Those tiny, wrinkly, flaky toes will grow and change before your eyes. These longest, shortest days will soon be a fuzzy memory of sleep deprived snuggles. Let's capture these details so that you and your family will always be able to look back and remember them clearly.
While the majority of my family photography clients opt for an outdoor location, there are certainly advantages and benefits to choosing your home for a session!
Here in central Texas, we share the outdoors with a wide variety of creatures, including the omnipresent fire ants in all that beautiful, tall grass. Not to mention the slithery fellow who may also be lurking there.
Especially for families with members with physical or mental differences (difficult to take a pathway to a field, unable to move up and down stairs with ease, children who cannot grasp the dangers of running into a busy parking lot for example), a home session may be a perfect fit.
I have also seen families who have just completed a big renovation on their home and want to celebrate that. Or families who are leaving a home that has been important to them and want to document what may be their children's first home along with their family.
One common comment I get from clients considering a home session is "but my home is too messy!" While your home will be in the pictures, it doesn't ALL need to be in the pictures! Choose a small dark room where we won't shoot and put extra clothes, books, papers, children's toys into laundry baskets and hide them away in there. We will want to stick to 1-3 well lit rooms and the front and/or back yard/porch/outdoor common areas for the shoot so decluttering can be quick and contained to those spaces.
And of course - newborn sessions! These are so much better in your home in my opinion. I love lifestyle newborn sessions where you get to see the delicious little nugget and also the nursery and older siblings or fur siblings that can be comfortable in their usual environment. It also makes it easy to take nursing or bottle breaks or changing breaks without having to pack and carry all the *stuff* babies require :)
NEWBORN IN HOME SESSION
CELEBRATING A BEAUTIFUL FAMILY AND A BEAUTIFUL HOME!
IN HOME LIFESTYLE NEWBORN SESSION
IN HOME LIFESTYLE NEWBORN SESSION WITH NEW BIG SISTER!
LIFESTYLE NEWBORN IN HOME SESSION WITH FUR BABY
CELEBRATING A HOUSE THEY MADE A HOME BEFORE A BIG MOVE
1. Capture special moments that will be gone too soon
As parents, we know too well how fast our children grow up (and move on). Blink and we miss it, as they say. Capture fleeting moments while you can - chubby fingers, knuckle dimples, missing teeth, braces. Keep those images to transport yourself back to these days when they have already flown the coop.
2. Make beautiful and meaningful memory books to pass on to your children
A nurse I worked with years ago made beautiful memory books for her sons, and printed two copies of each so that when they leave home they'll have 18 memory books - one for each year - and so will she! I thought that was brilliant and I try to keep photo books up to date for my three littles.
3. Make authentic photos of you all together
All families have the documentarian. But they (you?) deserve to get in those photos, too!
4. You'll have lots of material for a beautiful photo wall in your home
Decoration and meaningful moments combined! I love seeing my clients photo walls on repeat home sessions.
5. You'll feel good!
I promise there is a reward for the work you have to put in to a family session - researching photographers, scheduling, worrying about weather, choosing outfits, considering bribes for certain toddlers or spouses... :)
