6 Most asked questions about organising a family photographic portrait

6 questions
Who and when should we photograph
who why
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!
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!
Why is portrait photography important, especially for our kids
Should we have hair and makeup done, and should we wait until we have lost a few kilos so that we look great in our pictures?
Where are the best locations for family Portraits
How much does a Family Portrait cost
What are the exact steps I need to take to organise a shoot that will be heaps of fun for my whole family while at the same time getting those real authentic expressions from everyone.