My Approach to Natural Cinematic Family Portraits- West Seattle Family Photographer

I’m not bragging -I swear! But I have to say that making people feel comfortable is my superpower. That is the first ingredient of how I get relaxed family portraits. The next big secret ingredient is that I “boss” you around the entire time. You do not have to know what to do or get your photos taken all of the time to achieve great portraits.

Let go of perfection and embrace a feeling, a story, and a connection.

Not every suggestion I have will work, but something may unfold from it either way. I like to go with the flow of the kids, and we don’t want to force anything on them. I prefer to make it like a fun game and suggest they do things. I will leave the bribes up to the parents:)

For this family session, we chose Lincoln Park in West Seattle because it is a special place to this family. It is also beautiful in the fall, and we did this shoot in late November. They had already rescheduled twice because of sickness (it happens) and this day called for rain-so we were text debating on whether to reschedule again. I do shoot in the rain, but it can make kiddos cold, ruin hair, and be rather unpleasant depending on it’s severity.

We decided to go for it -and we could not have had a better time making these images.

Opal has grown so much. I have photographed her since she was in her mamma’s belly. We do a family shoot here every year.

The colors they chose are EVERYTHING!

I am a huge fan of colors that match nature. I love browns and burn orange, ivory and mustard with the fall trees and dark green forest.

I do not ask you to look at the camera very often, although I do get that shot for sure. My focus is your family connection.

I like to think of our session as a walk in the forest or an adventure. I particularly love Lincoln Park because I know all the nooks and crannies of the park. I have spots to shoot everywhere there.

I typically shoot at golden hour, but we did this session at 9 am and we planned that the night before to avoid the rain. It ended up raining leaves in the end thanks to darling Opal. She is a nature girl through and through.

Family Sessions are 950 and we typically shoot for 90 minutes.

I deliver 80-100 edited images and a short video.

I like to keep the kids busy doing fun things and shooting it all in a cinematic style. When shooting a full session at Lincoln Park we can end at the beach (Lowman Beach Park) a one minute drive.

My mini sessions are at Lincoln Park only. They are different than other photographer minis, they are more like half sessions.

I do provide styling advice.

Yes I shoot other places, for some reason people ask me that:) I am extremely mobile and love to travel.

Thank you for being here!