An in-home family documentary session is a glimpse into your day, a look at your family as they are right now – the authentic stories of your family life. The photographs created from this experience will give you a deepened connection to your past by creating a powerful way to relive the wild + crazy, the frustrating + vulnerable, the hilarious moments –  every single beautiful facet of your family life.

The Gilbert family graciously invited me into their home for a portfolio-building session. I feel so strongly about this incredible type of photography experience but am well aware that I need to prove its worth to you all so I have sought out several willing families to document for my portfolio.

Before I talk more about this beautiful family, I want to let you in on a little secret. It is incredibly difficult to gain authentic smiles and mannerisms and connections in an hour-long family portrait session. There are always exceptions of course, and the other 99.8% of the time I work my tail off with my little bag of tricks to earn those authentic moments in my family portrait sessions because I have not fulfilled my end of the deal if I don’t capture them.  So the secret is, after about 30 minutes the guard starts to slip down and by an hour and a half with a family (sometimes even sooner), I can breath a sigh of relief – mom is sassy, dad is ready to relax, the kids have shook out their pretty ponytail and lost a shoe or two. That is where the real worth of an in-home session becomes clear. I am spending 3-4 hours with your family, long after the guard has come down. That is when the magic happens and the real, raw moments occur – the ones that will trigger emotions and memories twenty years from now.

Back to the Gilbert’s. I have to admit, we are friends so my job was already easier because I am familiar with some of their tendencies and routine. But I have never eaten dinner with the whole family in their home on a weeknight with a camera in their faces, so this was new territory and a great learning experience for me. There is absolutely zero posing, so being on the entire time and keeping my eyes open for the moments requires a huge amount of attention. Being completely honest, I missed several moments even though I was right there. I left exhausted but way excited because this is clearly a type of photography that I feel strongly about (just ask my kids). Sasha and Danny are incredibly amazing parents and I hope they love the pictures as much as I do. I even considered hanging my favorite picture from their session on our wall…my husband nixed that idea pronto LOL. In my defense, my home is my studio right now 😉 With Sasha’s permission, here is a glimpse into their evening routine: