The Unconventional Guide To Family Portrait Plans

Let me tell you a story. It’s one of those absolute classics, boy meets girl, falls in love etc. etc. 

Meet Jessica and Michael
The fact is this is a special time for Jessica and Michael. They met and fell in love, as people very often do. Their wedding isn’t that far away and it’s at this point where they know they need to find a photographer. Everyone needs a photographer for a wedding don’t they?

The challenge that they had was finding a way to keep everyone happy – doesn’t that always seem to be the way with weddings? A highly involved mother of the bride, a nervous new couple on the cusp of starting a new life and then a selection of guests who just want to be relaxed and not have an overly large camera pushed intrusively into their face.

And that is when they met their photographer Kim.

Wedding photographs

When it came to the wedding, Jessica looked beautiful, Michael looked handsome and everyone was looking forward to the day. There was plenty of hustle and bustle around the photographs but because of the planning ahead it all went smoothly – even the massive picture at the end with all of the mums and dads, aunts and uncles, grandmas and granddads, kids, cousins and friends. That doesn’t often happen with a wedding portrait.

Jessica and Michael were very relieved!

The pitter-patter of tiny feet
It wasn’t so long after the wedding that Jessica started to feel a bit queasy. Quickly it because evident that it wasn’t that she had eaten too many vol-au-vents, there were definitely the pitter-patter of tiny feet on the way.

Jessica and Michael knew that this was going to be another big moment in their life. Definitely one that wasn’t to be missed. As an only child Jessica’s parents had many, many pictures of here at all stages of her life hung up in their home. By contrast Michael didn’t have these and wanted to ensure that these memories were captured for his child.

So back they went to Kim.

She spent plenty of time with Jessica and Michael ahead of the pregnancy, finding out exactly what they wanted. What sort of pictures, how soon after returning home and where in the home to shoot.

The preparation that they put in ahead of time meant that as soon as their new baby, Jackson, came back from the hospital Kim was able to come and capture the first few precious memories and moments of mother and baby without intrusion.

Spoiling the second child
It didn’t take them long to have their second child either. Having grown up as an only child, Jessica didn’t want little Jackson to go without a brother or sister, so they soon welcomed Alice into their ever growing family.

Right from the word go Alice was a little princess.

One of the things that Jessica and Michael had regretted when Jackson arrived was not getting enough pictures of his first year. The new-born photographs were wonderful and they were hanging pride of place on the wall, but the real joy they wanted to capture this time around – was seeing Alice and Jackson grow over the course of a year.

Over the following year, their friend and photographer Kim came to help them with putting together an album of memories as their two children as they grew. Kim would come in once a month, taking intimate family pictures as the two young children grew up.

Alice for the most part (at least to begin with) was oblivious to what was happening and slept through most of the photography. It was a wonderful first birthday present for Jessica (because it’s a special day for mothers too) to have a beautiful bound book that showed just how much her two beautiful children grew over that year.

Sure there were a few pictures with tears, stomps and tantrums but it felt like the album was a beautiful reflection of a beautiful family life.

The Chaos of Family
Now as a big family, with a couple of kids – Jessica and Michael’s parents, two sets of very proud grandparents, wanted to get together for a big old, traditional family portrait.

You probably know exactly the type. The sorts of portraits where you gather pretty much everyone that you’re related to, line them all up on chairs and sofas, stand the tallest as the back and hope that none of the younger children cry for too long.

There were tears (aren’t there always when you really want your small child to smile) and a temper tantrum as Alice was over tired, and overwhelmed by the number of grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins trying to cheer her up.

Given the previous tears Jessica and Michael made the brave decision to go ahead with some photographs of the siblings together. They looked on nervously, the last time that a portrait like this of their two children had been taken Alice had slept through it – with the tears and stamping she was in no way going to sleep through this.

In the end it was the lady with the camera who caught her attention, made her smile along with her brother, and clicked the button at just the right moment. It’s always worth using a professional – they know exactly how to entertain every type of customer.

Now that the kids are grown
It was many years later and after looking over the photographs of Alice’s again that Jessica realised that she didn’t have any more pictures of her children as they grew into adults. It was all very well and good to have these baby photographs but she realised looking at Jackson and Alice that they were now very different from the crawling tots in the photographs.

She knew that is was time to call in Kim again.

It was surprising for Kim how little had changed in the children’s personalities over the subsequent years. Alice was still the princess she had always been, although Kim didn’t need to make nearly as many faces at this young woman now to get her to smile.

Jackson had retained a cheeky grin. However, the formal clothes that so often are required for the graduation photos that the children now stood for, didn’t seem to fit so comfortably on Jackson any more.

Jessica and Michael looked out through the window of their kitchen at their two children. They spoke quietly between themselves as to how lucky they felt to have had so many of the special moments captured by Kim. How many moments in time that were so precious had now been immortalised for them to hang on the walls of their home. Yes, they felt blessed indeed.

These were just the highlights
Something to keep in mind with the story that I’ve just told you about Jessica and Michael – these are just the highlights on their memories and life caught on camera. Along the way there were other times that they called on Kim to help them ensure that they had lasting memories and beautiful heirlooms that they would treasure for the rest of their lives.

There had been the first birthday parties (including an incredibly cute picture of Alice smashing a cake – Michael kept this in his office at work). There had been the Christenings, a beautiful bound album of all their friends and family holding the babies. The pictures of the first days at school still looked suitably awkward, the children wearing jumpers and blazers that were three sizes too big with school ties swinging just above their knees.

There had also been the stunning pictures of their silver wedding anniversary. Their children grown, their parents a little older. But every photograph was a memory of a life lived well.