These days, people are craving everyday moments getting captured and remembered. Sitting on the porch drinking a crisp coke, kids running through the sprinkler, puttering around the house with your spouse and kids on a random weekend. Those everyday, normal moments that don’t seem so special right now will be the moments you wish you could turn back to one day 50 years down the road. The moments you’ll crave when the house is quiet and it’s just the two of you. This feeling for nostalgia is where a lifestyle session comes into the conversation.
Rather than a session where we walk around and pose different ways, during a lifestyle session you receives prompts instead of poses. While there’s nothing wrong with being posed and told to “smile at the camera!”, there’s nothing that makes it inherently special, either. Now imagine if you’re standing there with your spouse and kids and I tell you and your spouse to count to 3 and then tickle the kids, THAT photo will be one you remember. Why, you may ask? Because that photo evoked true emotion; that prompt turned the photo from just smiling, to seeing true joy on everyone’s faces and genuine smiles shining through the photo.
A lifestyle session is designed to prompt rather then pose. To guide you into doing normal, everyday things with your family that you wouldn’t think of doing during a photo session but that suddenly that becomes all you want captured. Prompting you to hold hands and take a walk towards me will turn into the kids getting swung up in the air or playing red light, green light. Playing Ring around the Rosie will inevitably end in fits of giggles as everyone falls down around each other. Holding your kids in your arms may turn into them becoming airplanes and flying them towards your spouse/their siblings.
So during a lifestyle family session you can expect a few things:
1.Expect to move! Simple prompts like walking, playing a game, or snuggling will be the norm throughout your session.
2.Expect prompts, not poses. Rather than standing around stiffly and smiling at the camera, we’ll do little things to help you be relaxed and feeling more natural and forget the camera is even there.
3.Expect your kids to be wild and crazy. I do; they’re kids! I want them to run around and be silly and be themselves.
4.Expect to connect with your family. Sometimes you will completely forget that i’m even there with a camera capturing moments for you, and honestly, those moments are my favorite.
5.Expect imperfect moments. Hair may get messed up, they may reach for you constantly, they may laugh so hard they can’t stop. Small moments you didn’t even realize were ones you wanted captured.
6.Expect to have FUN. Your kids don’t have to be on their best behavior and you don’t have to be perfectly coordinated. You just need to show up with your family and be yourselves.
