Family Photoshoot in Bangkok, Ayutthaya and Chiang Mai: temples, canals and cool mornings

Bangkok: Lumphini Park at first light

Lumphini Park is a green square among the office towers of central Bangkok: a lake ringed by lawns and shaded paths, the skyline over the treetops. At first light, tai chi groups move slowly on the paths, joggers circle the lake, and the monitor lizards come out onto the lawns and the banks to warm up. For children, the lizards are the morning. They are wild animals, some well over a metre long, and they ignore people who leave them alone: watch from a few steps away, never feed or chase them, and let the photographer catch the faces of children seeing one for the first time.

The lawns hold soft, low light for the first hour or so; then the exercise groups go home and the park turns flat and bright. The metro stops at its edge, which spares a family the morning traffic; check the gate hours the night before, and see family sessions in Bangkok.

Bangkok: a longtail through the Thonburi canals

Across the Chao Phraya, the khlongs of Thonburi are where the city began, and a longtail through them is the part of Bangkok that children rate higher than any temple. The boat roars across the river, then slows down in the canals among wooden houses on stilts and small temples with steps down to the water, where the light under the eaves stays soft for much of the day.

On the open river the boat is fast and the wake of passing ferries splashes over the side, so small children sit low, cameras stay in a bag until the canal, and you ask for life jackets for the youngest before you board. These are people's homes: the boat keeps moving and nobody photographs into a window. By eleven the glare off the river is harsh — time for the shade, and for lunch.

If the family wants one temple, make it Wat Pho at opening time: the gold reclining Buddha is the size that silences children. It is photographed on its own; the family frames belong outside, among the tiled chedis.

Ayutthaya by bicycle

Ayutthaya, about an hour and a half north of Bangkok by road or rail, was the capital of Siam for four centuries, until the Burmese army sacked it in 1767. What survived is red brick and pale stucco on an island where three rivers meet, and for a family the word that matters is island: the old city is flat, the ruins sit on open lawns with room to run, and the distances are short, so the session works by bicycle. Coming by train you arrive on the far bank; a small ferry crosses to the island in a few minutes, and bicycles are rented near the station and the landing. With children too small to ride, families usually take a tuk-tuk between the ruins.

Wat Phra Si Sanphet is the frame children remember: three tall chedis in a row on a wide lawn, with the whole family small in front of them. Start at opening, before the heat and the tour coaches from Bangkok; there is almost no shade, so carry more water than seems sensible. Keep everyone off the brickwork: the walls are fragile, and a child climbing a chedi is exactly what the guards are there to stop. Foreign visitors pay an entrance fee at the main temples, and if you rent Thai traditional dress around the ruins, temple rules apply in costume too. The family page for Ayutthaya has the rest of the day.

Wat Mahathat: everyone lower than the Buddha

At Wat Mahathat the image people come for is a sandstone Buddha head held in the roots of a tree. It is photographed on its own, everyone kneeling or crouching so that no head is higher than the Buddha's, and the guards are firm about it. Explain it to the children before you walk in — everyone crouches, nobody poses beside it — and they take it seriously as a sign of respect.

The family portraits are made in the open parts of the grounds, against the brick walls and away from the images. In the late afternoon, Wat Chaiwatthanaram on the west bank is the place to finish as the sun goes down behind its towers, and a boat around the island shows the temples from the water — the gentlest end to a long day with tired children.

Chiang Mai: Bo Sang and the umbrella painters

Chiang Mai is cooler and gentler, and its best family session is not in a temple at all. Bo Sang, about half an hour east of the city, is the village of hand-painted paper umbrellas. In the workshops, painters sit at their tables and lay flowers and birds onto the umbrellas in a few quick strokes, and children can stand at their shoulder and watch. The frames come from the watching, not from a pose. Ask before photographing anyone at work, and accept a no.

Chiang Mai: the moat, the gates and the rice fields

The old town is still a square of moat and brick walls. Early in the morning at Tha Phae Gate, the east gate, the low sun lights the face of the rampart and the square is empty before the traffic starts circling the moat; by mid-morning it has filled. When the light goes flat, go to the shade of Wat Umong at the foot of Doi Suthep, a forest temple of tall trees and brick tunnels where monks still study: voices low, and the family frames among the trees and at the tunnel mouths.

Outside the city the rice fields run on the rains: green from about August, gold towards the harvest in late October. They are farms, so the family stays on the paths and the edges unless the farmer says otherwise. More on the page for family sessions in Chiang Mai.

Temple etiquette for children, in plain words

The temples in all three places are working religious sites, and the rules apply at every age. Shoulders and knees covered, children included — pack something with sleeves and something below the knee for each child, because a vest top is turned back at the gate. Shoes off before entering a hall; slip-on shoes save a struggle at every door. No climbing on a ruin, a wall or a Buddha image. Feet never pointed at a Buddha or a monk: when the family sits down inside a hall, everyone tucks their feet behind them. Quiet voices, no running. A woman or a girl does not touch a monk or hand him anything directly.

Heads stay lower than the Buddha's, which rules out one favourite frame: a child on a parent's shoulders lifts the child above the images, so keep it for outside the walls, with the hugs that turn into lifts. Photography is banned inside many halls and the rules are set temple by temple, so the photographer clears each site before the day.

Heat, haze and the seasons

November to February is the most comfortable time in all three places, with Chiang Mai mornings that want a layer; book the weeks around Christmas and New Year early. From March the heat builds to its peak in April: a family session is then the first hour after sunrise and nothing later. The rains, from about mid-May to mid-October in the centre and about May to October in the north, come in Bangkok usually as an afternoon downpour, so a morning session mostly stays dry.

From about February to April, smoke from seasonal burning hangs over the north, usually worst in March. If anyone in the family has asthma, skip Chiang Mai in those months, or check the air-quality index the day before and keep the session short.

Songkran, the Thai New Year, is a public holiday from 13 to 15 April: water is thrown in the streets, children love it, nobody stays dry, cameras included. Loy Krathong falls on the full moon of the twelfth Thai lunar month, usually in November, and Chiang Mai adds Yi Peng on the same nights, with sky lanterns banned in much of the city and released at organised events. The riverbanks are crowded: check the date and the year's rules.

Planning a family photoshoot in Bangkok, Ayutthaya and Chiang Mai

Plan on about an hour from first light, with a snack and a water break halfway: children give their best frames after a pause, not at the end of a long walk. One place per session: Lumphini and the canals make a Bangkok morning, Ayutthaya is a day trip with the session at its start, and in Chiang Mai Bo Sang and the old city are two different mornings. Keep it away from flight days and naps that cannot move, and dress everyone for the temples even if the plan is a park.

Each photographer sets their own packages and shows the full price before you book; the photographer confirms within 24 hours, and rescheduling for weather is free for both sides. See what a family photoshoot usually covers, read the destination page for Chiang Mai, check how it works, and browse photographers online.