The holiday season is upon us and so are family gatherings. The holidays are a time to connect with our loved ones. Most importantly, the holidays are a time to reflect on all that we have to be grateful for and for most of you, I am sure your loved ones are on the top of that list.

Even though our parents and siblings are such a central part of our lives, we don’t have photos that document that bond. Sure, we get pictures of our children each year, which don’t get me wrong, is of the utmost importance, but when was the last time you had a photo taken with your mom or sibling? For most of us , it may have been at a wedding or other function during which time we quickly snapped an iPhone photo. Now, the cell phone capture is great to have, but does it really capture the essence of your family? For those of you who have been thinking about having your family photographed, the holidays are a perfect time to finally do so because the family is all together at this time of year.

When my lovely client contacted me a few months ago to plan this session, she said she wanted to update her family photos and because her brother, who now lives in California, would be here for the holidays, it would be the perfect time to do so. I couldn’t agree more and eagerly took on the session. Although these types of sessions keep my on my toes, I really love photographing extended families. The sessions are always filled with lots of love, energy and laughter, especially when there are lots of cousins involved.  It is always such a pleasure to see the way families care for each other and I always share lots of laughs with them during the session.

Most of the time my clients who have young toddlers feel some trepidation about booking this type of photo session. They are concerned that their child will not be able to sit still or will not “behave.” I try to assuage those fears by reminding my client that my approach to photography does not require children to sit still. Of course, for that big family portrait, the children will have to be posed, but I always find ways to make that part of the session go by quickly and relatively stress free for the parents. Plus, I have some post production tricks that help me to get that one “grandma” shot in which everyone is staring at the camera. After we get those formal posed images out of the way, I can capture you interacting with your children in a natural and relaxed way and I can guarantee you that those are the images that you will love the most from your session.

This particular extended family session was on a brisk Fall evening. During the days leading up to this session, we had a stretch of some rather cold and windy days here in the Northeast. However, it warmed up to 46 degrees on the day of the session. The family was great; they really were troopers and handled the cold so well, especially the part of the family who lives in California; I can only imagine how tough the weather was for them. I have so many favorites from the day, but here are a few of the highlights.

If you would like more information about my family sessions, contact me.