Most families own hundreds of casual photos of each other and almost no real portrait of everyone together. A family photoshoot fixes that in ninety minutes: one session, directed properly, that produces the picture that actually goes on the wall — plus a set of candid, unposed frames of everyone just being themselves, because those are usually the ones people love most a few years later.
What the session covers
Wardrobe guidance before we shoot, so everyone coordinates without matching outfits exactly. A studio, your home, or a location that means something to your family — a park, the beach, wherever you actually spend time together. Formal groupings first while everyone is fresh, then looser, more candid frames once people relax.
Coming-of-age celebrations and family gatherings
I also photograph the celebrations families build around a milestone: a coming-of-age ceremony for a teenager stepping into more grown-up territory, an engagement gathering where both families meet for the first time, a reunion nobody wants to leave to a phone camera. These run the same way a family portrait session does — the ritual or the gathering itself, then a short set of deliberate portraits while everyone is still dressed and still in one place, because that is much harder to arrange a month later. For a teenager at the centre of a coming-of-age celebration, I always carve out a few minutes for portraits of her alone, directed properly, because those are the frames she keeps.
Booking it for a visit
If relatives are in town for a limited window — parents visiting for a few months, a family flying in for an occasion — say so. That is often the whole reason to book, and if the group is large or spans four generations, the Legacy session is worth considering instead.
What to tell me
Who is going to be in the photographs, the occasion if there is one, and where you would like to shoot. If it is tied to a specific event or celebration, the date and roughly how many people.