Here’s how to embrace the chaos for your family photos and make your session maaaagic!
This blog post is for YOU if…planning a family session sounds stressful; you are a perfectionist 🙋🏻; you want your photo session to be really fun, but also really connected and beautiful (hello? who doesnt!); and/or you want to be extra extra happy with your session images! Keep reading to make alllll of that happen 😉
This family session is in my top 5 favorite sessions of all time, and it’s not because they are perfectly posed, perfectly smiling and all things perfect, blah blah blah. It’s because for this session, they were truly and simply, their most authentic selves. And because of that, they had gorgeous, connected, real moments with each other. That, my friends, is a photographer’s dream to be able to document! For this blog post, I’m going to share this beautiful family with you, but also share some tips on how you can embrace the chaos for your own family photos.
Step 1 (and this one is the most important): don’t be afraid to have fun!
…because it’s fun to have fun! What doesn’t sound fun is forcing smiles, not blinking, sitting still, etc. Perfection is boring, and it’s just not realistic. I don’t know any kid on this planet who is going to be happy being forced to smile for an hour straight. Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have some ‘look at the camera and smile’ type shots, because there’s definitely a time and a place for them, and I always include a few of those in my galleries. But imagine if every single image was that. For this particular gallery, I delivered 160 images. If every image was each person smiling at me, in the same pose, there’s no way I could crank out that many images. And if I did, there would be almost no variety at all, and you would be so bored with the images. Trust me- just have fun. This family was completely willing to dance and run around, play games, have tickle fights, and be totally silly.
2. Use my wardrobe styling assistant, or email me when you need help with outfits.
Part of the stress of planning any session is the dreaded ‘what to wear’. I can totally take that stress away from you, my friend! Every session includes an incredible wardrobe styling tool that basically does the shopping for you. You’ll answer a couple of questions about color schemes and sizes for each person, and then it’ll pull cute pieces for each person and display them all together, so you can see how it all looks together. Once you complete the looks, it will email each outfit to you and where to buy them! Things I love about it: 1. It only shows pieces of clothing that photograph well. Reeeeally well. 2. You might already have something similar in your closet, but you can still plan other outfits out and see it all together. You’re not obligated to purchase anything. 3. You can use your access code several times leading up to your session. So you can plan out multiple options for multiple events, or have back up options for your session. Basically, it’s the best thing ever! I’m also always available to help out. Feel free to send me any and all outfits!
3. Let your kids be who they are.
This is when they will be the happiest, which is when you will get the best photos of them. They want to run a million miles an hour? Cool, I’ll keep up! They want to make fart noises? I can hang with that! If they’re shy and don’t want to take pictures? I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve for that (and generally, I give them plenty of time and all the space they need until they’re more comfortable). They want to just be totally weird and crazy? I have my own weirdos at home! Nothing will surprise or scare me away. I want to see them the way that you see them, so that I can capture that glimpse of them in your photos.
4. Trust me.
Odds are, you hired me because you saw a recent session of mine, and you liked what you saw (ayyy, thanks! 💁🏻♀️). I do my very best work when my clients trust in me and my vision. When I get to just do my thang creatively, I’m completely able to perform at or even above the best of my abilities, and that is an amazing feeling! Plus it’s win win, because you get the results of that! During our session together, I will talk you through it all and help you into things being fun & natural. But I’m not after the perfect pose, I’m after the in between moments. That is where the magic lies. Sometimes it’s going to feel a little weird, or sound silly- I promise you, that it doesn’t look weird. It looks like a beautiful moment between you and your loved ones. That is what I want. That is what you want. Just go with it!
I think that covers it! Now look at the rest of the images of this wonderful family 😍 I loved every second of this session, even though my client was worried that it was too crazy. It really never was. It was simple: always moving, always playing, and best of all, it was them living their truth, and always loving on each other. These are the things that make a session pure magic, folks! Be like the Kohl family!
