Sometimes you just get lucky.
So don’t you love being photographed? Right, I didn’t think so. It’s pretty much the popular consensus. I have never had a portrait sitting in which the subject said: “This is better than sex or chocolate cake! Let’s get started!” For many people it’s more akin to putting ground glass in their eye. A family photo is slightly better.
On the other hand, I find subjects more relaxed when it’s a group or family photo. And the bigger the family the less pressure on the individual. However, the more subjects, the more complicated it gets for the professional photographer. When it’s my own family there is another layer of stress as sometimes they show up in the opposite of what I’ve told them to wear just to give me a hard time.
Now that my children are grown and have their own families, I’m in demand to do their family shoots for Xmas cards, websites, or political campaigns. The price is right. For them. For me? Not so much.
Family shoots require all kinds of decisions. What season shall we shoot? Will it be inside our outside? If outside, what about bad weather? Do we need an alternate date? My house or yours? What should everyone wear? (PLEASE no matching outfits!) Natural light or professional lighting? Backdrops or ambient setting? Posed or candid? Do we include the family pets? What about non-family members like boyfriends or girlfriends? Do we put that kid we don’t like on the end of a row so we can photoshop them out when things go south?
Sophie: the star!
The photo at the top of the post is completely a lucky shot. Not the outfits or how everyone is positioned. No, those were done at my direction. This shoot is for my daughter Gina’s ‘s family. I schlepped all my lights, reflectors, 2 cameras, tripod, and several lenses over to her house. We decide Sophie the dog would be too difficult to pose with them. Maybe we will try later. So everyone is in position. I focus. Just before I press the shutter, the dog comes over with her nerf football, lies down, delicately crosses her little paws and poses. Holy Crap! I could never have planned that. One shot. I look at the image on the back of the camera.
Me: Ok! We’re done!
My daughter checks out the image: Mom! I don’t like how I look in that shot.
Me: NO ONE is going to be looking at YOU! Everyone is looking at the dog!
If I could do that with all family pets I’d be a millionaire.
So how did the rest of the shots with Sophie turn out? Zippo. Nada. Zilch. Niente. 没有什么. Rien. Zero.
Family shot for my older son’s political campaign
My son was asked to run for state senate and needed a family photo. Like a good mother (opposite political party), I pack up everything and drive over to his house. I position the parents and kids and start taking shots. With this shoot I decide to do a few extra shots while we take a short break. Golden. Best shot of the day. I love documentary family photography because it shows what the family REALLY looks like at that point in your life. The image on the left is what was posted on the campaign website. But even my son agreed that the second shot was more representative of his family at that time with four teenagers. All four were bitching about spending a Saturday afternoon doing a photo shoot. Pretty clear from their body language, right? Even better is the expression on my son’s face: “Someone just shoot me!” (Answer to a mother’s prayer to see you own children wrangle with teenagers.) He actually loved the photo on the right and later made it his cover photo on Facebook.
Catch them while they are young and still around!
The last full family photo we did was in 2016. Why? First of all we are 20 people: my children and their spouses, my partner and me, and 12 grandchildren! Not too much of a problem when they are all rug rats and they have no obligations. But then as they get older you have all kinds of interference….sports practices, school schedules, college, different vacation schedules; and after college, the little boogers get jobs! And some of them move away.
For the above mentioned reasons we all treasure the following shots:
Seven years later we are due for another photo session. But one grandkid is living in France, one moved out of state, and two are away at college and have summer internships. We have a family cruise to Alaska planned in June so I will insist on a family photo at that time.
And since I purchased the drink upgrade package for all of them, I’m pretty sure they will show up.
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