What the Heck is Lifestyle Photography?!
With long list of Facebook photographers offering mini sessions, and traditional family portraits why would I want to hire a lifestyle photographer?
The truth is it might not be a good fit for every family. (I bet you weren’t expecting me to say that huh?) It’s true…I happen to really love lifestyle photography, but it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. While portrait photography and lifestyle photography may have some overlap (we ALL want to look our best after all) there are some basic differences.
In classic portrait photography you’ll have everyone looking their absolute best. Each person will be looking at the camera…”sit still!…Say cheese!!” That’s great, and there are some seriously amazing portrait photographers who make everyone look awesome and make sure not a hair is out of place. It’s great, adorable, grandma normally wants to see everyone’s faces…that’s just not my jam! I am going to try and get “the grandma shot” but that’s not always my goal.
I am mainly a lifestyle photographer after all! So what does that mean really? Think about photojournalism….now scale that back a little. Lifestyle is like photojournalism and portraits had a baby. I want your kids to be goofy, I want your hair to blow in the breeze, I want you all to be yourselves a little so I can capture who YOU are!
We still want a pretty picture. I am not afraid to move things out of the way. I’m not even afraid to push your hair back out of your face a little. I will put your family in a pose (aka I’ll tell you what to do…I am an oldest child so I’m kind of bossy) and then tell you to interact and be yourselves. What I’m not going to do is tell you to smile. I will never tell your kiddo to “say cheese”. If we get a serious faced kiddo, then we get a serious faced kiddo. I promise your pictures will still come out great…
My heart behind taking pictures this way is capturing the emotion between mom and dad…
I want to help you remember years from now when your memory of this crazy season is fading fast, that your husband cared deeply when your son stubbed his toe…
I want two sisters to be able to have a picture of their connection from the very start…
And for those new babies, I want to memorialize their tiny features, faces and stretches before they’re not so tiny anymore…
I value connection over a photo where everyone is looking….
or even in the image…
I’m not trying to sell you on this style, I know it’s not for everyone…but when you book a lifestyle photographer like me, I want you to know exactly what you’re going to get.
