What is lifestyle family photos?
Firstly, let me explain the difference between lifestyle family photos and traditional photography. Lifestyle family photography is a style of portrait photography that
aims to capture your family life in a natural and authentic way. The goal is to capture what is happening in the moment. The kids playing hide & seek, jumping on the bed, or cuddles and tickles that make everyone giggle. It means lots of natural interaction and engagement between family members, and less formally posed photos.
These photos will most certainly bring out the genuine emotions into your images. Whereas, traditional photography is more posed and smiling at the camera. Lifestyle family photos are the images that will mean the most to you when you are looking back and remembering all the fun times, and little details of each child.
Lifestyle family photography is a bit tricky to achieve if you are trying to do it yourself. It is very difficult to be running back and forth from the camera to engage with the family in any genuine way. It’s stressful to say the least. So what usually happens? One person in the family sacrifices being in the shot in order to capture the rest of the family having fun.
Are your family photos missing an important family member?
More often than not, it’s Mum behind the camera taking all the photos of her beloved family. That means she is very rarely in the photos. I know that’s the case in my family too. Many photos of my children growing up, holiday snaps or family get-togethers have me missing from them. How sad!
I also know that many Mums are body conscious (me included), and feel uncomfortable in front of a camera. It’s something all women struggle with. But Mums, you need to remember that your kids don’t see you the way you see yourself. They don’t see your wrinkles, your extra roll here and there, or your crooked teeth. They see your joy, they feel your love and connection, they will remember how they felt in that moment. That’s what they’ll remember when they look back on precious photos with you.
In my lifestyle family photo shoots, I love drawing out the laughter, joy and connection between family members so it is captured as a permanent memory and keepsake. Kids love looking back on family photos and remembering the fun times with parents and siblings.
Mothers are the fabric that holds families together, and they are deserving of being in the frame, and sharing in fun family photos. So Mums …. if you want to get into the frame for a change, I am here to help. I am only too happy to work with you in avoiding areas you are self-conscious about, and my ‘what to wear guide’ will help you all look and feel your best.
Extended Family Session with Mum
The topic of this blog is very relevant to a recent lifestyle family photo shoot I had recently.
I had the privilege of photographing this wonderful extended family who wanted to do something special for Mum (Mavis) for her 70th birthday. Mavis, like most mums, is always the photographer in the family. Taking photos of all the kids and grandkids, but very rarely in any of the photos herself.
It was an honour to be able to take some fun, lifestyle family photos of her with the family. This day was made even more special by Mavis’ mother joining in the fun — 4 generations together in the one frame. So precious!! I loved that I was able to give her this wonderful, priceless gift to treasure.
If you would like to see more of my family photography work, see my portfolio here