A Family Photoshoot on Madeira With Young Children

Parents apologise to me a lot. For the toddler who will not stand still, for the baby who needs feeding halfway through, for the six-year-old who has decided that today he does not like photographs.

None of it needs an apology. A child who is behaving perfectly is usually a child who has been told to behave perfectly, and it shows in the frame. What follows is how I actually run family sessions here, and what makes the difference between an hour that works and an hour that everyone endures.

Book the location for logistics, not for drama

The most spectacular places on Madeira involve an hour of mountain road. With a two-year-old in the car that hour costs you the session, because you arrive with a child who has already had enough.

Praia Formosa asks nothing of anybody. Ten minutes from the centre of Funchal, flat ground, easy parking, toilets and cafes on the promenade. I photographed a family of seven there, five children with the youngest at nine months, and nobody had to walk more than fifty metres. The beach hands you three different backdrops inside that distance: volcanic boulders at one end, open pebbles with the headland behind, palm trees on the promenade above.

Santa Catarina Park is the other easy one. Five minutes from most hotels, grass instead of sand, nothing to fall off. A family from Israel spent a February afternoon there with two small children who solved the first twenty minutes of the session on their own by finding the lawn.

Seixal is worth the drive when children are old enough to be interested in where they are. Black sand is strange enough to hold attention, the waves are gentle on calm days, and nobody needs persuading to be there.

Fanal Forest is the one that surprises people. An hour away and an early start. The trees have hollows big enough to stand inside and roots that curve out of the ground. Manuela’s little boy was at the age where everything on the ground needs picking up. Fanal gives a child endless things to find.

The hour matters more than the day

Light and mood both have to line up. Small children only give you one of those reliably.

Early morning is the strongest combination on this island. Streets and beaches are empty, the light is soft, and children are at their best. We started one session in Funchal old town at eight and had the cathedral square almost to ourselves. By ten it is a different place.

Late afternoon works too. The light is warmer, but you are betting against tiredness. If your child naps, book around the nap and tell me. I would rather move an hour than photograph an exhausted family.

Eleven in the morning is not the hour any photographer asks for. I have shot good sessions then anyway. That family of seven had plans for the rest of the day, so eleven was what existed. Volcanic rock at the western end throws enough shade to soften the sun. If the timing you need is awkward, say so. There is usually a way to work with it.

What actually happens in the session

The first ten minutes are for walking and talking. No instructions, no posing. Children need to establish that I am a person with a camera rather than a task to be performed for.

Then I follow the child rather than directing them. A boy picks up a round stone the size of a melon and that becomes the entire game for ten minutes. Nobody planned it, and those are the frames worth keeping, the ones that happen while everyone forgets I am standing there.

With a baby, you wait. A nine month old does not care that there is a camera. So the mother settles the baby, the older ones drift toward the water, and I shoot around the chaos instead of fighting it.

Somewhere in the middle we usually get the group frame everyone came for. It works best after the children have already run about, not before.

Near the end I often ask for a few minutes with just the parents. Different pace, and it is often the only photograph of the two of you together from the whole trip.

What to wear

Colour matters more here than in most places because of the ground. Black sand and dark volcanic rock swallow beige and pale grey. White, denim and strong colour read cleanly against it. That family of seven arrived in white shirts and jeans and it looked right against the dark stone without anyone thinking about it.

Coordinate rather than match. Same palette, different pieces. Five people in identical outfits reads as a uniform.

For children, comfortable beats smart every time. A child in stiff clothes spends the session pulling at them and it is visible in every frame.

Bring a spare set for anyone small. Black sand gets everywhere and the sea is closer than you think.

Practical things worth knowing

Bring water and a snack, especially for an early start. A hungry child ends a session faster than rain does.

Tell me about anything I should know. A child who is shy with strangers, a teenager who hates being photographed, a baby who only settles for one parent. None of this is a problem, and all of it changes how I work the first twenty minutes.

Do not spend the session telling children to smile. It produces the face everyone recognises and nobody wants. Talk to them instead, and let me do the rest.

An hour is enough for a family with small children. Two hours is enough for almost anybody. Longer than that and you are photographing tired people.

After

Edited photos come back within ten days at full resolution, yours to print.

Full galleries from the sessions above: Sara’s family at Praia Formosa, a family from the US across Funchal and Seixal, a family from Israel at Santa Catarina, and Manuela’s family at Fanal.

Planning a trip with children? Send me your dates on WhatsApp and tell me their ages. I will suggest a location and an hour that fits how your days actually run. More on family photography, or read how to prepare for a session.