Prom night moves fast. The dress goes on, the car arrives, and by the time everyone remembers to take a photo the light has gone and half the group has already left. Which is exactly why this session existed. A separate evening, an hour and a half, and one teenager in a lilac gown with the whole of Bishop’s Palace Gardens to herself.
Her mum and her aunt organised the whole thing between them, which I loved. They didn’t want a snapshot on the driveway. They wanted the dress photographed properly, and they wanted to be in a few frames themselves.
An evening booked by mum and aunt
The brief was simple. She’d chosen a fitted lilac gown with beaded lace over the bodice and a huge sparkling tulle skirt, and she’d had her hair braided into a low twisted updo that morning. Mum wanted portraits that did the dress justice. Aunt wanted the laughing ones.
We got both, and the laughing ones came easily because the two of them never stopped teasing her. There’s a frame near the end where they’ve both grabbed her at once and she’s caught mid-laugh with her eyes shut, and it’s my favourite of the set. Not the most polished. Just the most them.
If you’re the parent reading this and wondering whether it’s worth booking a separate evening rather than trying to squeeze photos in before the taxi: it is. Nobody is rushing. Nobody is hot and anxious. She can move in the dress, sit down in it, walk in it, and none of it matters because there’s no clock.
Why Bishop’s Palace Gardens works for prom photos
I use these gardens a lot for portraits and they earn it. Within a few minutes’ walk you get gravel paths lined with cottage borders, a run of stone steps under a green canopy, deep lavender and rose planting, clipped hedging, and the walled sections that hold late sun beautifully.
For a prom photoshoot in Chichester specifically, that variety matters. A long tulle skirt needs room to move and something behind it that isn’t a parked car. Here she could gather the skirt and walk, turn, let it fall, and every backdrop changed without us going anywhere.
We started around an hour and a half before sunset. Late enough that the sun had dropped behind the trees and stopped being harsh, early enough that we weren’t chasing the last of it.
The cathedral cloisters
Partway through we moved into the cloisters. Stone arches, a timber vaulted ceiling, worn flagstones, and light spilling in sideways from the open arcade.
The contrast with the gardens is the point. Outside is soft and green and full of colour. Inside is warm stone and long shadows, and the lilac of the dress reads completely differently against it. Same girl, same dress, two entirely different sets of images. It’s the fastest way I know to double the range of a portrait session without adding time.
I also shot a handful in black and white. The beading and the tulle carry a lot of texture, and stripping the colour out lets the shape of the dress do the work.
Lighting a prom dress in low evening sun
This is the part that isn’t obvious from looking at the photos.
Low sun behind the subject gives you the glow through the hair and the halo around the edges of the tulle. It also, left alone, turns the face into a shadow and flattens the beadwork on the bodice into nothing. So I bring my own lighting to sessions like this and add light back into the front, matched to the warmth of the sun.
That’s why the lace detail on the dress holds up in the backlit frames instead of disappearing into a silhouette. It’s the same approach I take to newborn sessions at home. Bring the light, control it, and stop being at the mercy of whatever the sky is doing.
What a prom photoshoot in Chichester actually looks like
Sessions run to about an hour and a half. That’s long enough to cover two or three distinct areas without anyone getting tired of it, and short enough that a teenager who is not naturally keen on being photographed doesn’t run out of patience.
Timing
Book for the golden hour before sunset. In summer that’s late, around 7pm to 8.30pm. In spring and early autumn it’s a much more civilised early evening. If the dress arrives before prom night, shooting a week or two ahead takes all the pressure off and means the photos are already in hand.
Who comes along
Whoever she wants. Mum, aunt, both grandmothers, a best friend. Family portraits are part of the session, not an extra, and they’re usually the images that get printed. Bring a hairbrush, flat shoes for walking between spots, and safety pins.
Weather
Overcast is fine. Rain we move. If we have to reschedule, we reschedule.
Prom photoshoot FAQs
Where do you photograph prom sessions in Chichester?
Bishop’s Palace Gardens and the cathedral cloisters are the pairing I recommend most often, because you get gardens and architecture within a short walk. West Wittering beach is the other option if she wants sand and open sky rather than flowers and stone.
How long is a prom photo session?
Around an hour, which covers portraits of her alone, images with family, and time to move between two or three areas.
When should we book?
Prom season runs from May into July and evening slots go early. Booking in spring for a summer prom is sensible. Sessions outside prom season are welcome too, and a quieter garden is no bad thing.
Can mum and other family be in the photos?
Yes, and they should be. Group portraits are included in every session.
What if she’s shy in front of a camera?
Most are, at first. I don’t leave anyone standing there wondering what to do with their hands. There’s direction throughout, and about ten minutes in, once she’s seen a few frames on the back of the camera, it stops being a performance.
Do you photograph prom outside Chichester?
Yes. I cover West Sussex and Hampshire, including Arundel, Bognor Regis, Littlehampton and the surrounding villages.
Book a prom photoshoot in Chichester
I’m a portrait and wedding photographer based in Chichester, serving West Sussex and Hampshire, with five-star Google reviews and nearly twenty years of sessions behind me.
If your daughter has her dress and you’d like it photographed properly, get in touch and tell me her prom date. Evening slots in June and July fill first.
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