will work.
Yes, individual sittings are available at the studio or on location. A solo sitting centres on you, with light direction so you look relaxed rather than posed. It might be for a profile, a present or just for you, and the hour is planned around that.
Bring a second outfit and arrive already in the first one, since we would not count on anywhere to change at either Bushey location. Shoes matter more than people expect: the open ground stays damp long after a dry spell, so bring something you can cross wet grass in and keep the good shoes in the bag. A layer for wind is worth having away from the shelter of the garden.
Serving Bushey
A portrait photographer near Bushey
Bushey has long drawn artists: Hubert von Herkomer opened his art school here in 1883, and over its 21 years it attracted some 500 students. It sits close to Watford and Oxhey, which we cover too. Travel from Northwood to Bushey carries no charge, so you can choose the studio or a Bushey setting purely on the look you want.
Hertsmere Borough Council links the town with the Monro Circle of early English watercolourists, and Bushey Museum & Art Gallery on Rudolph Road holds collections on Herkomer. In the old village centre, the Church of St James stands by the pond in a conservation area with buildings from the 18th century and earlier, a quieter backdrop for an outdoor portrait. When a session suits an outdoor setting, Bushey Rose Garden, created in 1913 by Thomas Mawson with Herkomer, is another option.
More in Bushey
More photography services in Bushey
The same studio, experience and personal care apply to every service we offer in Bushey. Explore the rest: We also cover portrait photography across Hertfordshire, including Radlett, Carpenders Park, Hemel Hempstead, Oxhey, Kings Langley and St Albans.
Bushey Rose Garden is a formal garden, and formal is the operative word for anyone sitting for a portrait in it. A garden held to its original design has straight edges, repeated planting and clipped lines running behind the sitter, and those lines do not blur away politely at ordinary portrait distances. Two things follow. The first is that we stand further back and work at a longer focal length than we would on open ground, because distance is what turns a geometric background into tone rather than pattern. The second is that patterned clothing has nothing to gain here. The garden supplies all the repetition a frame can carry, so a plain top in a middle shade, matte rather than shiny, is the safest thing to bring. Colour needs one more thought. Beds in full bloom throw their own colour up onto a face at close range, and a strong warm cast in the skin is harder to correct afterwards than a dull frame is to lift, so we keep a sitter a stride clear of the deepest planting rather than tucking them into it. Season decides more than the forecast does. From midsummer the garden is at its most photogenic and also at its most crowded with colour, and the one slot worth avoiding outright is the middle of a bright day, when the structure casts hard shadow across everything under it. Deep winter strips the place back to bare architecture, and then open ground such as King George Recreation Ground is the better call, since unbroken sky over open ground gives an even light a stripped garden cannot.
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Guides
Portrait guides for Bushey
Reading from our journal for anyone in Bushey preparing for a portrait sitting.
At the studio
Studio sessions for Bushey
It is about 4 miles from Bushey to the studio at The Broadway, 21 Joel St, Northwood HA6 1NU, where plain backdrops and controlled lighting are ready whatever the weather. Portrait sittings need booking, and passport and ID photos, printing, framing, restoration and scanning all take place in the studio itself. Portrait sittings can be booked on any day the studio is open, 10:30 to 18:00 Monday to Saturday or 13:00 to 18:00 on a Sunday, and the backdrops are lit the same way whatever the hour or the weather over Bushey.
Portrait sittings are photographed by Kaushik Bathia, who founded the Northwood studio in 2001, is a fellow of both the BIPP and the MPA, and holds five European Kodak Gold Awards.
Based in London
Book your Bushey shoot
Tell us what you'd like to capture in Bushey and we'll send availability, ideas and pricing.