It started with my own family. Maybe you can relate! My mom had a health scare, and when the dust settled, we realized we didn't have one single picture of all of us together. So we arranged a photo shoot, with me manning the remote. What ensued was pure calamity! It was windy, and cold, not the gorgeous sunset we imagined. Everyone was dressed for pictures, not the weather... lesson number one... The children were freezing, the men were impatient, and everyone just wanted to be done! In the end, I went with the one where everyone was goofing off- that's the real US as a family. What I ended up with was this- and I love it!
All of this caused me to really think long and hard about how I wanted to approach family portraits as a photographer with my clients. Instead of the static posing so common in photography, I decided to get people moving. We go out and have fun! In the process, we capture that family having fun together, and interacting in a natural way. Kids and husbands get to move around and be comfortable. Everyone forgets about the camera, and we pose here and there along the way. With this family, we went to the wharf, where Eric proposed to Valeria in the first place, then played in Old Monterey. The couple just welcomed their new baby boy, but here is is still dreaming until the time is right. :)