The who is easy - your family!  - immediate, nuclear family, extended family, pets, Grandparents, brothers and sisters. It doesn’t matter to us how many people you want to include, and the more the merrier as far as I am concerned. I have written about a family portrait that was taken in Sri Lanka, not long before we came to Australia  in1975. Included was my grand parents, their children and partners and all the grand children  ( you can see the story here ) in all there were 22 of us in that picture.  Over the last 45 years, this image has  become more and more important to all of us, and will continue to grow in importance within our family( I am now the oldest surviving male in the picture, with the 2 previous generations now all passed).

My process, when photographing family groups, is to photograph kids and couples individually, and then build smaller family groups before finally attempting a whole family group. This allows me some time to get to know people and to work out what works for each person so that by the time we are doing the big family group, hopefully, I have some strings to pull to get the best expressions out of everyone ( something our family portrait is missing - everyone looks quite grumpy!)

The “When” question is a little bit more complex. I have written a whole ebook called “Your Life in Pictures” all about this which you can download for free here, but basically the minimum should correspond to the milestones. Birth, 1st birthday, going to school, going to high school, university, engagements etc etc etc. We have clients that do shoots every year, others that do it every couple of years and others just get in contact every now and again. We do have a calendar system which allows us to log you in at an interval that suits, you so that we can send you a reminder that its time again. We understand that life gets busy and if you don’t have to worry about when the next shoot will be, you can relax knowing that you won’t wake up in the middle of the night realising  that you have only had one shoot in the last 18 years and the kids are about to leave home!

I have asked this question for decades! the technical answer goes something like this:
To capture a sense of belonging, connection to family, to leave a mark and to create ongoing history for future generations. To capture memories, and preserve a particular time in a family's history.
My clients tell me that it runs deeper than that. That time moves on, kids grow up and leave home, parents grow old  and pets live their lives 7 times faster than we do, and it all happens while you are busy with life. Busy with nappies and kindergarten and school and all of a sudden, they are off to University and the family unit is never going to be the same again.

Having your family portraits on the wall in your home is more than just decoration. It is an unequivocal statement that Family is important. Portraits encourage, nurture and promote a sense of belonging and value by celebrating the individual members of your family.

Our two girls each has a wall in our hallway with a set of 12 images just outside their childhood bedrooms.  For the last 30 years, no one come to our house without stopping to look at these pictures, so all their lives, the girls got to hear people say how wonderful they were, and this, in no small way, helped to consolidate the sense of self esteem, and confidence that they both now possess. Now that they both have homes of their own,  these images are still there to  remind them that this will always be a place where they belong, are valued and are welcome.

Hair and makeup is easy, the trick is to have it done as if you were going to a lunch event rather than a dinner event. If you normally wear your hair down, but decide to get it put up for your photos, you are not allowed to say “ I don’t like the pictures with my hair up” once they have been taken! My suggestion is to always have your hair the way you normally have it - this is not the time to be experimenting. If the boys are having haircuts for the portraits, make sure that they happen at least a week or two before the shoot. It gives everyone a chance get used to the look, and there is less chance of getting “I hate the way my hair looks”

As far as getting in shape is concerned, there are two aspects to this: the first is that getting in shape or losing weight is not a valid reason for postponing your photo shoot. Think about it, when was the last time you looked at a picture of your mum and immediately thought, this could be a lovely  family photo if only mum had lost a few pounds? It doesn’t happen! Your family loves you for who you are and not just how you look, and in years to come, both you and your kids will be so pleased that you had these portraits done. Don’t delay your family portraits just for this.

The second point is that we have Photoshop and we are not afraid to use it! we have a policy of looking after the mums, and have spent the last 3 decades perfecting our skills so that we can give you portraits that are real, and flattering, and look like you on a really good day. It is possible to overdo photoshop work, but used correctly it should be totally seamless and undetectable.

There are three main options for locations for family portrait photography:
The studio, at home or your shack, or in our amazing parks gardens and beaches.

The choice is yours, but here are my thoughts on each option.

The studio is the perfect location if you want to take away any distractions . We use a simple light or dark background in our studio. As the majority of our portraits are shot in Black and White, we are always trying to simplify things, and removing the background is a great way to focus total attention on the people, their expressions and the intimacy between them.

On the other hand, portraits in our home amplify the location and help tell the story of your family. The background adds to the image and the story and adds extra  layers of information to your portraits.

The final option is one of our fabulous parks or gardens. When looking for a location, it is always great to find a spot that makes sense to your family. A favourite park or somewhere that has played an important role in your family’s story. For us, city park was always a favourite with the girls and every time I see a picture taken there it brings back very fond memories of our time together.  With any option outside of the studio, we are always dependent on the light. Finding soft beautiful, flattering light is one of the keystones to great portraiture so whenever I am out of the studio, that is one of the first considerations. I tell my clients that there will always be some nice light, it just may not be where you thought we were going to have your portraits done, so being flexible with the location is all part of the journey.

I have always believed that when someone rings up and the first question they ask is “How much does it cost”, it is because they don’t know enough about the process to ask other questions. Questions like why are we doing this, what outcomes are we hoping to achieve, how important is an archival process, am I going to get tricked into spending way more than I can afford, because I know pictures of my kids make me unable to resist.

All of these are valid questions, as is the basic how much does it cost, but until we have had a discussion about what exactly you want, its hard to put a price on it.

Good portrait photography isn’t cheap, it doesn’t have to be expensive, but it does have to be valuable. It is important that we make images that capture your family in a way that gives you the outcomes you are looking for.

To do this, we go through a pre shoot consultation with all our portrait clients, during which we can answer all these questions. Because no one likes surprises, we will show you a complete price list,  show you the various options that we offer, and work out a plan that suits your budget, so that by the time get get to making the pictures, we all have a clear idea of what our mission is and we can relax into the photograph session knowing what we are trying to achieve.

Once we have made the images for you, our system enables us to guide you through the process of selecting images and decided how to display them. We can show you collections of your images over layered onto pictures of your own walls, to scale, so that you have a very clear idea of how the final products will look in your home.

 It would be pointless to go to all this trouble if we are going to print onto cheap, non archival products, so everything we produce is made to the best possible archival standards available to us. Our canvas manufacturer offers a “no questions asked” 75 year guarantee on canvas portraits, so if you knock one off the wall, or your house burns down ( both of these are real examples from our clients ) they will replace the canvases free of charge.

We will give you digital files to use on social media, screen savers and emails, but if that was all you were getting, I would not be doing my job right. Technology changes so quickly these days that there is no way of knowing how we will be able to see digital images in the future. remember CD’s and DVD’s? computers don’t even come with a tray to load them any more, and that was just a couple of years ago.

Archival printed images are the only way to go, and there is the added benefit that we store copies of all the images I take in at least two different locations to ensure that your images are safe. Our files go back to 1979 and our cataloguing system means we can find them when you need them.

So how much does it cost? we have prints that start at $100, you can get a nice framed print canvas or acrylic that would look great on your wall from $495 and wall collections from $695. There are also albums acrylic blocks portfolio boxes and much more. The main point is that you will know all the prices for the things that you are interested in before we give you the opportunity to book a session, and our payment plan means that with a bit of planning, you can get exactly what you want, and what will look great in your home with out compromise.

Our website has a heap of information about the whole process of family portrait photography.
 
See the exact steps that you need to organise a shoot on our website here



There are also FAQs like what do we wear, how long will it take, and how to ensure your dog is ready to be part of your family portrait too.



 We have also put together for you a page with examples of how you can display your family portraits, showing the various products that we offer. We will certainly go through all the options and prices with you when we do our booking consult, but this will certainly give you some ideas to think about. It is much easier to choose pictures when you know why you are choosing them! are they destined for a main wall in your family room or will they sit on your desk? It will make a difference!