FAMILY SESSION: Like Noone is Watching...

I mentioned this earlier this week...

my philosophy on family session photography...

There is definitely an aspect of light posing and everyone facing the camera that yearns to be seen...

We want those shots for Christmas cards and grandparents' walls...

Yet, I know that the pictures I most often find myself looking at over and over again, are the ones where my kids are fully immersed in their own "thing"...I imagine what they must be thinking about as they are seemingly absorbed with one thing or another...I focus in on their eyes and their expression...

it's not always a smile..and their eyes may even be closed in full concentration...

I hope those are the types of clients that I attract...

the ones that aren't necessarily looking for the studio smiles and the "where do I put my hands" questions...

but rather, the ones that come ready to play and tickle...

ready to take a walk and talk and enjoy...

to make a memory...an event...

to shut off the cell phones, not worry about traffic, forget about bills, leave work at work...

to come ready to relax...to enjoy...to focus on their family in just the few moments of a time out of the busy day...

This family comes with this perspective every time...

Oh, it means I have to snap fast and I might run around a little bit...

but, I wouldn't even consider that a "price" to pay for the opportunity I have to be a fly on the wall...to get a snippet into the true relationships that are bonding within this family...

They are every bit as cheerful and blithe as they appear...

their smiles are genuine and void of stress in these moments...

 I find the corners of my mouth lifting of their own volition, and the deep, bubbling of "happy" starts to warm through me as I watch them together...