Family Photo Session | For the Young Family | How to have Fun + Get Amazing Photos
First, let’s G E T Y O U R M I N D right. Let’s shift your focus from picking out the exact right outfits and brainstorming on how you can get everyone to be perfectly behaved during your session to how this can actually be a fun experience for your family. If you are excited about your session, your enthusiasm will carry over to your family, and they will be excited too! Pick out outfits that match, yes, but also that your kids love and will want to wear. Let her bring her tiara and let him bring his cowboy hat. These little statement pieces will liven up the photos and will remind you years from now just how precious the memories are.
L O C A T I O N I S K E Y - We want to actually take pictures of your family having fun together where there are real emotions and personalities can shine through. This can happen more easily at a location that your family enjoys being together at, so keep that in mind as we work together to come up with the best location to suit your family.
F E E L F R E E T O B R I B E - Yes, I said it! Feel free to bribe your family with props! Here’s what we mean by that - whether we do the session in a wide open field, in front of a waterfall, or in your backyard, bring along a favorite snack, glass bottle cokes, a frisby, fishing pole, or ball and bat (whatever it is your family and kids enjoy doing together). Once we get those pictures that are “wall worthy,” bring out the fun props, aka bribes! We’ll be sure to stick around to get these fun moments too!
T O D D L E R S - If you have children under the age of 4, expect and know that it’s okay to have photos where everyone is not looking at the camera. Also, you can rest easy because we spend a lot of time following your toddler around and getting photos of them doing whatever it is they like to do. We have found we get more natural smiles, and everyone enjoys the session more this way.
G O O F Y F A C E S - If you have several young children, it’s likely someone is not going to be smiling or maybe they will be making a goofy face. We are totally okay with this! This tells your family's story and gives your session personality. Just think how fun it will be to have your kids remake the same photo 10 years from now, and have to replicate those goofy faces. We promise some of those “imperfect” photos will end up being some of your favorites.
T H I S W O N ’ T T A K E L O N G - Lastly, we do our best to maximize our time with you and will take a lot of photos - sometimes in a short amount of time. We know kids attention spans are short, and because of this we try to move fast and finish while everyone is still smiling and having fun vs grouchy and having meltdowns.
We want this to be a stress free experience. We want you to enjoy it and your kids to have fun! Moms, this is for you! Hopefully everyone has fun and family pictures will be something everyone can’t wait to do again!