Photographer in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen

Light first: the lime avenues and the older trees in Frederiksberg Have act as a natural softbox. On a bright day the canopy breaks direct sun into soft dappled light, and on an overcast day the open lawns still give plenty of clean, even illumination. There is almost no weather here that makes photographs impossible.

Backdrop second: you get real variety inside a short walk. Formal avenues and stucco facades for something elegant and structured, the gardens' canals, bridges and willows for something softer, the Chinese pavilion and the palace terrace for height and geometry, and open lawn for airy, minimal frames with nothing but grass and sky behind you.

And it is calm. Even on a Sunday the gardens absorb people; you are never fighting for a spot the way you are at Nyhavn, and nobody is watching you being photographed, which matters more than most people expect for how relaxed the pictures end up looking.

We usually start on Frederiksberg Allé or at the main gate, using the avenue for the long, layered frames where the trees converge behind you, then walk into the gardens. Inside, I work the canal banks and the small bridges first, then the open lawn, then finish near the palace terrace if the light is still good.

The whole route is flat and takes about ten minutes end to end, so nearly all of the 45 minutes is spent shooting. It is the easiest location I offer for anyone bringing a change of outfit, a dog or family who would rather sit on a bench than trail behind us.

This is my default recommendation for solo and lifestyle portraits — the green background is calm enough that the photograph stays about you. It is equally good for graduation portraits, where a red-and-white studenterhue against dark foliage is about as strong as that photograph gets, and for personal branding sessions that need warm, approachable images rather than a corporate wall.

Frederiksberg also handles dogs, kids and multi-generation family groups better than any city-centre location, simply because there is space and nobody is in a hurry.