Recently, I did an in-home lifestyle family session for a recurring client (turned friend). I’ve been on a bit of a mission lately to open minds to doing an in-home lifestyle family session. It’s been on my heart for awhile, but my last trip to Disney really pushed me over the edge. I understand the desire “pretty” portraits and all of the many reasons to not want to be photographed in your home. I know these reasons, because I had them too. But here I stand, a mother of a soon to be 18 year old and wishing I had done one of these sessions at least once. Heck, wishing I took more photos myself. So I’m speaking to those who have the desire but also have a hesitation. Don’t be in my shoes one day.
So I asked my friend if she would be willing to share her feelings about the session after she received the gallery. I wanted her fresh feelings and insight so that I could share that with you. I can only speak from a place of regret and I wanted to share another view point with you. Here are her words….
An in-home lifestyle family session.
from a Mother’s point of view
Just over a week ago, I reached out to Crystal to schedule a birthday shoot for my daughter who will be two in April. I was really just looking to check an item off my ever growing, never ending, to-do list and to secure a place for the session on our calendar before there wasn’t one to be secured. Crystal proposed an updated lifestyle family session as we had gone this route for our maternity photos and some of our newborns, and she proposed we do it now. My immediate reaction was a hard no. Absolutely not, I could not possibly take that on right now; please just give me a date two months from now to come to your studio.
You see, we have been lovingly making our 90+ year old home fit our style and needs for over two years. By ourselves. In our spare time. With a toddler. It is more surprising not to see a paint can in plain view than to see one. One half of our second floor doors have been painted, the other half have been waiting their turn for over a year. Our kitchen is presently lacking a ceiling.
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While my original hope in scheduling a session to mark my baby’s second year of life was to have something for my husband and I to look back on, tears stream down my face as I realize what a treasure they will one day be for Collins. When the day comes that we are no longer together, she will have more than posed portraits reminding her of what we looked like. To accompany what I hope will be millions of warm and happy memories of her parents and childhood, she will have photographs of our love for her in action, in the home where most of her childhood memories will take place. She will have the benefit of more than a cloudy memory of the people and place she loved most.
This was our eleventh session with Crystal; she has captured nearly everything in our lives since our engagement. Of all our sessions, wedding included, it has elicited the strongest emotional response. For the first time, I haven’t focused on whether or not I look my best in each shot; but, rather, on the love that is so tangible in them. Our house is now a home thanks to a tiny but mighty lady and we are so very fortunate that it has been so beautifully documented.
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