Do you ever feel like you HAVE to choose the image of everyone looking to hang on your wall? I am here to tell you that not every image has to be posed. In my experience, most people want those connected, interactive, expressive images, but then they choose the posed portrait for their wall art. That’s all good, and I love a good posed portrait to display for the family to walk by everyday, but what I see is many times, they talk themselves out of the candid version that they love.

I want to advocate that beauty is in real life and authenticity. It’s also fun and advantageous to take a little extra time to not “perform” for the camera. It helps everyone relax and let go of their cheese smiles. I love it when I can just follow a family around a little or get them interacting naturally. Kids laugh and play. They show emotion and connection with their mom, dad, and siblings. They make faces unique to them that they’ve made since they were babies. Dads relax. They chuckle and smile with their teeth. They squeeze and tickle their kids. Moms get to take it all in. Many times their look is pure joy when watching their family be themselves and forget to pose. They laugh and hug Dad and the kids. She lets go of if she is posing right in the image and is natural. It’s a really beautiful thing to capture that connection. It’s fun to see kids be a little mischievous.

This is just to encourage you that in the future years, looking back on a family being tickled, or messed up hair, or someone not fully facing the camera is okay when you see the connection over the perfection. We take images and pay for portraiture to capture who we are in this particular phase of our lives – the height of the kids, the baby teeth, the hairstyles, the relationships. Celebrate all that.

And call me if you are ready to freeze time for this season!