What kind of photographs will you leave for your kids to remember you? | Hudson Valley Family Photographer
What if I told you that family photography is not just about documenting your kids in cute outfits for your holiday card? What if it's about more than smiling photos in pretty locations at sunset....
What if it's about documenting their childhood. What if it's about how your kids fill the holes in their memories after you're gone. What do you want your child to remember about you and the home you created together during those formative years? Would you want them to remember how you read to them every single night, in an apartment that was a tad small, but you made it work. Or maybe the games you played to make bath time more bearable for both of you. Would you want them to remember the way you touched their head when they ran up to hug your leg, probably the highest part of you they could reach at the time. Or how you held them after a bad dream. Would you want them to remember your hands, your mealtimes, your bad jokes.
Family photography can go deeper than you think, if you allow your photographer into your world. I know how vulnerable that might feel for you now.... but will you feel that way in 30 years when they're grown and out of the house? Or do you want a family archive of photographs that show all of it.... the good, the bad and the complex moments... those many many stages that you forgot along the way (like diaper changes in public spaces, favorite lovies that go missing at bed times and plane rides, and those epic meltdowns too)?
The lighting won't be perfect. And everyone may not be smiling all the time...
But the photographs won't be boring either, because you didn't build a boring life. And the story of your family will be documented.
I know it's scary, but most things truly worthwhile in this life are scary.... and often so worth it in the end.
I promise you, your family photographer isn't out to embarrass you or blast your perceived shortcomings. They want to show you how beautiful your life is every single day. Let them document your story. Leave images that remind your kids of home.
