Do you know what documentary photography is? It’s my favourite genre and can be applied to literally any situation but from my point of view, it’s best in combination with families.
What does that mean?
Well, it’s about documenting reality in a family home – the happy, the beautiful as well as the messy moments. No family is perfect and all smiles. Especially with kids, there are fights and tantrums in between cuddles and laughter and fun activities. The beauty of honest and real life. This is what I strive to document.
To find out what that could look like, come and meet the Hudsons, please.
A few weeks ago I visited the Nicci, Ryan and their kids for a “day in the life” documentary family photography session. The aim of the visit was to capture their family dynamics to create photos that would unmistakably show who they are.
Alongside photos, I also took some video to create a family film as a keepsake. Let me start this post by showing you that.
Nicci has told me that, since they received the video, they’ve watched it over and over which really is the biggest compliment I could ever receive!
But, the main objective of my visit was photography. I took A LOT of photos – after all, I spent about seven hours with Nicci, Ryan and their kids. As you might have gotten from the video, they are a very active family – which is obviously amazing to document. The kids got to jump around on the trampoline, bake muffins and cakes, play football in the backyard. We went to the beach – which was cut short because the youngest, Amelie fell over and got all wet, followed by decorating the cakes from earlier in the day, some scooter fun outside the house, cooking dinner, bath time and the final bedtime routine of cuddling up in the parent’s bed for a movie.
See, I don’t have kids of my own. So, spending basically a day with a big family including three young kids, was definitely an experience. An amazing one! The kids welcomed me right away and Nicci and Ryan didn’t let me disturb the way they parent their kids or spend time together.
Anyway, here are a few of my favourite photos from the day.
That was a lot, wasn’t it?! Well, it had been a long day!
I asked Nicci for a review after she got her photos and video and this is what she had to say (excerpt from a longer message):
“I am so thrilled with how you captured the connections between our children, these photos are beautiful. It was so important to me to have photos showing the emotion and personalities of our children and to have memories of how our family is now, and honestly, not only were you incredible and unobtrusive during our session, but you have delivered family photos with real substance that we will cherish forever and can bring back real memories of us!
You’ve given us such lovely gifts to pass down to our children which I know they will love showing their own children one day. Thank you.”
Hearing this from a client is just the greatest thing for me and I’m so grateful I got to meet Nicci and Ryan and their wonderful children. Please excuse me while I dance around my room for a moment to celebrate making the Hudsons happy!
If you’d like to know more about these sessions or want to inquire to book one for yourself, please let me know!
