What To Expect ~ Family Sessions

Family is a precious gift. I have so many great memories with my family and I love looking through photos of us through the years. I love working with families because their interaction is so much fun! I get to photograph the joy and love families have for one another and it is the best!

Family sessions are my widest category of portraits. Sometimes I work with a nuclear family and other times I work with extended families and both are amazing but work a little bit differently.

If I'm working with just a nuclear family - mom, dad, child(ren) - then I have one way of running the session. I will get photos of the whole family, Mom with the kids, Dad with the kids, just the kids, the kids individually, and just Mom and Dad. That last one is super important to me because strong marriages are the foundation of strong families. I want the kids to see Mom and Dad taking photos together and I want you to have the photos of just the two of you as a reminder of your love and commitment.

Most of our time will be with the family as a whole. I'll have you "playing games"  like having the kids run in a circle around Mom and Dad or you all tickling each other. The second biggest chunk of time will be with Mom/kids and Dad/kids.

With extended, we take a photo of the entire family and then start the smaller groups. I always get the grandparents with their grandchildren and all the grandchildren together. Depending on the ages of the kids, I try to get a photo of just the grandparents and their adult children. The kids have to be able to be on their own for a few minutes though :) I also take photos of each of the adult children's families and just the adult siblings and spouses. Working with large families, extended or not, is so much fun and I absolutely love it!

Because of the variety and amount of poses, there is only one outfit included in a family session and they typically run about an hour. I always recommend a location that is comfortable and meaningful to you in some way. Maybe you have never been there before but you love nature and exploring so you want a new place. If your family has something special you do together, I want to try and find a way to incorporate that!


Are you ready to book a family session? I'd love to talk with you more. Do you have any questions I didn't address in this post? Let me know in the comments and I'll answer it!