Why You Should Do a Yearly Photo Session With Your Family
As a wedding and portrait photographer, I adore it when I can showcase couples multiple times as their family grows! It’s so important to document your family regularly, and scheduling a yearly photo session (with yours truly!) is the perfect way to do that. You deserve photos of the whole family—that weren’t taken on an iPhone—to treasure for years to come. Looking back, you’ll be so grateful you documented your babies as they grew. Plus, heirloom-quality images make great gifts for grandparents and friends!
Yearly Photo Session with the Hays Family: From “I Do” to Baby #2
I have had the honor of documenting many couples transitioning through the stages of engagement, wedding day, welcoming their first kiddos, and eventually growing their families. The evolution of our lives is remarkable!
I’m so grateful to number the Hays family among those couples. In 2017, I documented Deb and Daniel’s wedding day, and we clicked immediately. Their intimate celebration at Justine’s Secret House was quintessential Austin, with fun, Western-inspired details! We had a great time exploring the streets of downtown, and the love between them shone out of every portrait. They made my job easy!
Fast forward several years and Deb and Daniel welcomed a beautiful baby girl. They asked me to come to their home and capture their little family of three, and I was thrilled to oblige! We kept our planning simple, sticking to their backyard, and the result was a playful, intimate session—genuine documentation of their life together! They danced, hugged, and played on the swingset while I was there to capture it all.
Then, two years later, Deb and Daniel welcomed baby #2! I returned for their second in-home session and was amazed to see how much their baby girl from two years prior had already grown. I followed them around a typical day at home, cuddling, breastfeeding, and just hanging out as a family! I’m so glad I could capture these sweet memories for Deb and Daniel (and eventually their grown-up kiddos!) to look back on.
Why Regular Documentation Matters
The fact is that kids change and grow fast—SO fast! I recently welcomed my first baby, and at eight months old, he’s growing by the day. Sometimes it feels like I blink, and he’s already an inch taller! So naturally, as a photographer mama, I’m photographing him monthly with all my professional gear to capture these changes. I’m sure I’ll scale back as his growth slows down. But I know my philosophy will remain the same!
I recommend that my clients take professional photos once a year with their kiddos. Just trust me on this: iPhone photos are NOT heirloom quality! While they’re great for capturing the day-to-day, they won’t do your family justice long term. And if they’re sitting in the Cloud, there’s always a risk that they will be lost forever.
Conversely, professional photos incentivize you to print out and frame your memories. They’re pieces of art that not only beautify your walls and photo albums but showcase the life you’re building! You intend them to withstand the test of time and for future generations to look at them on paper—not just on a computer screen.
From one mama to another: invest in your life and your family’s constant growth with a yearly photo session! I know as well as anyone how stressful it can feel to add yet another commitment to your calendar, but this doesn’t have to be stressful (it isn’t supposed to be!). We can head to Barton Springs, and I can photograph you jumping in the water together. The perfectly imperfect moments are always the best, and I’m down for whatever!
Drop me a line to schedule your lowkey family session at home or adventuring around Austin. I can’t wait to get to know you!
