Anatomy of a family photography session

If you are considering custom photography for your family, but you're not sure it's really for you, maybe this post will help. Of course all photographers do things a little differently, but for me this is a pretty typical family session for a family with young children.

When a family contacts me, if they don't have a location in mind already, I send them a bunch of links with location ideas. Then they can choose an area that they love. This family decided to meet me in Old Town. (I go there a lot, you can see why below - it's beautiful year round.)

With young kids I know my window of opportunity is limited - I will need to work fast! I always do the whole family together first and get a few portraits with everyone looking. This can require some fast talking, some puppets, and lots of jokes.




Then if I am lucky, the kids will have enough attention span left that they will sit down all together for one more set. These girls did great!


Then it gets easier, because I can spend a little time with each child while the others take a break.






There is always something fun to do. (Love.)


Once those basics are out of the way, we can move on to the more casual or candid stuff that I love most.




When I do child photography, I want to capture a child being herself,


and families doing what they do best.


This involves running.


Usually there is someone willing to do some jumps for me!


Parents need pictures together too.


By the time the kiddos are d.o.n.e. we have a ton of happy, playful images to enjoy, a great mix of casual and slightly posed pictures. (I am not much for posing, and in my opinion it's a losing battle to pose young people anyway.)

If this style of photography appeals to you, I'd love to chat with you about a family session for YOUR family. I am a zero pressure kind of person - just give me a call or email, and we can talk!

Or, see this page for other ideas about how to make your portrait session the best that it can be. Sometimes it's hard to decide where to go for your photo session - for lots of other session locations, see this blog page here.

First holy communion portraits

It was such an honor to get to create some portraits of this amazing young man to commemorate the special occasion of his first holy communion. He makes the world a better place.











I also loved getting to work in the beautiful church his family attends!

Family photography in the foothills

I love family photography! This family got it perfectly right. They love the foothills and mountains of Albuquerque, and this park was a really great place to be. We did this session just before it got really hot out, thankfully, so we were able to hike around a little bit without melting. (Now that it's fully hot summertime, I try to do these bright sessions as early or late in the day as possible.)







I love their little son - he is one of my "baby plan" graduates, and he could not be cuter. It's so fun to see how much he's grown.


I love it when families bring props, toys, or activities that they love.


We must be in the southwest. :) (I grew up in Seattle - this would have been so weird to me a few years ago!)


He loves airplanes and he loves reading about airplanes - how cute is this???




He also wanted some headshots and pictures to use for his business.




Is there somewhere in Albuquerque that you really love? It might be a great place for family portraits! Give me a call or email if you'd like to set up a session or just talk about it!

I love doing sessions at parks like this one, but for lots of other session locations, see this blog page here. 

Summer, sisters, a whole lot of fun

I don't know why it's so hard lately for me to blog. No good reason... I've had so many happy fun sessions and I'm just not posting. This one was extra-fun for me. It's a new park that I haven't been to before, and I really like it!

We had a little bit of a tea party, but it was more fun for them to just pile on each other. *LOVE*








I brought Princess Horse with me and she was a bit of a hit.





Tip for the day - always have kids jump. :)






It turns out that this darling girl is a great tree-climber... no fear!


IMO - this is what childhood should be. (I don't have a sister, just brothers, and our dogpiles were more of the bulldozer-steamroller types.)






I love doing child photography at parks, because the pictures of them playing at the end are sometimes my favorite part.


















If you're interested in more information about a family photography session, my website has lots of info about how I do sessions. Or you can call or email me if you have questions or would just like to chat about photo sessions.

I love doing sessions at parks, but for lots of other session locations, see this blog page here.