Perfect Family Locations
Finding your perfect location has less to do with the location and more to do with your family and how you spend your time. I always have families asking where I think we should do their family session—which is great, I have a lot of gorgeous locations—but finding a great location should be collaborative. If your family spends a lot of time at a certain park, hiking on trails and playing in the trees, we’re definitely going to shoot there! What’s more memorable: images from a random hill you’ll never go to again or that clearing you’ve played freeze tag in forever? So when we’re working on finding you a location, we’re going to spend a lot of time talking about your family and what you do for fun.
Outdoor vs. At Home Lifestyle
I recently did a session with a family that was supposed to be held outdoors at a lake with sweeping views and lovely, long grass. Two days before the session I drove by and they were doing a controlled burn on my beloved grassy field. Then the day of the session, it was -5º and windy. No, thank you. We decided to do an in-home session with some outdoor images in their backyard by some snowy pine trees. Imagine my surprise when I pulled up and their home basically backed onto a nature reserve! There was even a clearing one house away that had some long grass, evergreens, and leafless trees—it was perfect. We got some images in their home, which truth be told, was a little chaotic because that’s where their 3 kiddos were most comfortable being wild. If what you’re going for is pure documentation of your life with 3 littles under 5, then this is perfect; but if you want more traditional, posed images, your home is not going to be the jam.
Finding Your Location
The only thing you can really rely on being consistent when choosing your location is the time of day—Golden Hour. Regardless of where we’re going, we’re going an hour before sunset. This gives us enough time to get comfortable with each other, find the perfect backdrop, and get to shooting before the light disappears. Everyone looks great at Golden Hour—glowing skin, light halos, sun flares—that’s what dreams are made of! So when you’re brainstorming ideas about where to have your family session, think about what you love. If you want sweeping landscapes, let’s find a nature reserve. If you want cozy and intimate, let’s head to your bedroom. If you’re open to anything, let me take the reins and we’ll pop over to my favorite, foolproof locations. Either way, your family session will be fun, beautiful, and bring back memories of a day spent giggling!
