Family portraits are so important. Not just for you, right now, as you live and breathe, but for your future family as they grow and evolve and change. Not to sound too terribly morbid, but one day it is all that will be left. After you’ve lived your crazy, beautiful life and moved on to the next, your family, for generations will have those images to look back on. They’ll look back at those images not only to see your face, but to see their own reflected back at them within yours. Or, perhaps the faces of their parents or children. Those images will also act as a time capsule transporting the viewer into days of decades past. It’ll give a peek at fashion choices, decor fads, and countless over “ins” of the time and maybe even inspire that viewer in ways you could never imagine. Something I love to do with family sessions is to capture them as they are. I love to capture the fun, the laughs, the chaotic. I love to have them play and joke and love, because that is what’s real. Those are the moments that matter. Those are the moments you’ll look back on to see. Sure, we’ve got to have the “everyone look at the camera and smile” photo, but the photo your children will be looking for when they’re grown and have children of their own will not be the one where everyone smiles and says “cheese.” They’ll be looking for that photo where dad tossed them so high in the air they felt, if only for a moment, like they were floating. They’ll look for that image where they took their first steps with mom in the backyard holding their hand, while the sun came through the trees and made everything feel magical. That’s what I do this for. Those images are what I love and what I long to capture.
Stipher Family Fall Session
