Sigh! Family photos…as moms, we all have a love/hate relationship with family photos, right?? We love the cute pictures that come from them but the process to the cute pictures can be a dreadful one lol…especially when you have young children like myself. Due to me being a blogger mom, I’m constantly having to take family photos. So I figured I’d help you fellow moms out & share what’s worked for me to make the process of family photos a little bit easier. Let’s jump right in:
Prep in advance for the pictures
This includes scheduling them way in advance so you give yourself some time to prep for them. I hear a lot of moms say they will schedule family pictures last minute, then they’ll be all stressed out trying to prepare for them. Scheduling them in advance allows you to have time to look for and buy outfits early!
As most of us moms/wives know, husbands DREAD family picture day. Sometimes getting them to cooperate is just as hard as getting the kids to cooperate smh. Scheduling pics in advance allows you to tell them early so they can start mentally preparing themselves for the pics. The last thing you want to do is spring family pics on your hubby last minute. That’s a recipe for disaster lol. Don’t expect them to be all excited about them either. Just be happy they show up, ha! If your husband is anything like mine, don’t bother asking his opinion on outfits, picture location, or vision for the pictures. They don’t care. I buy his outfits and just tell him to show up and smile 😊
If you have a big family like mine (we are a family of SIX!), laying out clothes the night before for everyone helps tremendously. I take it even further and lay out shoes, hair bows, and all my accessories! I typically will wash the girl’s hair, style it, and tie it down the night before as well so it’s less I have to when we are all getting ready. The last thing you want to be doing the morning of pics is frantically searching for a hair bow or a pair of jeans, etc.
Schedule pics in the most ideal time for the kids
I’ve found with my kids, scheduling pictures not too long after they wake up is the most ideal time for them to shoot. It’s when they are the most alert and cooperative. I typically schedule our pictures between 9:30am-10:30am. You don’t want to do them too early because that’ll be stressful trying to wake up extra early and get everyone out of the house on time. But THE WORST thing you can do is schedule them near lunch or nap time. Be sure to leave some wiggle room as far as time in the morning of the shoot just incase things don’t go as planned. Which tends to happen with children, as we all know.
Pack snacks!
If you have young children, especially toddler age, you’ll want to pack snacks. This is mainly to bribe them to smile or stand still lol. Fruit snacks tend to do the trick for Channing. I’m pretty sure I say “if you smile, I’ll give you some gummies” 100 times during photoshoots haha! Clearly don’t pack messy snacks that will mess up their clothes or take too long to eat.
Hire a photographer that has experience working with kids
This is HUGE! You want to hire a photographer that will be patient enough to get THE shot and that’s not going to leave until you at least have something to work with. You don’t want to feel rushed or like you’re literally counting down every second at the shoot and then the photographer stops working when the time runs out even if there’s no decent shots. What a horrible feeling to feel like you wasted your time and money. Now of course you can’t expect them to stay there for hours and hours, but at least be reasonable if the kids are having an off day.
Once I find a photographer that I like and that works good with kids, I stick with them. The good thing about using the same photographer year after year is that they learn your family and all the children’s individual personalities. My photographer already knows that Channing is the one that you have to pray she cooperates hehe! But she doesn’t get annoyed or restless when Channing is constantly distracted or whatever it may be that day, which is comforting. Last thing you want is a photographer who seems as if they are annoyed or not used to kids acting like kids.
Bring help
If at all possible, ask someone to come and help. My mom comes to a lot of our shoots and helps with the kids. She’ll be behind the photographer putting on a show so that the kids will look at the camera and smile. This is when you need to put the God parents to the test haha! Ask a friend, family member, ANYBODY! Makes the process so much easier.
Be easy going
Lastly, try not to stress or be up tight when it comes to family photos. It’s all about capturing memories because our kids grow so fast. Don’t focus on getting the “perfect” shot. Allow everyone’s own individual personalities to shine. The candid shots always come out the best anyway. It’s funny you guys always say you can tell my children’s individual personalities through our pictures. Carri is our diva who stays ready for a pic (with the famous Carri leg pop). Channing is our firecracker, we never know what we’ll get with her. Deuce is our easy going kid. Camille still sleeps through pics, thank God lol! So let your own kid’s personalities thrive in the pictures.
If you’ve been putting off family pictures due to it being too much of a hassle, I say just go for it. Don’t make it more stressful then it has to be. My mom doesn’t have a TON of pictures of us growing up. I’m sure that’s partially due to no camera phones because baby she has a ton of pictures of her grandkids lol. But I think it’s going to be so cool for my kids to look back at all of our family pictures when they are grown with their own families. They’ll see just how much we truly enjoyed them when they were little!
I hope this helps you mamas out some.
www.creativesparksimage.com
As Always…Love you all,
Courtney N. Williams