Preserving The Memories Of Getting A New Puppy | Kingston Family Documentary Session

One of the first things you might get stuck on when planning your own family documentary session is… what do we do?

This is a normal thing to wonder, and today we’ll see how pretty much any occasion can be a perfect fit for a family candid photo session. Especially getting a new puppy!

Now, it’s not every day that you get a new pet. Puppies and kittens are a huge responsibility. I’m not advocating you get a pet for the sake of the photos. Rather, the other way around.

For many children, pets are a normal part of childhood. Bringing that pet home comes with huge emotions. Sometimes long anticipating, too.

I have fuzzy memories of getting our very first dog, and of taking her on her very first walks, back before she was even house trained. I was young then, though. My memories are very faint. And I only very fuzzily remember what she truly looked like as a pup, how big her paws were in relation to my little child hands, etc.

I’ve forgotten all the details because puppies grow up pretty fast. Even faster than human children, really.

That’s why creating a family documentary photo session out of a big event like getting a puppy can be so important.

That’s exactly what we did with the Brashaw-Scott family.

The photographs that follow will give you some examples of how a puppy can become fairly central to a candid photo session.

I met with this family for a morning session last fall. We had planned to take photos of the new puppy (it was actually the girls’ grandparents’ new puppy) but of course also to capture a bit of daily life. Playing on the rink outside… doing silly stuff inside. You know - all the things the girls will one day LOVE to look back on. Maybe even share with their own little ones one day.

So it’s not all puppy in the photos.

You’ll see that.

Now let’s begin.

What’s the one thing everyone wants to do with a new puppy? Hold them, of course!

Everyone wants a turn at holding the puppy, and puppies mostly don’t mind. Here we snapped a few photos of the girls holding Juno and then grandma holding Juno, and of course… Juno by herself.

Don’t Forget The Puppy Mischief!

Puppies are playful. They make toys out of any old box or blanket that comes their way. They chew on things they shouldn’t and generally get up to lots of mischief. Luckily for Juno, there were lots of loving hands to guide her into safe and fun mischief, as opposed to dangerous mischief.

Here’s a few of what THOSE photos looked like:

When Puppies Go To Sleep - We Tumble!

It’s a fact: no matter how much mischief your puppy gets into, there will come a time when she tires herself out and takes a nap. It might last only a minute (so use it wisely!), but that nap will come.

And then the human children will fill the gap.

These girls love to twirl and jump and flip off the bed, and onto the bed.

So there was no way we were finishing the session without capturing some of those athletics, while the puppy slept.

The Quiet Moments During A Candid Photo Session

After all the jumping, and the flipping… after the puppy is tuckered out… there invariably comes a time when everything quiets down.

It often doesn’t last long, but children and puppies alike all appreciate some downtime.

When that time comes, I make sure to preserve those moments, too. Because that’s everyday moments, and those are most often the ones we forget.

How To Go From Indoors To Outdoors (and Back!) During Your Photo Session

Parents often ask me: do we do outdoor first? Or indoor? How do we know when it’s time to switch?

Well, there’s really no right or wrong way to structure the session.

Family photojournalism is about going with your flow.

So when to make those indoor/outdoor transitions?

You know when the kids get really hyper and you suggest they go burn off the energy outside? That might be a great time to do it.

Or you know when they’re outside and getting hungry and cranky? Might be a time to do it.

In this case, we started off the session inside, played a whole bunch, and then we took it outside!

When photographing an outdoor session, the aim is the same: we don’t want to interfere with your kids’ activities. Or yours. By this point in the photo shoot, the kids are completely comfortable and they’ve gotten the hang of this: ok, the photographer is here to take photos of us having fun.

And so they have lots of fun.

That tends to make parents more relaxed, which in turn leads to parents having more fun, and before long, everyone is having fun, just doing what they normally would be doing, except they know that they will have these memories for a long long time.

(Notice the cat in the third photo below! What a fun moment!)

While everyone is having fun in the backyard, I’m on the lookout for funny moments, action-packed moments, and sweet moments. Here’s one of each.

In the first photo, the puppy was squirming, and it made for a really funny shot. In the second… well, flips on the trampoline need no explanation, do they? And the third… I love this moment. It’s two sisters, playing outside. But notice how the younger sister looks adoringly toward big sis. If you look closer, you’ll see she’s also copying her big sister’s posture. For me, photographs like this of siblings are priceless. I have some like this of my own kiddos, and I love and cherish them most of any other photo.

The Session Is Nearly Complete!

Mini Day In The Life Sessions go quick! Before you know it, it’s time to wrap it up.

This isn’t a big affair. We just take a few last photos, and I depart. The family is then free to do whatever they love doing. They can stay in the backyard, or come back inside. They can enjoy the rest of their day, knowing they worked really hard (and had lots of fun!) preserving memories of their life.

We snapped a little family shot before we went inside because sometimes you want to have all the people you love all in one place, and that’s perfectly ok!

Oh, and one last one of puppy, because she’s so cute!

If you’ve enjoyed this photoblog, and it’s given you a few good ideas for your very own family photography session in the backyard, then you should click the button below and we can chat.

If you're new to documentary family photography, you should know that there is no obligation to book, or even to fall in love with the idea of candid family photos. Most people do fall in love with the idea, but if it doesn’t work for you, that’s okay!

Click below and I’ll be in touch soon to help you imagine what your very own session might look like!