Often my lifestyle photography is very pretty and perfect, and it can be a bit girl heavy – I know terrible from a mum of two boys! Well, here is a little celebration of mums with boys, friendships and playing in the woods!

It is just about safe to say that spring is here, which means my lifestyle photography season is around the corner. My lifestyle lens has been hibernating at the back of the cupboard, but it is now all cleaned and ready to go, so armed with a few favorite toys we took it on tour through the woods.

The advantage of lifestyle and/or location photography is that there is so much freedom and time to play, and very little “sit down and smile” – perfect for this group of boys. And actually it was perfect for me as well, the boys are great friends, they have so many great ideas and just got on with playing leaving me to be inspired by all their initiatives.

I love bringing toys/props to shoots, mainly because I know from personal heart-breaking experience how fast my boys are growing up and growing out of playing with certain things. Toys are like little milestones they are part of your children’s life at certain stages and absolutely worth including in pictures. What would be the perfect shoot for your children? What toys do you want to remember, which ones would you bring?

And not forgetting my signature “mum in the picture” images…

It might look like chaos…

I like to think of it as controlled chaos, but I do appreciate that for people just walking past it probably does look a mess, here is a short behind the scenes video…

Lifestyle photography for boys from Dorte Kjaerulff on Vimeo.

 

You know when it is time to go home!

Reveal the location

This series of images were taken in the woods at West Lodge Farm in Northamptonshire. It is one of my favourite locations for family shoots. There are great walks and the vast grounds and woods offers such a variety as a photography location.

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