Botany Bay, Margate.
You might be wondering why a Hertfordshire bumpkin is offering beach sessions for 2027?
Well… because they are pure magic.
There’s just something about the beach that you can’t quite recreate anywhere else. The huge open sky, the wind, the movement, bare feet in the sand and children with space to just be.
No standing still. No worrying about keeping clean. No asking anyone to smile at the camera.
Just running, paddling, climbing, cuddling, getting a little bit wet and probably going home with sand absolutely everywhere.
And photographically, it gives me so much to play with. The light on the sea, the enormous skies, the texture of the sand and cliffs, the wind catching hair and clothes. It all creates photographs that feel a little wild, a little nostalgic and full of movement.
Yes, it means travelling. And yes, when you live in Hertfordshire, the beach isn't exactly on the doorstep.
But that's part of why I love the idea of making a day of it.
Pack the car, bring a change of clothes, let the children paddle, have chips on the beach afterwards and let the photography session become part of the memory rather than the whole reason for the trip.
Because sometimes it's worth travelling a little further for photographs that feel completely different.
But is it worth travelling from Hertfordshire for a family photography session?
I really think it is.
Not because you need to travel somewhere beautiful to have meaningful photographs, some of my favourite sessions happen in ordinary places close to home.
As a Hertfordshire family photographer, I absolutely love our woods, fields and all the wild little places we have here. But the beach gives us something completely different.
It becomes more than just a photoshoot.
It's a day your family actually remembers. The drive there, sandy toes, getting soaked by a wave you definitely thought wasn't going to reach you, tired children and that salty, windswept feeling at the end of the day.
And the photographs become part of that memory.
That, for me, is where the magic is.
So for 2027, alongside my usual family photography sessions across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, I’ll be offering a small number of beach sessions for families who fancy a little adventure.
If you’re based in Hitchin, Letchworth, Stevenage or elsewhere across Hertfordshire and have always fancied family photographs by the sea, these sessions are for you.
A little bit of Fern & Wild, just with considerably more sand.
