Its Autumn and that means it is time for us to rant about the importance of family photography. Every year around this time of back to school and sweater weather we start getting phone calls like this:
Family: “Hello, I am inquiring about family photos, what are your rates?”
Rowell Photography: “Hello, thank you for calling us. When was the last time you had family photos taken?”
Family: “Ummm, not since I was young, so around 10-15 years ago.”
(Then the emergency family photography sirens and lights start going off at the Rowell Photography studio, and Ryan and I try our hardest to keep calm and not to panic the family, its important that we do what we can make the booking, this family is in desperate need.)
Rowell Photography: “Wow! that’s is quite sometime, sounds like you guys are overdue. Let’s check out some dates and packages.”
Family: “Yeah I guess we are in need of an updated family photo, at the very least for our parents. Let’s book before the snow starts to fall.”
This scene is all too typical, and quite frankly its sad. Having photographs that document pivotal moments in one’s life are essential, ie: weddings, engagements, anniversaries, baptisms, bar & bat mitzvahs. If you ever only celebrate 4 of these major milestones and hire a professional photographer for those 4 days in your life and you live to be 100 years old. On average you are photographed professionally every 25 years, and the worst part is that most of these milestones typically happen within the first 25-30 years of your life. So what happens when your great grandchildren start asking questions about who you were, what you looked like during the other 75 years of your life? the easy answer is to consider having updated family portraits every few years, and by “few” we mean 3-5 not 10-20. Many people worry about family photos being outdated – hanging on the walls of their parents houses, in giant tacky frames from a time back when you had braces and didn’t have a clue that the over sized hooded sweater you were wearing looked horrible on you. We can understand your pain, I have family photos like that too, but i just say to myself “at least I have them”. They are the little embarrassing windows into my past.
What I wish my professional photographer had told us then about how to prepare for our family photo session was: Don’t come wearing a ton of crazy patterns. My dad’s 1992 Weekend at Bernie’s revival look, paired up with my mom’s multi colored floral print dress and my sister and I with matching florescent pink and blue floral jump suits is enough to get us on to Awkwardfamily photos.com I wish our photographer had suggested a backdrop that wasn’t a fake blue sky and actually photographed us outside in front of the real thing. After the shoot the photographer convinced my parents to buy a really expensive 5 inch thick 16×20 tacky gold frame to house our tacky family photo in. Which I guess makes sense, go for it all or go home. That baby hung on the wall of our home for 15 years, and its our only professional family photo. Don’t get me wrong I love it because it is so who we were at that time, but I know that I only love it so much because its the only shoot we ever did as a family. I wish we had taken family photos every few years so I could forget about this one photo.
That’s my rant for this year on family photos. The lesson to be learned here is: Update your family portraits so you can be embarrassed for a shorter amount of time when your parents hang it on their walls for 3 years instead of 15.
Here is the Lancia family along with their partners. Michelle contacted us because she saw us working at her friends wedding a few months back and her mother was coming home from Sweden to visit (another awesome reason to get family photos taken). I love these photos, we hope you enjoy them too. *Please note how un-embarrassing these family photos are.
& Ryan
