I'll be honest, family portrait sessions mortify me. They scare me so much I'd rather lock myself in a shoeless closet and live without rations for months on end before voluntarily placing myself in a situation where I'm asked to take one picture of twelve people smiling. Including the baby. It's because of this that I know I need to shoot more family sessions. While I technically am a wedding photographer, it is a fact of life that weddings happen to have a fairly solid portion of the afternoon devoted to capturing Uncle Bob and Aunt Kitty smiling in the same picture as little Sally and baby brother Timmy. And instead of being stressed out on the wedding day, I would much rather have the occasional family portrait session to keep my time management and baby cooing skills sharp.
When Laurie said she was in search of someone to take her family's holiday portraits, I admit that my first inclination was to hide. In the closet. Without food or water or even my pillow with the new flannel Christmas pillowcase. But after thinking it over I realized that part of being good at a trade is continually practicing my skill. I agreed to shoot the Bracewell's family session and was immediately happy with my decision. Not only were Laurie and her family an absolutely wonderful group of fun loving people to photograph, but shooting their portraits helped teach me how to be a better photographer on the wedding day.
So I guess that means I owe the Bracewell's a round of applause. For letting me into their worlds for an afternoon. For allowing me see the beauty in capturing family portraits. And for helping me become a better photographer. ...I suppose I really just owe them the world!
It can be ridiculously intimidating to photograph other photographers. And while I'd be remiss to not say that I was shakingintheknees nervous to shoot Laurie, I quickly found out that she is an amazing model and a dream to shoot. And her husband, Chris? Well, he's quite the model himself!
And I'll finish this post with one last picture of the Bracewell family as a whole. If you ask me, they are a pretty beautiful looking group of people!
Happy Friday!
Michelle