Wednesday, June 01, 2016

The Stress and Success of Family Photos

I have many memories of my dad setting the timer on the camera and running to get into the photo just in time for the camera to take a photo of his backside. Repeatedly.  He videotaped most of our childhood–even waking us up at 2 AM pretending it was time to get to school.  He's a sentimental pest.  Although I'm not a pest (I married one), I have definitely inherited the desire to capture photos of my family.

Once a year I ask my family to participate in professional family photos.  Well, I tell them that we are doing it and that I want them to have a good attitude about it.  These people are the most important ones in my life and it's rare that we get a photo of all of us together.  I get stressed just thinking about an upcoming photo session because I have to figure out what we are all going to wear while taking into account that my boys like "comfy clothes" and my daughter wants to look like a princess. Then we have to get the whole crew to the photo location without getting dirty (there was a chocolate incident in the van this year) and hair relatively intact. Finally, I have to hope that they are all healthy and have had a decent day and therefore will be somewhat cooperative.  Oh, and bonus points if the weather behaves too!


This year we did our family photos at Surrey Bend Regional Park at 6 PM.  It was a gorgeous evening and the kids were relatively happy.  I didn't consider that it might not be cool to hold your little sister's hand so that will definitely be in the pre-photo talk for next year.  You know the talk, right?  "This is so important to me and I don't ask you for much.  Just do your best, don't wrestle or get dirty, and then you can have an ice cream when we get home!"   I'm happy to report that they all got ice cream when they got home (although there was a wrestling incident and non-stop grass chewing?!).


Big thanks to my friend Anita for taking these photos! The priority was full family shots and then some of Gary and I together.






{When did Kai get so tall?!}

{Her priority was a squishy hug with daddy}




So there you have it!  We stayed in one area, had snacks on hand, and as soon as they were done we stopped.  Let's be honest, in that last photo I was sweating profusely and I was done. Can't wait to get a photo or two up on the wall. 

If you've been considering family photos I highly recommend doing them!  Don't keep waiting for the situation to be "perfect" because it never will be.  

Love, 
Louise  

3 comments:

  1. Love them!! You look beautiful as always and I'd never guess you were sweating profusely :)

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  2. Beautiful pictures!!!!

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  3. The beauty of professional photos is that there's always a percentage of pictures that work out...so all the grass chewing, wrestling and chocolate incidents don't ruin the final product (99% of the time, right?). These pictures are fantastic - the location, the outfits, the moments...very well done!

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