My posing flow for family photos.
I prepare, prepare, prepare for my family photo sessions. I memorize your names, likes and dislikes and even your dream shot! I scout the session beforehand, looking for the best lighting and visualize where I want each pose to be. I have a posing flow that includes the entire family, each parent with each kid, individual kid photos and ends with the entire family again. I do all these things because family photography is beautiful, unpredictable AND crazy! 60 minutes goes by really fast and there's always a few curve balls thrown in! But when I prepare for a session, I feel like I can handle those blips smoothly. Here's my general posing flow for family photo sessions.

Pose #1: Standing
Everyone gets out of their car, is greeted by me and together, we'll walk towards our first location. I'll engage with your kiddos, ask them a few questions, then we'll start with our standing poses. I like to get these look-at-the-camera, holiday card photos knocked out right away. Kids are a little nervous and a little excited...they don't know me well enough yet so are willing to do as I say. I'll have everyone look at the camera and also a few prompts to elicit candid smiles.




Pose #2: Sitting
Now that everyone's loosened up a bit, both with their muscles and with getting to know me, we'll do the sitting poses. I'll have a blanket prepared and have dad sit down first, as he's usually the least flexible! :) Once dad is comfortable, we'll nestle everyone else in around him.



Pose #3: Playing
I generally like to save the playing for the end, as I feel like once kiddos start running around, they're wired and have a difficult time sitting still. I'll give a few options and let the child take the lead. I LOVE when parents are just as excited as their children to play. It makes for the best, most magical, most joyful photos that you'll treasure more and more over time!!!



A few posing questions...
Like I mentioned at the beginning, family photo sessions are unpredictable and don't always go as planned. Here are a few ways I handle that:
- What happens if the child is feeling shy? If your child is feeling shy, I'll give them some space. If there are outgoing siblings, I might photograph them first. If it's just your child, I might photograph mom and dad first. I could also take some far away, wide angle shots...acting like a fly on the way and give you a prompt to walk with your child.
- What happens if the child doesn't want to follow any of the prompts? I don't force your child to stand and say cheese. That's the biggest way to make a session fail! Sessions are children led. If they want to explore and act like we're in a safari, we'll do that. I'll work my prompts sneakily into the games we play!
- What if I can't sit on the ground? I can find a bench or log for you to sit on, or we can scrap the sitting pose all together! If one parent is able to sit on the ground, I could photograph them doing that for some variety, then photograph the other parent, in a variation of the standing pose.
I ask that all families to come to their sessions flexible, relaxed and with a playful attitude in mind because children are children! If the parents have a great attitude, the children will as well. I have some more tips for successful family photos here and here. Thanks for reading!
