We often interact differently when we are with just family or close friends, than we do when we are with others less familiar to us.

The challenge for a photographer when trying to capture a relaxed, natural family dynamic is that there is some stranger with camera and lights pointing at you, telling you how to sit and where to look. It does just the opposite of what the photographer wants, it creates a guarded response from the family, and this creates an stiff un-natural look to the family portrait.

 

This same effect happens to an individual as well.

 

My goal in creating the portrait is to capture the natural emotions and connections you share amongst yourselves, because it’s those expressions and that body language you will recognize and cherish in a family image years from now.

 

I believe its important to make the environment comfortable and relaxed enough that the natural interactions and expressions come out. One thing we can do to assist in that is taking the time before the shoot to get to know each other a bit; giving you an opportunity to ask questions, express your desires and concerns about the shoot, and generally get comfortable with what’s going to happen. This time before the shoot also gives me the chance to get to know the people involved, and the dynamics at play between them.

There are a few things you can do prior to the shoot that will help to insure that we get the best results we can.

 

First; you, and or those being photographed should prepare for the shoot in several ways. Get a good nights sleep prior to the shoot, consider rescheduling if your not feeling well. Being well rested and feeling good will go along way toward looking good for the shoot.

 

Please eat and hydrate yourself well prior to the shoot (and I don’t mean alcohol). Again the better your body feels the better you will photograph. Drink plenty of water in the days prior to the shoot. this hydration helps you look and feel healthy.

 

Try to leave the many stresses of life behind for a while. I wish I could eliminate them for you, but alas my influence is not that great. Come to the shoot willing to relax if nothing else, we can probably bring you around from there.

 

Clothing choices are very important, particularly in shots with more than one person. We are here to capture emotion and expression, not clothing. With groups of people I prefer to have everyone dressed in similar clothes, for example light blue, button down shirt and khaki pants. Both men and women, young and old.

 

What this does is to tie the group together, while eliminating the distraction of a mixed bag of colors, textures and patterns from our real focus, YOU. If you look at various family portraits done this way versus those done with no continuity of clothing, you very quickly see that your eye gets distracted by everything going on in the image. This distraction will decrease your fondness of the image over a very short time.

 

 

The clothing I’ll recommend you wear will be based largely on where the image will be taken, what time of year it is, your own personal preferences and group size.

 

If you are thinking of including an animal in the group photo, please be aware that they contribute to a great number of unusable images. If the animal is calm and comfortable, it’s makes things much easier. I love dogs, and get along well with them, but I have worked with some very excitable dogs over the years. Often they end up distracting the entire group, and creating and edge in the group that you can see in the photo. I recognize that Fido is part of the family, just understand that he may not cooperate as well as you, the baby or grandpa.

 

For shots somewhere other than the studio, I like to have an opportunity to scout out the location. This helps me make better suggestions on clothing, time of day for the shoot, what equipment i’ll need to bring, etc. This is also a good opportunity to get to know the parties involved.

 

Rest assured i’ll do everything I can to get the images you want. It is my goal to create something you will cherish for many years to come.