Each mama has their own, natural way with their children. Some of us are silly and playful, some are real active and vocal, others are quiet and strong. These are all excellent qualities. I tend to lean on the silly and loud side. In our house, we wear our hearts on our sleeves. This isn’t always an advantage. This session’s mama is in the quiet and strong category and a big part of me wishes I had more of that meekness in me. Her children can rest in it and their home was peaceful. I’m also under no illusion that ANY home is always like that. Life with littles in hard and we all reach our limit. I love when I get a glimpse of families whose flavor is seasoned with that gentleness I so long to taste. It is everything “home” to me.
You have been wondering whether to include them.
Maybe it is the grandparents and you are not sure they will want the fuss. Maybe it is a sibling you do not see often, or a cousin who just happens to be in town. Maybe it is someone whose mobility makes you worry the session will be more complicated.
Here is what I have learned: the hesitation almost always melts away by the end.
Nobody ever walks away from a family session wishing they had included fewer people. It genuinely does not happen. What does happen is that two years later, you are looking at a photo of your kids with their grandfather and feeling deeply grateful that you said yes.
This photo is of my son, Reider, with my grandfather, Jacob Reider. Taken on a whim during a visit to see him in Virginia. I am forever grateful for these photos. My grandfather went home to our Lord this month and these photos mean more to me today than in previous 15 years since they were taken.
When you are on the fence, lean toward yes. We will figure out the logistics.
I have four kids of my own.
I am not saying that to suggest I have parenting figured out. I am saying it because when you show up to your session worried that your toddler is going to lose it, or that your big kid is going to refuse to cooperate, or that everyone is going to look stiff and weird - I genuinely understand that concern.
I have lived it. More than once.
What I have also learned is that working with families as they actually are, instead of as we wish they would be on picture day, is exactly how you get photos that feel real. The beautiful chaos is part of it. I have a lot of tricks, and I genuinely enjoy the process.
You do not need a perfect family to get beautiful photos. You just need a photographer who knows what she is doing.
I photographed the same extended family twice.
The first time, it rained. They were troopers about it. We had already scoped out a covered porch at the location just in case the weather had other ideas, and that porch became our backdrop. We made something beautiful out of what could have been a wash.
The second time, they came back with new additions. Beach house on Alligator Point. Grandparents out on the water with the grandchildren. Big group moments and smaller family units. Easy, relaxed, and real.
What I remember most about both sessions is the feeling at the end. A kind of collective exhale. Like everyone knew they had just done something that mattered and would keep mattering long after that day.
That is the thing about showing up even when the conditions are not perfect. The photos do not know it rained.
Read more about Extended family/Multigenerational family photos in this month`s blog post. Link in bio.
If you have been sitting on this and are not quite sure yet, I want to make it simple.
This is a short session. It is designed to be low-pressure, low-chaos (or at least managed chaos), and genuinely doable for real families with real kids.
You do not need to have it all together. You do not need perfectly behaved children or a color-coordinated wardrobe already sorted. I will send you a guide. I will handle the rest.
It is five to seven minutes. We will get photos you actually love. I mean that.
Details and booking are at the link in bio.
Five Spots. One Date. A setting that only looks like this for about three weeks out of the year.
I am not trying to manufacture urgency here. The blooms genuinely do not wait, and the calendar genuinely does not have room for everyone who wants a session this spring.
If your family has been on your to-do list for a while, now is a really good time to actually do something about it.
April 11 at Maclay Gardens. $275. A wardrobe guide, a focused session, and your images delivered in two weeks.
Link to book in bio.
Memberships and Affiliations
Sarah Gray creates timeless and joyful images that are designed for living room walls and photo albums. A tallahassee photographer, Sarah Gray also serves Thomasville, Crawfordville, St. Marks, Gainesville and throughout the panhandle of north Florida and south Georgia.
email us | sarah@sarahgray.com
telephone (850) 321-0208
located in tallahassee, florida
