Family, Remember to Capture those Memories

I love, love, love my photography job.  I get to share in so many special moments.  There are weddings, births, holidays and more but there is another moment I love to get to share.  It's just a plain family shoot with the "whole" family.

In the beginning, it's not a big day.  No one (except the Mom or Grandma who scheduled) is excited about the shoot.  In fact a lot of family members come under protest.  They arrive and look at me like it's all my fault.  The shoot usually starts out a little slow and stilted.  As a photographer, you start out making sure you get the shots you MUST have before anyone bails.  As the shoot continues, it's fun to watch the transition.  People start loosening up and enjoying themselves.  After awhile, those that were unhappy at the beginning start coming up with ideas for poses.  We play, we joke, we have fun and we make memories.  I love it when a customer walks away and said, "We had so much fun."

This shoot was a large family shoot.  Becky contacted me and told me she was going to try to pull off a session with her parents, her children, and her children's families.  I don't know if she begged them or threatened them, but she got them all there.  The first person I realized that wasn't really excited was Grandpa.  He would let me take a picture and then ask if he was done.  After another, he would again ask if he was through.  The first picture we took was of the Grandparents.  We took the official posed pic and then I asked Grandpa if he wanted to give Grandma a kiss.  He grinned and then obliged.  I love it!  It has become one of my favorite pics.  See what you think:

Ok, so tell me that isn't the most adorable picture ever.  It makes me smile every time I look at it.

After this, we worked on getting the whole family in one shot.  We thought it was important for everyone to be with their own family but we wanted to show a creative post that would how they all fit together with grandma and grandpa as the center of it all.  This turned out beautiful as a large print.  After grandpa saw the first print, he ordered one for his house too.

I spent about an hour and a half shooting lots of poses including each family unit, the cousins, the brothers and sisters, some individuals and more.  I appreciate Becky and her family for letting me have a small part in making some family members in the trees on a beautiful Fall afternoon.