I have written many posts on why I love documentary family sessions, but I expect this to be the mother of them all. Amidst my full-time hectic wedding photography roster, it has been super hard to squeeze in time to build a portfolio for this very special type of session, but I have been trying to do so off and on since 2013!
This time? I refuse to let it fall by the wayside. Why? Because my wedding clients understand more and more each year that their wedding day isn’t about what you look like, and what you’re wearing, but about the once-in-a-lifetime fleeting moments that they want captured so they can preserve their special wedding memories.
What has occurred to me recently, is that EVERY DAY of your children’s childhood is filled with these very same once-in-a-lifetime moments… and they are just as beautiful, if not more so! Sometimes, however, we can only see this when we are take a step back from the thick of tears, tantrums, and endless dirty diapers and look at our daily lives from an outside perspective.
This leads to my next question: WHY? Why when my wedding clients are paying a premium to preserve their special moments, do families continue to settle for posed smiling pictures of them looking at the camera and maybe a couple of staged lifestyle shots that don’t truly represent their actual lives? Don’t get me wrong… I’m not bashing lifestyle photographers because there are many of them who really do take fantastic portraits many people would want… but portraits are not memories.
As a mom of two kids ages 5 and 3, it’s because of photographing these sessions that I look at every moment with my children in a completely new light. I spend more time appreciating the beautiful moments and cute expressions that tell my family’s story even if I don’t take out my camera to photograph them. Long story short, when you book a Day in The Life Session with me, you’re not just getting photos, you’re getting a new outlook on your everyday life and you simply can’t put a price on that… well, actually right now it’s $500 for a four-hour breakfast session and $1,000 for a full 8 hour session, but whatever.
I encourage every mom who is out there sacrificing EVERYTHING to have children, and to have these beautiful, rewarding moments with them, to have them captured. I know for myself anyway, I will never pay for another type of family session. And once you see the photos from your own life, maybe you’ll feel the same. In the meantime, you can take a look at a session from none other than my ever-willing guinea pigs, good friends, and infamous Alice and Hatter (Erin & Matt) to get the idea!
Thank you again to this beautiful family for giving me the special and very personal glimpse into your every day lives!