Everyone loves a good family portrait, that’s no secret. In fact, there’s probably one hanging on your living room wall right now! A beautiful image in a stunning location, capturing your family looking like perfection. Don’t get me wrong, I love these family portraits, If you walked into my home you would see the evidence! ( who needs to see the paint color on my walls anyway?) I’m pretty sure I would have updated portraits every month if my two young children would sit still for more than 30 seconds, but you take what you can get.

I have recently started exploring another style of photography, and have fallen head first in love. Lifestyle Photography is my new soul mate and I have a feeling we will never leave the honeymoon phase! 

What is lifestyle photography? When I suggest this style to some of my clients, many aren’t sure exactly what it entails. Lifestyle photography aims to capture people in situations, real life events or milestones in an artistic manner. This style tells a story, and is the art of every day.

The purpose of photographing your family is to document milestones so you can look back and remember them for the rest of your life. Its wonderful to photograph your family in their best clothes, with the best smiles and not a hair out of place. What about those moments when your children are jumping on the bed having the time of their lives (I know, you told them not too, but it’s just too sweet to interrupt). Don’t you want to capture the fun you have making cookies with your toddler, who is somehow able to smear one chocolate chip over every inch of their face? Who doesn’t want to look back at a moment of peace, rocking your newborn baby in their nursery feeling more love then you ever thought possible. 

When I look back through the 3,000 photo albums I own, my favorites are the candid ones. My husband, kids and myself interacting like no one is watching. In that moment I am transported to the past and get to relive every precious moment. To me, the realest photos are the most beautiful. Toddlers don’t always sit still. Sometimes Mom and Dad are silly too. Family isn’t always picture perfect, but every moment, is ALWAYS beautiful.

So in conclusion, I’m in love with lifestyle. You will love lifestyle. You will never regret capturing your family in their natural amazingness.