She was shy at first. Then, after I showed her the back of the camera and offered a high-five, she gave me one straight back — and from that moment on, the whole session took off.

It had been a while since my last shoot in Tokyo. As a photographer based in Osaka, I do not get up to Tokyo as often as I would like, so I really look forward to sessions like this one — especially when the family turns out to be as lovely as this one was.

We met at the Shibuya Scramble Crossing, right in the middle of all that unmistakable Shibuya movement. The parents had reached out with a few spots they wanted to include, and I had my own list ready too, so we already had a good route to work with when they arrived.

Their daughter — the small one, still on the shy side of things at the start — took a few frames to warm up. Which is completely normal, and honestly one of my favourite parts of photographing kids. You give them a little space, show them what you are doing, and slowly they come around. This little girl came around fast. That first high-five broke the ice, and from there she was completely in on it — running around, posing, having fun in front of the camera.

The parents were the kind of people who make the job easy. Warm, kind, patient, and just fun to spend an hour with. We moved through Shibuya at a good pace, stopping at Miyashita Park, the Scramble Crossing itself, the well-known Shibuya vending machine, and Center Gai. Every spot had its own character, and each one gave us something different to work with.

I love shoots where the family has done some of their own thinking about locations ahead of time. It means we get to combine their picks with mine, and the resulting session ends up feeling more like theirs. This one absolutely did.

Thank you so much for such a joyful morning together — you three were exactly the kind of family I love photographing in the city. Congratulations on your Japan trip memories, and please come back sometime. I would love to photograph you again.

If you are planning a family photoshoot in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, or Nara, you can pull up my Tokyo packages here.