The Photos You’ll Miss More Than You Think: Why the Everyday Moments Matter
When you think about having family photos taken, you probably imagine everyone looking at the camera, everyone smiling, everyone's hair brushed and, ideally, nobody having a meltdown five minutes before we start.
And while there is absolutely a place for those beautiful, everyone-looking-at-the-camera photographs, I think the photos you'll miss the most one day are often the ones that don't feel particularly special while they're happening.
The photo of your toddler climbing onto your lap while you're sitting on the couch. Your baby curled up against your chest. Your kids squished together on the bed on a Sunday morning, still in their pyjamas. The favourite toy that goes everywhere with you. The backyard where they spend their afternoons running around barefoot.
These are the things that make up your family's everyday life right now, and because you live them every day, it's very easy to assume you'll always remember them.
But childhood has a funny way of changing before you're quite ready for it.
Lots of movement on the parents bed for photos.
Childhood changes incredibly quickly
One of the reasons I love in-home family photography in Melbourne is that I get to photograph more than just what your family looks like. I get to photograph what your family actually feels like at this particular stage of your lives.
Your toddler might currently insist on being carried everywhere, your baby might still fall asleep on your chest, or your children might spend every afternoon playing some completely made-up game in the backyard. These things feel ordinary because they happen all the time, but they are also temporary.
Before you know it, your toddler won't climb into your lap in quite the same way, your baby won't fit so perfectly against you and the bedroom currently covered in books, stuffed animals and tiny clothes will look completely different.
That's why I love photographing families in their own homes. Rather than creating a collection of photographs that could belong to any family, we can document the little details that belong specifically to yours.
Bed climbing fun.
And Mum, you need to be in the photographs too
There is another reason these everyday photographs matter so much, and that is because Mum is so often the person behind the camera.
You probably have hundreds, if not thousands, of photographs of your children. You have photographs of them playing, eating, sleeping, laughing and doing all the things that make up their childhood. But if you're anything like most mums I know, there are far fewer photographs of you actually doing those things with them.
And I'm not talking about the occasional selfie where you've managed to get everyone looking in the right direction.
I'm talking about the photographs where your child is sitting on your lap, their arms are wrapped around your neck, you're carrying them down the hallway or they're curled up against you on the couch. The photographs where you aren't looking at the camera because you're too busy looking at them.
Those photographs are incredibly important.
Your children won't only want to know what they looked like when they were little. One day, they will want to see what you looked like too. They will want to see the way you held them, cuddled them and looked at them when you thought nobody was watching.
And you deserve to have those photographs, too.
A hug from Mum makes everything better.
Your home is part of their story
This is another thing I love about in-home family photography. Your house becomes part of the story of your children's childhood.
The nursery you spent so much time preparing, the couch where you've spent countless hours feeding and cuddling them, the kitchen where you've made hundreds of meals and the backyard where they've spent their afternoons running around are all part of the memories you're creating together.
Even the things you might currently consider clutter will one day become reminders of this particular season of your life. The toys under your feet, the artwork stuck to the fridge and the books piled beside the bed are all evidence of a home being lived in by a family with young children.
You don't need to hide all of that before your family photoshoot. In fact, I think those details make the photographs even more meaningful.
Your children didn't grow up in a perfectly styled photography studio. They grew up here, surrounded by their favourite things and the people they love, and that's exactly what I want to document.
You don't need a perfect family photoshoot
The beautiful thing about documenting your family this way is that we don't need everyone to sit still, smile and behave perfectly for two hours.
Your children can run around, be silly, jump on the bed, ride their bikes in the backyard, play chasey or climb all over you. We can follow them around, play with them and let the session unfold naturally rather than trying to make your family fit into someone else's idea of what family photographs are supposed to look like.
Of course, we'll still create some beautiful photographs where everyone is looking at the camera, because I know you'll (and Grandparents) want those too. But we'll also capture all of the little moments in between, because those are often the photographs that become the most precious.
Years from now, you probably won't remember exactly what everyone was wearing on the day we took your photographs, or whether the house was as tidy as you wanted it to be.
You'll remember how your child's tiny hand felt in yours. You'll remember how they used to fit perfectly into the crook of your arm, the way your children laughed together and the home they grew up in.
And you'll have photographs that let you remember it all.
Because the everyday moments might not feel particularly important right now, but one day, they will be the moments you'll miss more than you ever expected.
If these words have you craving those images, reach out and let’s book a session in so you can have these moments captured before they quite literally, disappear.
Snack time mid shoot.