The Smith Family
This family is very dear to my heart. I have known them for many years and took photos of the kids when DuRandt was 2 weeks old. You can imagine my excitement when they booked me to do some portraits of them whilst they where on holiday. They where also very excited… until the day of the session…
Can you believe that this beautiful family session happened with them in doubt? They felt overwhelmed? Yes, before they met me on the beach they literally wished they didn’t book.
This made me think. I realised that I have felt this way before a session in the past, and that many people do. Yes you prepared, yes you wanted the beautiful images, yet when the moment came, you felt uncomfortable. This is totally normal.
The truth is that we don’t feel uncomfortable because of our photographer, we build our expectations so high, that we put too much pressure on ourselves. Pressure about our outfits, our hair and make-up. We question ourselves, become late and realise that a camera will be facing us and we are going to be on the spot!
Well… this was all true for the Smith family. They would rather have been on the beach playing and swimming. However, after the first few images we started having fun. Chatting, laughing and playing. I promise you if you asked them today if they would do it again they will say yes. And by looking at these gorgeous memories of them, I think you would agree, it was worth it all!
With this in mind, I decided to share 5 Lies you tell yourself about booking a family session:
It is expensive - To this I will say, invest in your memories, time does not stand still and the happiness the images will bring will long surpass the feeling of spending your money. If you struggle with the pricing, maybe set aside a small amount monthly to do a shoot once a year. Or maybe give up that expensive coffee you buy yourself daily, for a year?
I will do it when I’ve lost weight. Ok so this one gets me! I have given people birthday gifts in the past, to do sessions and today 7 years later, they are still not at the weight they want to be. Best thing is to rather invest in the correct outfit that makes you feel comfortable as you are right now., Anyway, your family loves you, they want to remember you for who you are now. Do it now!
I don’t have time. So we are all busy, and time flies. But if you commit, you will make the time. Rather put pressure on your time schedule than wishing you did a shoot years ago!
I have plenty of photos of my family on my phone. I agree we all have a lot of memories on our phones. But do we look at them often? A professional image captures a memory, it looks at people different and you might see yourself differently, and it looks way better on a canvas on the wall than a phone photo. Your photographer will definitely promote printing your images, so you can see and experience them often. What use are they on your phone?
I am camera shy. When a photographer photograph’s me, even if I know them very well, my upper lip shivers, I start to shake, and I don’t know what to do with my hands. So I get it. But a few moments in I get over myself and realise, I’m here, I dressed for this and I am spending time with my family, I might as well enjoy it.