Archive for November, 2010

I recently attended a seminar by the amazingly talented Amber Holritz…she’s a photographer based out of Tennessee and her philosophy on family photography was so inspiring and really had me thinking differently about my family sessions.  When you think about your favorite portraits of you as a child…which photographs come to mind? Are they the school 8×10′s on your wall from school?  Or is it the shot of you and your family laughing, playing, being silly together? One of the points she made was – when your children look back on your family portraits, it’s not just a snapshot of what everyone looked like – it’s a snapshot of HOW they were LOVED. WOW – what a thought…that hit home for me.

How do you love your kids? What are the things you do with them each day – daily routines, rituals, snuggle time….what are those moments in time that a  year or two from now will have been forgotten?  Well, maybe you won’t forget them. As moms, we tuck those little treasures in that secret place in our hearts.  But what about our kids? If we were suddenly gone from their lives, how would they know we loved them? What would they have to hold on to that they can look at and tangibly see our connection?

Many of photographers say that they don’t like family sessions and would rather be a “children only” photographer. I see their point – here’s the scenario – mom has envisioned this beautiful family portrait…ok? She plans for weeks getting outfits together, picking out the perfect location, getting her hair done and making sure everyone is looking their best (not to mention the financial investment put forth).  Dad isn’t so “in” to the idea of the portraits. He’s grumpy and angry at the itchy shirt she made him wear.  The twin 18-month-olds are running in two separate directions. As dad is wrangling the twins, they realize that 3-year-old Johnny has tried to slide across the floor and there is now a rip in his pants and a scrape on his face…oh and he’s crying. SO, being the magician she is, the photographer gets all 5 together, into position, but the only one smiling at the camera is MOM…Dad is angry and the twins are trying to run away and the 3-year-old has puffy red eyes from his tumble across the floor.  OK – this is worst case scnenario, I know…but, hey, it happens.   However, I’m feeling much differently about this imaginary mom and her 3 little babies.   Being a mom myself, I’ve seen first hand how QUICKLY those screaming babies become 10-year-olds with friends and sleepovers and are too big for my lap.  My ”baby” doesn’t  like princesses anymore and doesn’t believe in the tooth fairy. It’s gone. All those moments with her – I can’t go back even for one second and have her on my lap – or screaming and running away from me for that matter!  I wish SO MUCH I had shots of us playing together – shots of us lounging in bed reading fairy tales. I don’t have them. I never *thought* of it back then! I spent too much time worrying about what I looked like or just not wanting to let go of the control of the camera…also, being the one in control of the camera ensures you’re not in the photographs! Looking back, that’s a huge regret for me.  Sure I have lovely portraits of her – and there is DEFINITELY a place for beautiful portraiture of your child – that is my passion, and it always will be.

I am really seeing a new way to look at family sessions. A way of capturing the love and connections between family members…capturing their unique essence. It’s not about posing or I should say it’s not *always* about the perfectly posed portrait with  matching outfits, everyone smiling and looking at the camera.  I will never go away from my brightly colored child and family portraiture – but I really love the idea of offering sessions like the one you’re about to see as an alternative…or maybe mixing them up together in a way…I’m still working out all of the details. One thing that DOESN”T need to be worked out though – I absolutely love these results!! I hope you do too.

With that, I recently had the honor of photographing the L family for this “new style” of family session. I have to say this was SUCH  a breath of fresh air for me – so much fun to capture them together in their element.  I arrived while the girls were waiting for daddy to get home from work. We shot some playtime with mom, dad arriving home, dinner time, bath time and family snuggle/reading time  before bed. Just a snippet in time of this family’s daily routine.  I really enjoyed shooting these moments – I loved putting them together and the final product is JUST what I was hoping to achieve. “L” family, I hope you love these images as much as I do!  I’ve put together a video of our evening together and added a few of my favorite images below. I hope you enjoy!!

Here are some of my absolute favorites from our session  -  how fun???!?!!

Isn’t t his baby SUCH  a doll??? My absolute favorite…