Family Pictures with Little Ones: How to Cut the Stress and Increase the Fun

Our CTW team has more in common than our passion for photography; we’re also a network of families. We’re parents who love sharing stories (and photos!) of our children. Amy’s son Edwin has a prized tyrannosaurus rex figurine; he makes sure to show it to anyone who could be a potential playmate. Carissa’s daughter Emerson is ecstatic whenever she gets to help her mommy cook. We can so easily conjure up their specific smiles for those exact moments. Parents, we know our kids’ smiles: the showing-off-a-toy smiles, the time-to-decorate-sugar-cookies smiles, the I-went-down-the-big-slide smiles. We adore those smiles, the genuine expressions of their happiness, silliness, mischievousness. Those are the kinds of smiles we strive to capture when we’re taking your family pictures.

How do we do it? If it sounds like a daunting task to get a real smile out of your child with a big camera pointed at them, we understand. The kids aren’t wrong if they fidget or fight when they’re asked to sit a certain way and give a “cheese” smile. Posing isn’t natural or normal for them. We would so much rather lean in to what is normal, familiar and fun for them – playing. So, we let them play, let them laugh, let them do their thing…just let them be little.

And honestly, those are the moments that we really love to catch! Those simple everyday things, the ones that can sneak by underappreciated, are the moments that define families. Think about what you like to do as a family – those well-loved weekend traditions. Maybe it’s mixing up a big batch of pancakes, building the tallest LEGO tower you can manage, running through the sprinkler in the backyard. Maybe it’s everyone piling on the couch with a favorite book to read together, complete with dad’s silliest animal sounds bringing out the best giggles.

Little moments that mean a lot – that’s what family life is all about and that’s what we want to document for you.

Our True Lifestyle sessions are the perfect way to capture those sweet moments and those authentic smiles. We want you, your kids (and pets, too) to feel comfortable, relaxed and in control. You pick the place and the activities; it’s all about your family and what you love to do together. Your job is to be yourselves, have fun and make memories…we’ll be in the background to catch it all. And with our all-inclusive packages, you really will get it all – digital copies and a print release for all of your images. Like I said, we’re parents; we know that all those photos are worth having and keeping and cherishing.

Family pictures…it can feel impossible when you have little ones. Our advice: let those little ones be little! Let them do all the things that make them smile the realest smiles. This is a special, fleeting phase of life that deserves to be celebrated and remembered just the way that it is in all its loud, silly, frosting-smeared-faces glory.