Photographing families with authenticity // Ohio documentary family photographer
What’s the responsibility of the photographer to their subject?
This question was asked during a recent meeting with the Art Lab, a group of creatives I’ve been working with this winter in order to find community within the art world, stay inspired and begin a daily art practice.
I’m finding the answer is both simple and incredibly complicated.
As an Ohio documentary family photographer, my ultimate goal is to authentically capture the heart of each family’s story, and that heart is always their love for one another.
My responsibility to my clients and their families is to BE PRESENT as their story unfolds. Noticing the love and beauty that is already there. If the heart of their story is love, how they show that love is what differs from family to family, and setting them up so that they’re engaged in a natural activity and feel comfortable is of utmost importance.
The tricky part: people need to trust me in order to be themselves. I’ve found the best way to do this is to be patient and intentional. I spend a lot of time prior to a session talking about how your family might spend a typical weekend day, activities you already love to do together, memories you never want to forget from this season, your favorite childhood photographs, what images are most important to you. When I show up to your session we already have a loose outline for how our time together will go, which avoids the inevitable “where should we look, what should we do now?” panic.
And there’s also the follow up unspoken question of what is the photographer’s responsibility to herself?
How can I capture a family’s story while also photographing from my unique perspective and delivering images in my signature style that clients are expecting? How do I let go of my artistic agenda in order to meet the needs of the people in front of me?
This is something I keep coming back to year after year. It feels so important to me to enjoy making artwork for others, which means I’ve had to make some promises to myself so that I’ll want to continue to go out and do my best work for the families that have placed their trust in me. For me this means moving them into dramatic light if it’s available (that’s the light that will have me shouting in excitement at your session IYKYK), creating double exposures, using film because I’m obsessed with the grain and it’s nostalgic beauty, bringing in colors and playfulness whenever possible. These elements always keep me coming back for more.
Here are the “tools” I bring to every session in order to authentically capture your family:
Remembering the story: I know the story of your family because it’s the story of my own - our love for each other.
Preparation: I take the time to learn what’s important to you to have captured and plan how we can do that as authentically as possible. I know how to put you at ease, by getting to know you first, going slow and being present during your session, and seeing the beauty of your ordinary life.
Tricks: I bring in film, color and playfulness (because all kids love play) in order to achieve my signature style.
Attitude: I embrace chaos and feral children - I love the element of surprise and authenticity that kids bring to a session and feel NO NEED to force them to perform.
Learn more about what a session with me is like here and here
Contact me to chat about your family photo session
