What to expect
What is documentary family photography or family photojournalism?
It's an emerging genre that is unscripted and unposed
It’s a way to bottle up the emotions, the time & place, and connections ever-present in an ordinary day in your life, and being able to hold onto that forever in photographs. Instead of buying new outfits and meeting me at the beach for the perfect golden hour portraits of everyone smiling and looking at the camera, it’s you letting me into your REAL life to document your family, just as you are.
Why family photojournalism?
Do you ever snuggle with your babies and think to yourself: THIS.RIGHT.HERE.IS.SO.GOOD.?
There’s so much beauty in the everyday, seemingly ordinary moments that make up the vast majority of your time spent together as a family. These everyday, authentic moments deserve to be recorded and celebrated. Because you are enough. Just as you are. And your moments are enough. Just as they are.
Thirty years from now, your kids are going to want to see what it really looked like when they were growing up. Not the edited, sanitized version. Think of the imperfection as a gift you give to them as future parents themselves. The permission to let go of perfection, embrace a little (or a lot of) chaos, and celebrate what really matters at the end of the day: love.
The end-goal of these sessions is not a pretty Christmas card photo (though you’ll likely end up with some top contenders); the goal is to produce a collection of images that honestly and authentically document your family’s here and now, and show just how deep-down-in-your-soul-nothing-else-matters-beautiful your everyday is. Photos that you will hold close to your heart for decades to come.
Before your session
Once you contact me to schedule a session, I’ll send you a link to complete the session agreement, model release, and client questionnaire forms all online, as well as an invoice for your session reservation fee. Once your forms are complete and your reservation fee payment is received, you are booked on my calendar!
Choose a lifestyle or documentary session. Documentary sessions can emphasize photos, video, or both. What’s the difference? I’m so glad you asked.
Documentary sessions are 3-4ish hours in length, are great for families with small children who want to document THE BLUR: the sweet routine of daily life with littles that’s exhausting yet fleeting, or those kids who are slow to warm up. If you’d like to completely capture your perfect day, I offer a very limited number of full-length Day In The Life sessions where I’ll document your family for up to 8 hours.
Lifestyle sessions are up to an hour, and are full of lots of relaxed, candid moments with gentle posing and direction from me to maximize our time together!
I offer a pre-session consultation, via phone or Skype, or email to address any questions or fears that you have, and I can help you decide what type of session is best for your family.
During your session
Documentary sessions: just go about your usual daily routine, and you just may forget that I’m there. If desired, we can take 5 minutes to get a posed photo of everyone all together.
Lifestyle sessions: get ready to play! We’ll have about an hour of fun together taking turns with who’s in the photos, and of course getting at least one great photo of everyone all together. Bring me your best joke! There will be time for lots of candids, silliness, laughter, and in-between moments.
Kids will be kids, and I have 3 of them. I’m completely unfazed by temper tantrums, tears, and “bad” behavior, so please rest assured that there is zero judgment on my part. I aim to create an environment where everyone can feel comfortable in their own skin. The kids can definitely sense if you’re stressed out, so try your best to relax and have fun with this! If there’s a meltdown, I’ll capture it (I love a good crying photo)! After all, it is a part of your here and now.
After your session
I’ll get to work in my digital darkroom. I begin by selecting the best of the best images for editing. Next I’ll expertly process each selected image to bring out the best color or black & white features. I want your photos to be timeless. I’ll present a mix of color and black & white images in your gallery. A final gallery from a family documentary session contains at least 85+ images, though my usual average is closer to 100+. Lifestyle session galleries contain at least 30 images.
Approximately 4 weeks after your session, your online password-protected gallery will be ready for viewing. When you’re ready, I’ll open your online gallery which will be active for 3 days. I’m available during your 3-day ordering window for any assistance you might need, and let’s face it. We all need deadlines! Payment for additional products is due at the time of ordering.
Your products will be ready to enjoy approximately 2 weeks after ordering! Heirloom books & albums take a bit longer — more like 3 weeks.