Most parents book family photos with a little dread sitting underneath the excitement. You are already picturing the outfit negotiation, the kid who will not look at the camera, and twenty minutes of everyone smiling through their teeth.
Here is the good news. Almost none of that is your job to prevent. We photograph families the same way we photograph weddings, which means we hang back, let people be themselves, and catch the real thing as it happens. Your job is to show up and be with your people. Ours is everything else.
That said, a little prep makes the whole thing easier. Here is what is actually worth doing.
If you read nothing else
- Wear clothes you already like. Coordinate colors, do not match outfits.
- Feed everyone beforehand, and work around naps if you still have them.
- Let the kids be kids. We do not need anyone to sit still or say cheese.
- Bring layers, even if the forecast looks perfect. This is Alaska.
- Arrive a few minutes early so you are not walking in flustered.
What to wear
This is the part everyone overthinks. You do not need a color-coded Pinterest board or matching sweaters. You need to look like your family on a good day.
- Pick a palette, not a uniform. Two or three colors that sit well together, then let everyone land somewhere inside that range. Identical outfits read stiff in photos.
- Warm, earthy tones work with Alaska light. Creams, rust, sage, denim, muted blues, deep greens. They hold up against our landscape instead of fighting it.
- Add some texture. A knit sweater, a jacket, a scarf, a flannel. Texture gives a photo depth that a flat cotton tee does not.
- Skip large logos and busy patterns. They pull the eye off faces, which is the one thing you actually want people looking at.
- Fit matters more than price. Something inexpensive that fits well photographs better than something expensive that does not.
- Dress for the weather and the walking. We are usually outside and we usually move around a little. Nobody looks relaxed when they are freezing or their shoes hurt.
- Whoever is hardest to shop for picks first. Usually that is Mom. Find the outfit that makes you feel good, then build everyone else around it.
If your daughter hates dresses, do not make her wear one. If your son lives in one flannel, let him wear the flannel. Uncomfortable kids look exactly like uncomfortable kids, and it shows up in every frame.
Still stuck? Send us photos of a few options. We do this constantly and we are happy to just tell you which one to go with.
Getting everyone ready
With little kids
- Tell them ahead of time. Even a two year old does better with a heads up.
- Frame it as going somewhere fun, because it is. Nobody needs to hear the word "behave."
- Feed them first, and bring a snack that does not stain.
- Work around the nap. A rested kid is a completely different kid.
- Bring the comfort object. The blanket or the stuffed animal often ends up in a photo you love.
With teenagers
- Tell them honestly why you want these. Not as a guilt trip, just the real reason.
- Give them some say in the location, the outfit, or the music playing. Ownership changes how they show up.
- Expect awkwardness for the first ten minutes. It passes for everyone, teenagers included.
- We are not going to make anyone perform enthusiasm. If your kid is naturally more reserved, that is what their photos will look like, and that is right.
- Bribery is allowed. Food afterward works on almost everyone.
We have two kids of our own and we have photographed families with every age in them. Whatever your family does, we have seen a version of it.
What to bring
Worth having: a backup outfit for the smallest kids, non-messy snacks, water, baby wipes, a hairbrush and hair ties (the wind here is real), layers, and bug spray if we are shooting in tall grass in summer.
Nice to have: something that means something to your family. A quilt, a favorite book, the dog if the dog is well behaved and someone can hold the leash. And a treat held in reserve for when energy dips.
Leave in the car: phones, keys, and wallets. Anything in a pocket shows up as a lump in every photo. Expectations of perfection can stay in the car too.
The day before
- Lay out everyone's clothes, shoes included, so the morning is not a search party.
- Check the forecast and text us if it looks rough. We will tell you honestly whether to move or push through.
- Get everyone to bed at a decent hour and drink some water.
- If you are doing hair or makeup, book it with more buffer than you think you need.
What the session actually looks like
We usually shoot in the hour or so before sunset, when the light goes low and warm. That is not us being precious about it. That light is genuinely the difference between a nice photo and a good one, and in Alaska it moves fast enough that timing matters.
Most sessions include up to two hours of shooting, though the majority run about an hour to ninety minutes. If you booked the Ultra-Mini, we move quicker and stay in one spot. Either way we are not clock-watching. If something good is happening we keep going.
There are usually two of us. Ben is behind the camera. Moriah handles posing, fixes the details nobody else would notice, keeps things moving, and keeps everyone loose. If Moriah cannot make a particular session we will tell you beforehand, and Ben has it covered.
We will give you things to do rather than poses to hold. Walk that way holding hands. Tickle him. Tell her something she is not allowed to repeat. Then we get out of the way and photograph whatever happens next. We will get the everyone-looking-at-the-camera shot, because you want one and your mother wants one. The rest of the session is the real stuff.
If a kid wanders off to look at a rock, that is fine. If your toddler wants to be held the entire time, that is fine too. If somebody melts down, we will wait it out and it will not be a problem. We are genuinely hard to rattle, and the odds are good that the ten minutes after the meltdown produce the photo you end up printing.
After the session
We go through everything, cut the duplicates and the blinks, and edit the rest by hand. You will get a sneak peek within about a week and your full gallery a few weeks after that. We will give you the real timeline when we see you.
Your gallery is high resolution with a print release, so you can order prints and albums yourself. Please actually do it. The photos that end up on a wall get looked at, and the ones that stay on a phone mostly do not.
Questions before then
Ask us anything. Outfits, weather, whether the two year old is going to ruin it (she will not), what to do about the kid who hates photos. We would rather answer twelve small questions now than have you spend the week before worrying about any of them.
Ready to book, or want to see what a full family session actually looks like?
