I'm not sure you're going to believe this Documentary Family Mini Photo Session in New York City's West Village is even real or mostly candid.
Approaching a family photo session from a documentary standpoint goes against everything I was ever taught about family photos when I first started out as a photographer. I thought family photos needed everyone to be holding hands, walking toward the camera with perfect smiles. With every kid looking glass-eyed and precious, like they've never complained or thrown a tantrum in their lives.
But, after watching parents fight their children to smile or after seeing parents leave exasperated that their kid wasn’t in a good mood for their photo session, I decided to really only work with parents who were comfortable with a documentary style approach to their family photos.
What does that mean? Well, when we watch documentary films, we're watching very candidly the every day life of other humans. Sometimes it might look mundane. Or sometimes we're watching them in their greatest joy. How does that translate to families? New York City Documentary family photos portray families doing fun things with their kiddos, making the photo session more of an experience than a session. Kids love experiences and doing fun things together as a family. The less a parent focuses on the camera and the more they focus on running around with their kiddo, the more I will be able to photograph authentic to real life moments.
Let me tell you, it's amazing what kind of joy you can capture in their faces when they are having fun or are less worried about the camera. Even simply sitting in your living room and reading their favorite book together can be a sacred experience worth photographing. The way they want to turn the page or the way they hold your hand as you read aloud to them. There’s nothing more special than the photos of them being themselves. You'd be surprised the amount of candid grins I get from kids when I'm taking photos of them hanging out in and around their homes or favorite parks.
Featured in this post are Chelsea and her family. We allowed the kids to run around, be held when they needed to take a break, explore the pumpkins on Brownstone stoops in the West Village, and throw leaves we hoped no dogs had peed on. This was a twenty minute mini-session, so the expectations for lots of photos wasn't there. They just needed a few good ones. And even though I would prefer to have a longer time with families, letting them interact the way they usually do for an hour, this quick little candid session actually turned out great. When you see photos of Chelsea and her husband putting their kids on their shoulders-- this was their kids' idea. It wasn't something I instructed. Which made it all the more fun for everyone. When you see them all hugging each other-- Chelsea's kids both started hugging on Chelsea so I asked their dad if we could make it a big group Bear Hug, so he joined in. Sweet moments don't have to be contrived, they can just happen-- do you trust that just letting your kids be themselves is sometimes the best route for the best photos? I prompted their kids to explore and throw leaves, but only if they wanted to-- and shocking--- they did!
Moral of the story? Give your kids fewer expectations during their photo sessions and show up ready to interact with them with both smiles and real faces, and watch your photos actually reflect who your family is and who your kids are becoming.
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