Y'all know how much I harp about investing in a photo session and how important it is. So let me give you a couple little snippets of why I am so passionate about it getting photos done personally and professionally.
Growing up we got family photos done every single year, I'm talking like getting all dressed up fancy in matching clothes or colors, strolling in to Sears/JCPenny/Picture People, sitting in those silly poses, and then having to wait while mom and dad picked out THE PICTURE while we were running around (probably being hellions). How many of you remember those days? I used to dread them, until I got older.
In about 7th or 8th grade all of that changed. My mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, and IT WAS SCARY. That was really the first time I understood why our family portraits and candid every day pictures were so important. We wanted to capture those moments so that (if the worst happened) we had pictures with our mom. Around that same time my parents started their divorce process. It was hard. So I started to cherish our older family photos even more, because I knew from now on they would be different.
Flash forward to 2015. I'm engaged, my Fiance (now hubs) and I have 2 pups. I told him I wanted to start doing yearly family portraits with our pups, whether they were done by us or by a professional. (Y'all already know the groans I got... He hates getting them done.) I am so glad I implemented this, because it allowed us to have family pictures with our pups who have passed on.
On the flip side of being a photographer, you like to take your own family photos Or branding photos. You get the tripod out, set up the self timer, take practice shots, and then run back and forth (so you can be in it) to get the perfect shot.
Over the past 2 years I made the decision to stop doing our family portraits ourselves. I found a photographer who had the style I was looking for and who I really connected with (and who connected with my family). Y'all this was seriously the best decision I could have made. It was so much more relaxing to be able to enjoy the time with my family getting our photos done! It was so much more enjoyable to laugh and joke around with my family rather than be focused on the camera aspect (aka... does everyone have their eyes open? everyone looking at the camera?)
So why am I telling you all of this? THIS is where my passion comes from. All of these memories and moments? I wouldn't have them documented had my family not invested the time to get them done while growing up. Moving forward, I want to make sure my kids have photos of me and their dad with them (and their dogs), laughing and having a great time together. I want to make sure YOU have this same thing. That is why I am so passionate about family photo sessions. I want YOU to have these moments captured with your growing family (because we will never be this young or small again).