I just have to take a second and say how much i adore capturing families like this. There is absolutely a place for the traditional beach family portrait photographer, but… it’s just not me. This is how i love to capture families; relaxed, real, and full of love and activity. This is how these kids are going to remember their family, these photographs will (hopefully) stir up memories of their family vacation from Wisconsin to Florida. Sometimes (on a rare occasion) i will feel insecure, and wonder if i should be shooting more ‘posed’ formal, and traditional photographs. Then i get an email like this (from Sarah, the mom):
Just wanted to say THANK YOU so much for the wonderful session we had with you last Wed in Sanibel! You have such an easily lovable personality, which was an instant hit with the kids and made us ultimately, I think, probably feel less “posey” when the photos were being taken, b/c it was like it was just “Auntie Lexia” or something just playing on the beach with us. Everything felt very fun, very natural, very playful, relaxed–everything our vacation was already!
It reminds me that this genre of portraits, family photojournalism, the genre I love, is ultimately the style of photography that is sought out and searched for. I just give my clients what I feel like I would want. In every photojournalism session I photograph, I imagine that it is my own family – my own kids - and I photograph what I would want to capture if I were their mom. I leave downtime for snack breaks, sippy cup re-fills, sandcastle building, a chance for the awkwardness to fade and the personalities to bloom. My sessions are so long because I already know going into the session that the first 30 minutes are just the acclimation period; most of those photos will likely get discarded.
by the way, that last image… that one is my favorite. I have had it in my head for a long time, and want to continue on with a series similar. it was inspired by a student in my painting class forever ago while I was completing my Art Major at the University of Wisconsin. I always loved to paint on large (LARGE) scale canvases, so when I saw her walk in with a large canvas I knew we’d be friends. As I was painting my giant mural I noticed her pull out these miniscule brushes… the tiniest I’d ever seen. She had painted the entire canvas this beautiful light sky blue, and at the very very bottom she was painting a miniature landscape with rolling hills, a carnival and a small parade going down the street. It took her the majority of the semester to complete that one painting.
it was absolutely incredible.
I’ve always wanted to do a painting like that for my boys’ room, but I may start down that avenue via photography as well. We shall see 
also, photographers out there: the ‘blurry’ photos were shot with my lensbaby tilt shift lens. i’ve been getting many questions about my post processing, and i do not add blur to my images (ever) in post processing. it is all in-camera scrumptiousness!
