When I arrived at the Lupo family’s house in Plymouth Meeting, PA, I immediately knew I was in for a challenge. I could hear the family’s oldest daughter already refusing to put her dress on and making defiant exclamations of “I’m not getting my pictures taken!” hehe, but definitely to be expected! It’s for this exact reason that I prefer to do Lifestlye portraits.

For those of you not familiar with the term, Lifestyle is a type of portrait photography that involves taking the majority of pictures in a natural, uncontrolled environment. The opposite of the sit-and-smile-gray-slate-cookie-cutter-backdrop photos your local kindergartens will provide, with a lifestyle shoot, the kids get to play outdoors and do their thing, while I chase them around getting natural candid photos of them, even asking for the occasional “smile!” when I catch them looking my way. I think it’s just a lot less exhausting for them in general, especially when you are asking for as much as two hours of picture time.

We started by setting up one of their little tea party tables outside and the kids sat down no problem. From that moment, instead of being miserable picture time, it was fun play time and there’s no better proof than the smiles on their faces!

Okay, there are definitely plenty of Nicholas smiling, but I just like this tongue one better! Too cute!

As playtime went on, we found crafty ways to sneak mom and dad into the photos, and a couple of times without even realizing it, the kids were participating in a full family photo!

We went inside the house to get a little more variety with our locations. The kids room offered a very cute pink chair set up against a pink wall, and of course we let them have some more fun jumping on the bed.

We thought the pink chair was just a little too girly for Nicholas, so we took him in another room where there happened to be a big awesome green chair! Nicholas wasn’t originally too keen on looking at the camera for any pictures or doing any “sitting nice,” but instead wanted to take pictures of ME in the green chair. Mom went and got him his little camera and we went for it. I did whatever Nicholas asked and made it look like I was having a blast. Before I knew it, he wanted to “switch,” and he was the one sitting cooperatively on the green chair, doing what I asked! He was having so much fun, in fact, he cried when his turn was up!

Neither of the girls sat in the pink chair for very long, but in our alone time, even the oldest daughter was VERY cooperative for a short while. She was very sweet and I was very impressed; we definitely bonded a little.

We wanted just one more, slightly more formal, family photo on the couch, but all the kids were already toasted. The oldest daughter got on the couch with a big pouty face, then ran off into the back room to bury her head in a pillow. I had a little chat with her, and to my surprise, I was able to talk her back onto the couch for just a few more photos. All the kids were excellent sports and I really loved working with them! I hope the kids and parents alike, enjoy these photos as much as I do.