I got a messaged from Josh asking about doing lifestyle family pictures with his boys. Since it was around Easter time, we thought it would be cool to kind of plan around the cooking schedule and then we could incorporate the boys into the pictures. I was super pumped about this session. Lifestyle sessions always seem to bring something pretty unique. Everything from welcoming a new baby to the family, to buying a new house, or preparing for a holiday. Lifestyle sessions are open to so many possibilities!! Most importantly, lifestyle sessions capture the story of your family, and this is what I love the most! Don’t get me wrong, posed family pictures have their place, they are classic and will probably always be around. Who doesn’t love seeing smiling faces? The problem is, smiling, polished pictures aren’t real. In fact, many of those sessions, I have heard and seen parents scream at their kids, even get down on their knees and beg their kids to smile. They negotiate treats for smiles or threaten to not do what they planned on doing if they don’t behave. Then a brief moment after that screaming and negotiating, everyone is smiling for a picture. I don’t know about you, but as a parent, I would look at that picture and remember how difficult it was to get those smiles to happen. A picture should be something that you look at and remember a memory. Josh with his boys portrays exactly how lifestyle sessions should be. These aren’t posed shots. I come in, we get a feel for the layout. I see a pool table, a couch, and a kitchen. This works perfectly. Play pool, read on the couch, do a puzzle, cook, eat a snack. This is all real life, and these pictures turned out great. You get to see how each boy plays pool. How they interact with each other after completing the puzzle or how they react to pages in the book. You get to see how they baste the ham. THIS… This is how family pictures should be. I loved this session, it was so much fun and I loved seeing how all of them interacted with one another.
