That’s when I told her my ideas.
It was right after she said, “I’m interested in something different, funny, creative…is that something you could do?”
Mini sessions are a chance to get really creative in a small amount of time. She didn’t want typical family portraits. And let’s be honest. Neither did I. Typical is not what I prefer. Just ask my closet or one of my closest friends.
So, the planning began with some suggestions. A few ideas. And this is where I’ll trust that Amber won’t blab my unused selection of off-the-wall session venues. Because there were some doozies.
Finally we narrowed it down and chose the chocolatier. I mean, there’s gelato, so how could we not? The only thing better would have been a baconier (is that a thing? Please tell me that’s a thing).
The beauty in this simple-yet-strange plan was this: let the family be a family. Let them laugh, let them tease, let them have fun and be comfortable and enjoy each other. Basically, just take them out for gelato and be a creeper with a camera.
We’re not always buttoned up and straight laced and on good behavior. Ummm, not even on our best days most of the time. Life is stressful. It’s messy and it flies by right before our eyes. The days are long, the years are short. And let’s agree on one thing – we have enough to worry about without losing sleep over how to get the entire family to pull it together for 45 minutes on a Thursday afternoon.
So, what if we create images that are undone? The way we really are, the fun we have…actually DOING things. Not just smiling for the weird photographer who always thinks your hand is too high on your hip or insists that you lift your chin up and to the right 15 times. Are those the images we really want? The ones that remind us how we really were?
Let’s capture family, and make it an action word. And maybe, when we’re done, we’ll throw in a few quick traditional shots to keep Aunt Tilda happy. 😉
SVSiefkas 