Family sessions y’all. These are so underrated in my opinion. If you read this full post, you will see why. But really, you can’t put a price on how awesome it is to have sweet memories like these to cherish for years to come.
But I am not here to sell you stuff, I’d rather talk about these cool people and how much fun we had at their session!
Um, we cannot move on without acknowledging Olivia’s STUNNING blue eyes! She’s just the most precious baby. This session was the first time I met Tom and April and little Olivia, and it was such a beautiful day. We met at the Ludington, MI state park near Hamlin Lake to take these portraits, and I don’t think we could have chosen a better location. The sun, the sand, and that beautiful lake really showed out for us. I also found out something super cool about April!
I went to a very small school from the time I was in first grade on. My graduating class was about 130 people give or take. I think that the classes are even smaller today. One of my closest friends from elementary, Heather, happens to be April’s lifetime best friend. We got to talking at the session and figured out that we both knew Heather. It really is a small world! It can sometimes be hard doing photos for someone you’ve never met before. You don’t know what they like, you aren’t sure how comfortable they are doing different poses and prompts, etc. But with these guys it was really easy and fun, especially once we broke the ice and figured out we had a mutual friend!
It’s always so nice when I hit it off with people I am photographing. I have actually made some true, lasting friendships just because someone hired me as their photographer, and I think that is such a cool side effect of this work. I hesitate to even call it work because I just love being part of people’s stories like this. My family never did family photos when I was a kid. I think we have maybe two photos of my family all together. That was always sad to me, but it’s also why I have really enjoyed capturing moments like these for other families.
Because a session like this- it isn’t just about the photos. Yes, those are wonderful and important, but you’re also making a memory with your loved ones. And that, to me, is even more impactful.
Ok, ok, enough from me. I will leave you to enjoy this sweet little family and I hope you enjoy their photos as much as I do!
