A Gowanus Family Portrait
I have a short and sweet blog this week sharing photos of Anna’s Gowanus family portrait session. While I am not normally a fan of starting a family portrait at a playground, the Gowanus neighborhood in Brooklyn does not have a lot of photogenic locations in the traditional sense. Despite this aesthetic challenge, Anna’s session produced some fantastic photos, and I have all the details for you today.
Meet Anna and Her Son
I had the pleasure of photographing Anna and her son two years ago after they had just moved into their Brooklyn apartment. It was a fun session, filled with pancakes and toy trains. The photo of Anna and her son in matching jammies was my favorite shot of the day.
The Ennis Playground
For this year’s portrait we decided to start down the street at the Ennis Playground. This is one of the city’s newest playgrounds, and it has all the fancy jungle gym equipment a child could ever want. In addition, there are fountains and some lovely plants. That said, there are also ugly gates surrounding the plants, and on our visit, there was trash everywhere thanks to someone’s party the night before. No matter, we made great use of the swings, slide, and climbing apparatuses.
I began the session on a bench off to the side of the park. I didn’t want Anna’s son to get too excited about the playground, so I held off on the playground proper as a reward for the photo session.
Colorful Murals as Backdrops
After taking photos on the bench, we moved across the street to a fun mural I found during my venue check of the area. The sea life motif gave Anna and her son the chance to do their best baby shark impression. Check out Anna’s son with his best crab face! If you are in the area and are looking for another beautiful mural as a background, I might recommend the abstract mural on the front of the Lowe’s building at the corner of 11th Street and 2nd Avenue.
Full Stop Playground
After the mural shots, we hit the playground hardcore. We started on the slides and then moved over to the swings. We ended the playground session with some walks across a tiny patch of Astroturf. ‘Make do with what the Lord gives you, no matter how tiny the patch of green,’ I always say.
Gowanus Neighborhood Photos
Anna and her son live nearby, so the final part of their Gowanus family portrait session involved walking back to their apartment and taking some local shots along the way. Anna also needed a good photo for her social media profile, so of course we took care of that as well.
Finally, we took photos on their apartment stoop for one last solid family portrait – this time with plenty of pumpkin.
It was a great session, and I am looking forward to photographing Anna and her son next year when hopefully masks will not be required. Enjoy the photos, and I’ll have more family memories for you next week.
Thinking about scheduling a family portrait session for the holidays? Now is the time before it gets too cold outside. Drop me a line, and let’s chat about your photography needs!
If you would like to see more images from my family portrait portfolio, then please visit my website — KellyWilliamsPhotographer.com
