My first Macomb Extended Family session of the year was ah-maz-ing! It was such a great way to kick off family session season.
If you’ve been around for a while you know how much I adore extended families. I love the dynamics of siblings, grandparents, aunt and uncles. I love hearing stories about kids growing up, sibling rivalries, and the big question – who the favorite kid was. This always brings out big smiles as those grown kids bring up reasons it’s them.
This family came as a referral from another local photographer. We have an amazing network of friends here, we believe in community over competition. Extended families can be super intimidating, and if they aren’t your jam, I take them on with a smile.
I have a great workflow that gets us through all the great poses and groupings in quick time so your kids don’t lose their focus. We always want to start with the biggest group, so it’s important for the patience of the youngest kids, that we all arrive on time. I want to nail that big group pose so in case it all falls apart we have that important portrait to hang on your wall.
After that my favorite images are the grandparents with their adult kids, grandparents with their grandkids, and some candids. I love getting everyone laughing, I usually pick on one of the dads, or even grandpa, and tell the kids to laugh like Grandpa farted. It never fails me, and usually someone else gets thrown under the bus for the most farts. They always giggle because it’s true someone is famous for ruining a family gathering with the toots!
I love getting everyone to look at each other (usually I say look at your favorite parent/aunt/uncle/cousin. And then we change it up, look at someone new. And finally I want everyone to walk towards me while looking and laughing at each other.
I like to spend a few minutes with each family unit, getting parent photos, and some family photos. All the cousins together. Each set of siblings together, each child separately.
Enjoy this Macomb extended family session we took at Stoney Creek metro park! If you have a gathering of family coming to town, reach out and let’s book your session.