Extended Family Portraits

One of the best investments you can make is doing an “Extended” family portrait session.  And no, I’m not talking about having a photographer come to your family reunion where people are just trying to have fun and are wearing their comfy clothes and flip flops.  I’m talking about a fully coordinated effort to get all your adult children and grandchildren together in a well-coordinated photo shoot.  To be totally honest, it is a bit of work sometimes.  Making sure everyone is on the same page.  But if you pick out three colors for people to pick from when pulling together outfits.  Think Navy, white, khaki and denim or jewel tone fall colors… red, white, black and denim… you get the idea.

Another tip would be to get the sizes of everyone who will be in the picture and having one person purchase all the shirts so you KNOW they’ll all go together.  (This works great if you’re a bit of a control freak or can’t trust your in-law to know what you mean when you say cherry red and you’re certain she’ll show up in a maroon sweatshirt)

Having an on-location session is a wise investment for this type of photography session as well.  Many adult children will agree they love visiting mom & dad’s home and to capture it in the background of your images, part of the yard, or a nearby park you associate with “home” is always a great choice to add that extra level of meaning to your images.

I feel like after doing so many weddings early in my career, it gave me lots of practice posing large groups and now I have a talent for working quickly and keeping them entertained.

Here’s a selection of my favorite extended family photo sessions from the last year.  (and here’s a previous post where I shared an extended family session)

The great part about these sessions is that I’m able to capture a beautiful image of the big group and then do individual family groups and portraits of each group of grandkids… and the ultimate shot… all the grandkids together (+ grandma & grandpa!)  And they all LOOK AMAZING TOGETHER on grandma’s wall in a artful grouping because they’re not a hodgepodge of sessions in different colored outfits/seasons/photographers… they all coordinate beautifully for that high-end designer look in home decor.

If you’d like to schedule your extended family portrait session, just call the studio at 507-383-2344.  Things like this are best booked well in advance to coordinate so many schedules and get the time most ideal for your whole family.

Enjoy these images to get the ideas rolling…