Confession time. Early on in my photography business, family sessions weren’t my favorite. I WANTED them to be. As a mom I knew how quickly kids grew up and how precious these memories were and I wanted to capture them for families. I looked forward to every family session but more often than not, they didn’t go as I envisioned. Parents expected children to fall into the perfect places and stand and say “cheese” to someone that they often just met for an hour. Usually there was some “reward” that was promised to them if they did well and at some point it was threatened to be taken away, resulting in sad kids who were still expected to smile at the stranger. At some point it clicked that this isn’t what I wanted the experience to be like for me OR my clients. And I didn’t want families looking at the photos on their walls and remembering a stressful or miserable day.
Fast forward to how my family sessions look today. They look like this GORGEOUS family’s session. We worry a lot less about everyone’s clothes sitting perfectly straight and standing in line like little soldiers and more about everyone having FUN! We played games, climbed trees, rolled down hills and hugged. Mom and dad were smart and brought snacks for instant gratification and to keep everyone happy DURING the session. The kids had a say in where they wanted to try having pictures taken and how they wanted to stand/sit/pose. The result… a beautiful gallery full of happy memories and a photographer that now LOVES family sessions.
