"Day In The Life" With Kelly, Ryan, and Their Kiddos: How You Can Combine Indoor & outdoor Activities During Your Session
I’ve photographed this adorable family before, so when Kelly messaged me on Facebook to ask if we could book a little mini Day in the Life session, I was thrilled!
Some of my favourite images to look at are theirs. And now they had a new baby (well, actually she was one already!) and a new house! The same doggo, though ❤️
So I was STOKED!
Q&A interruption: Is it hard to find a time for a family session? (how long in advance do we book?)
People frequently worry if they’ll be able to find a time that I’m available and they are available for me to photograph them. Even outside of Covid times, people’s lives are busy. School, work, activities.
As a family photographer, I live a highly flexible life (and I LOVE it that way). I can accommodate pretty much ANYTHING, at any time. The only thing that can’t be rebooked or shifted are weddings, and I intentionally don’t do many of those each season for that reason: I want to remain as flexible as possible.
So you should never worry about finding a time. You carve out an hour in your busy lives, and I’m there.
And as for how much notice you need to book a session? I’ll tell you honestly that most times, we can make something happen within a week or two. Sometimes less!
Now that your fears about timing are allayed, go ahead and book your session 🤗
Starting Indoors & Making Friends With Your Kids
For most families wishing to combine both indoor & outdoor activities in their candid family photoshoot, we start indoors. It’s the most natural place to start. I show up, make friends with your kids, and then we commence the fun.
By the way, my first priority is on making friends with your kids. That means I will be paying more attention to them in the first few minutes than I do to you. Sorry, parents, I hope you’re ok with this! 🤩
Now, even though I’ve photographed these older two sisters before, they were far too young to remember. So on this session, we quickly made friends, and I know when this is complete because they’re bringing me their toys to show me, and doing little jumps and flips to impress me. Which does, indeed, impress me 😍
Even dad got in on the fun, with some impressive baby throws, like this:
this is pretty impressive, too! 🤩
Now that everyone has worn out a ton of energy jumping, flipping, running to their bedrooms and bringing out all their favourite stuffies, it’s time for a more calm activity: having a snack!
This little girl enjoys yogurt like I enjoy cake. So documenting her eating yogurt was actually a kind of important thing for this family. Because one day it’ll make them remember, whereas they might otherwise have forgotten, how much she liked yogurt.
This portion of the morning also gives mom and dad a little coffee break. It’s important that people can be themselves and take some downtime during a documentary family photo-session. We’re capturing the magic of your (extra)ordinary life, which means… all the bits of life should go right in here!
Heading Outside: the transition
Most traditional photographers would not give importance to the bit of the day when we get on our boots and coats and head outside to play.
But they’re wrong.
Here’s why: the transition between outdoors and indoors is as normal as breathing air. It is sometimes hectic, sometimes funny, often it brings about tears… transitions are hard for kids, and heading outside to play is just one of those routines that every family deals with countless times before the kids are grown.
*Not* capturing it would be an omission, in my mind.
Now We’re Outside: Let The Sillies Begin Again
Sometimes getting candid photographs of the kids in a large open space is a challenge, but it also means that the kids have full freedom to run and enjoy and be themselves.
The photographs you can capture in a short time outdoors are sometimes not perfectly framed - simply because there is no time to achieve that kind of perfection. But they are perfectly candid, and the emotions in the photographs are powerful. Here’s what I mean by that:
There are also spontaneous tender moments that happen when we’re not posing or telling anyone what to do. Like this:
Everyone is free to explore and be inquisitive. That’s sometimes difficult to capture in a photo, but candid photographs allow us to do it. Sometimes those photographs aren’t capturing strong emotions. They might be a bit more serious, and that’s okay. Just because you’re not laughing doesn’t mean you’re not having fun or learning :)
And some moments that you create are just pure magic. They’re like butterflies in a meadow. You have to be quick or you’ll miss them.
I got to see these wonderful children for a brief moment in time this year, whereas their parents get to watch them grow each and every day.
Day by day, their hours are filled with fleeting moments.
But the fact that I only get to see them briefly every year or so, gives me a distinct advantage. I focus on what few other photographers see: the fleeting, unorchestrated moments that make up a life.
This is the magic ✨
And just look at how much she has grown!
The first photograph was in mid 2018, and the second was in the fall of 2020. ❤️ Same pup.
If you’re ready to book your own candid family photography session, let’s chat!
If you have questions or you’re not sure, get in touch and we can chat about what a session like this might look like for your family, what activities might be perfect for you, and where and when we can make it happen!