They didn’t take direction

They didn’t take direction. That was the point.

The footage you see above is not simply random happenstance caught on film. It’s what occurs when a photographer waits long enough for something natural to unfold.

I don’t pose kids. When a child is forced to act like a "kid" the photographs will look staged as if the adult is forcing their interpretation of how a child should behave.

Instead, I wait. Let the situation develop into full-blown chaos. Let the children completely forget about my presence. After twenty-five years driving a semi truck and 10 years photographing weddings, I have learned the difference between a situation disintegrating and a situation developing.

The footage you are watching is just the highlight reel. What you aren’t seeing are the other forty minutes of nothing — including a water break, a missing shoe, and an argument that ultimately turned out to be one of the better frames from the entire session.

Family Lifestyle Photography is not matching outfits shot in a field. That type of family photography is oversaturated and easily forgotten. A kid running down the road mid-sprint yelling with pure joy — that is the picture families save for thirty years.

Photographs can capture real emotion. Photographs can also capturing fake (performed) emotion that does not hold up well over time. Even though many adults may not know exactly why, the person viewing the photo understands there is a difference.

You will not understand the experience I am describing unless you have experienced a family session where your photographer remained calm while everything around him/her was chaotic.