What is Lifestyle Photography? {Seattle Family Photographer}

What exactly is lifestyle photography and how does it differ from traditional photography? The answer may be different depending on who you ask, but I’m going to try to explain what lifestyle photography is to me.

Lifestyle is somewhere in the middle between traditional portrait photography, and documentary photography. Portrait photography is a session where the photographer will pose everyone in a spot that the photographer has chosen and will direct everyone to look (and usually smile) at the camera. Documentary photography is where the photographer will follow the family around and just photograph them going about their day. The photographer will do nothing to alter the scene. If lights are turned on, they’ll leave them. If the family is in an area that might not photograph well, they’ll leave them there and continue to shoot anyway. So, where does lifestyle photography fit in? My approach is to manipulate the scene a little, but ultimately, I still aim to capture the family as it is. Once I arrive at your house, I typically look for the places with the best light, or anywhere that looks like it would be an interesting backdrop. I will direct the family into that space and I may guide them into position. For example, if I have the family on the bed, I may ask young children to hop on their parents’ laps, but that’s where my direction stops. I may offer prompts such as “Can you tickle your baby brother’s feet?” but what I’m really looking for is to capture the emotion once I have you in the place I want you. Normally once I offer a prompt or two, families will just start interacting with one another, and that’s what I’m aiming to get. I will also manipulate the light if needed. I always turn off artificial lighting, and if needed, I will close a shade or two if I want light just from one direction. I love to capture you enjoying just being with your people and I believe that that’s what family photography should be about. Love, connection and a whole lot of authenticity.

If this is how you want your family session to look, please contact me. I would love to chat with your more about a photography session that captures the heart of your family.

A Love Filled Newborn Session {Seattle Lifestyle Photographer}

No lie, I actually cried when I got the email from this mama telling me that baby number three had arrived and asked if I would photograph them once they brought their daughter home to Washington following the beautiful gift of adoption. I am so happy for them and it was so lovely to her big sister and brother adapt to their new roles. Little Zoe, you are so loved. It was an absolute honor to photograph this beautiful love story.

How to Prepare for Your In Home Lifestyle Session {Seattle Family Photographer}

The number one question I get asked once a family has booked a lifestyle photo session is “Does my house need to be perfect?” The answer is NO! Your house should feel like you and that a family lives there, but there are a few things you can do to make your images look amazing:

Put Clutter Away

Remember that my camera can’t “unsee” what is there. If you don’t want it photographed, put it away. Cords and cables should be out of sight.

Focus on 1 or 2 Rooms

The rooms I use the most are the living room and the master bedroom. If you don’t have the time or energy to declutter the whole house, focus on those rooms.

Make Sure it Feels like Your Space

When cleaning up, don’t remove the essence of you. Keep family pictures, heirlooms, blankets, special toys out. The reason you’re having an in home session is because it is the place where you live your lives. Make sure it still feels like your space.

Now that you’ve prepared your home, what about what to wear? Second most frequently asked question! I always recommend that mom chooses an outfit for herself first. Often moms put themselves last and this is a time when you should feel good about yourself. I do love the look of flowy cardigans and leggings, or a long flowy dress. It may not be what you’d wear every day but they are universally flattering and comfortable. Dress kids and dad in things they feel comfortable in. I would recommend putting kids in clothes they have worn before so they are used to the feel of the fabric. If you’re looking to buy something new for your kids, my favorite shops for sweet, photogenic clothes are Zara, Jamie Kay, H&M, and Peek Kids.

Timing - When should you have a session

The great thing about in home sessions is that they can be booked year round. No need to wait until it’s summer or fall as you’ll be cozy and warm inside your own home. I typically do morning sessions at 10am and afternoon sessions at 2pm, but we can be flexible around kids’ nap schedules if that doesn’t work for your family. Sessions last anywhere from one to two hours so we will want to avoid shooting late in the afternoon so we don’t lose the light, particularly in winter.

Don’t forget the outside of your home! Weather permitting, we may take a few images outside. Often families like an image taken on their front porch or back yard, so be sure to have those spaces photo ready if you’d like that too.

Lastly, be prepared to have fun. The session will focus on you connecting with your family so be ready to play, read books, and snuggle with your family.

2019 Travel Photo Sessions {Seattle Family Photographer}

Being an in home lifestyle photographer, typically, I can only photograph families in the greater Seattle area, however, in 2019, I will be adding a few travel sessions. Last year, I photographed families in New Zealand and it was so amazing being able to share my photography on the other side of the world. If you have been wanting a session with me but you live outside of Seattle, please contact me and we’ll work together to figure out a way for this to happen! It may involve a minimum number of sessions booked in your city so if you have friends who would like a session, get them involved too. I’m not ruling out anywhere…cool pre-war apartment in NYC? Count me in. Rustic villa in Italy? Let’s do it! Don’t think your location is fun or exotic? Doesn’t matter. It’s all about the beautiful moments in your family anyway. I’m so excited to see where 2019 will take me!

How to Get a Variety of Images in Just a Few Minutes {Seattle Newborn Photographer}

A while back I wrote a post about how to photograph your baby in as little as 5 minutes. It was pretty popular (check it out here) so I wanted to show you again how this can be achieved. The baby I photographed in the original post was my own. I wrote that post because I know that as a new mama, it is exhausting having a little baby, but I also know that you want to preserve every little detail of them. A photo shoot may seem daunting, but if you only want to give it a few minutes, you can still get a great variety of shots. If you’re a photographer and you want to get a big variety of images, but you have limited time, or baby has finally fallen asleep and you want to maximize sleeping time, you can follow the same ideas. Shoot above, shoot from the side, capture details, get full body shots, move all around baby for as much variety as possible. Good luck and have fun! If you have a new baby and the thought of photographing your little one still seems like it’s too much, contact me. I’d love to take that stress away.

Fresh 48, In Home Lifestyle or Both? {Seattle Newborn Photographer}

When you are looking to book a newborn photographer, the options can seem endless. Do you want a posed session or a lifestyle session? In a studio or at your home? Do you want the session when baby is only a few days old or do you want to wait until they’re a few weeks? Do you want family pictures or baby alone? And what about birth photography or a Fresh 48 session?

The two genres I photograph when it comes to newborns are Fresh 48 and in home lifestyle sessions. Both are worth having photographed, but here is a summary of each.

FRESH 48

1. These take place in the hospital or birthing center.

2. As the name suggests, these take place within the first 48 hours after baby is born.

3. Since time is of the essence, we need to get this scheduled within hours of baby being born so you don’t get sent home before the session takes place.

4. This is such an intimate time. A time when you can shut out the rest of the world and just focus on you and your little baby. A session will help you remember this special time in your baby’s life.

5. I focus on little details such as hospital bracelets, blankets and hats. Items only used once for those first two days.

6. As mothers are often exhausted, memories from this time are often forgotten. A session will help preserve these memories.

IN HOME LIFESTYLE

1. These take place in your own home.

2. Sessions can be done any time in the first month of baby’s life.

3. Sessions include the whole family but there is also plenty of time to photograph baby on their own.

4. These last longer than Fresh 48 sessions and they’re often very relaxed with lots of chatting and time for feeding, diaper changes, cuddles etc.

5. Sessions often take place in the master bedroom. The bed often provides a good space for the whole family to cuddle up, as well being a great spot to lie baby down for individual pictures.

6. These photos will embrace what life is like those first few weeks with a newborn in your home. We will capture them sleeping, being loved on, feeding, etc.

7. Unlike a posed session, it doesn’t matter if baby is awake or asleep while I’m there. The purpose of these sessions is to capture the love in your family, not a baby sleeping in an unnatural pose.

If you are hoping to get on my calendar for 2019, please contact me. I would love to discuss your needs further.

Falling in Love with Film {Seattle Lifestyle Photographer}

A few years ago I attended a photography conference and left feeling inspired to try new things. Before the conference, I was feeling stuck. Like I had no creativity left. One of the speakers at the conference talked about getting out of creative ruts. She suggested learning film photography. In a way, it’s like starting all over again. And that can be a great thing for creativity. I was bored with photography because I knew the basics and I needed something to motivate me. I told this to my husband and a few weeks later, on my birthday, he gave me a Nikon F100 film camera. I stumbled my way through learning it and I was so excited to get my first scans back. When they arrived, I was so disappointed. Compared with my digital photography, they were terrible. I put the camera away for the next year. In 2017, I knew I had to either sell my film camera, or learn how to use it. I had seen a film class advertised and decided to just go for it. I learnt so much and started shooting film more frequently. I was starting to fall in love with the look of film. There is a certain nostalgia present when you look at film photography. The grain is so beautiful and reminds me of the photos of decades past.

Earlier this year in spring, I fell head over heels in love with it. There were two things that happened that made me want to shoot film all the time. The first was the movie Kodachrome. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and watch it. It’s about a man and his father who travel across country to get the last rolls of Kodachrome developed before the lab closes forever. It is so beautiful, so nostalgic and I couldn’t get over the beauty of film photography. The second thing was the royal wedding. Yes, I realize that sounds weird. During the coverage leading up to the wedding, there were so many beautiful images shown of Princess Diana and her boys. All shot on film, with that beautiful grain that is only achieved in film photography. It made me want to turn back time for a while. These two things made me want to shoot film forever.

If you’re considering learning film, I say go for it. Film is not dead and it’s a beautiful way to improve your digital photography too. It really makes you slow down and focus on what you’re photographing instead of just snapping away as we’ve become accustomed to with digital photography. When I think of film, I think of endless summers, long childhood days, and beautiful family memories.

Here are some of my favorite film photographs.

Five Reasons You Should Have a Lifestyle Newborn Session {Seattle Family Photographer}

When you’re planning your newborn’s photo session, you’ll have to decide if you want a posed or lifestyle session. Here are my top five reasons why I think you should consider a lifestyle session.

ONE

With a lifestyle session, I come to you. No need to take your new baby out in the cold or on a long car ride. In those first few weeks, it’s so much easier if you don’t have to leave home.

TWO

It’s easier for the siblings. If you have to take siblings to a studio, it can be a long wait and they often get bored. I normally start my session with family and sibling images, then they older siblings can go off and play while the rest of the session takes place.

THREE

Lifestyle sessions are often much shorter. Most of my sessions take between one to one and a half hours. When I was doing posed sessions, I always allowed three hours for sessions, but sometimes sessions would last up to seven hours!

FOUR

Most posed sessions require the baby to be ten days or younger. This is because they are sleepier and more poseable at this age. I will do lifestyle newborn sessions any time in the first month. If you’re not feeling up to a session right away, then we can push it out for a few more days.

FIVE

We will capture how life was when you had a newborn. A posed session, while adorable, doesn’t provide memories of how life was when you welcomed this new little being. Lifestyle photography captures your family exactly how you are as you adjust to your new roles. Baby is photographed in an authentic way in their own environment with no props necessary. Just your adorable baby and their natural beauty.

If you are considering a lifestyle session and would like to know more, please contact me here.

Family Model Call {Seattle Lifestyle Photographer}

I’m looking for a family to model for me over the next couple of weeks.

About you:

You’re a family with one to two young children who live in a character filled home. Your space is decorated with live plants, and lots of texture. You are relaxed and fun and love to spend your weekends snuggling with your babies. You appreciate the everyday moments and want them captured in a way that speaks to you as a parent.

What you get:

A complimentary session with approximately twenty digital images.

What I need from you:

A signed model release for me to use images on my social media, website and other advertising.

Interested?

Let’s chat. Send me a quick message telling me about your family, your house, your general location, and why you would love to be considered for this.

I can’t wait to meet you!

Why Lifestyle? {Seattle Family Photographer}

When I first started photography, I used to scroll Pinterest and Instagram looking for the perfect poses, the ones that I thought everyone wanted and expected. I would nervously show up to sessions with a metal list of every pose I thought I had to get. I would leave a session either with pride that I had captured what I needed, or I’d be kicking myself for not getting everything on my list. I ran my business like this for a while and to be honest, it was exhausting. Sessions stressed me out, but shooting my own family was a completely different story.

In January of 2015, I did a workshop all about lifestyle photography. It changed the way I photographed my kids. Instead of stressing about them being perfectly dressed and perfectly posed, I started to photograph them exactly as they were, and not only did I see a huge improvement in my photography, but I started to love and treasure the moments I was capturing for my family. Below is the first photo I took during that workshop. Nothing amazing, but just a quiet moment captured and an unposed and natural way.

I felt happy with my personal work, but I was still trying to be a “perfect” photographer when it came to my family sessions. I knew there was a huge disconnect there but I didn’t quite see why. Slowly, after lots of workshops, a ton of family sessions, and a whole lot of soul searching, I realized that I needed to relax more when I photographed families. I needed to forget about perfection and focus on the love and connection between family members. Once that happened, my whole approach to family sessions changed and I was able to start enjoying paid shoots, as much as my personal shooting. Still shooting outdoors at beaches and fields, I was happy with the direction my photography was moving, but there was something missing. I realized how much I enjoyed shooting in the home. I noticed how much personality was in a family’s home and how much more comfortable the kids (and often the parents) were in their own space. I saw the beauty in a family’s space and felt like I needed to show a family the beauty that I see in them. About a year ago, I nervously made the decision to switch over to an in home lifestyle business model. I posted a couple of model calls for in home sessions to build my portfolio, and announced on social media that I was making the switch. I felt like I was going to lose a ton of families, but the response has been better than I could have imagined. People seem to have realized the benefit of not trekking for ages to get to an epic location, they realized that there is so much beauty in their every day and that it should be celebrated. They’ve realized that there is no better backdrop than the four walls in which they are most comfortable.

If you feel that you would like you’re next family session to be held in the comfort of your own home, let’s chat. I’d love to talk to you more about this.