How Do You Approach Family Photos?

[ssmjlm]

Have you stuck with the same photog or pick and choose based on dates, etc?

The photog we used for E's newborn, 6m, and 1 year photos decided to close up shop.  She did say she would do shoots here and there for former clients, which I may do for E's 2 year photos.

So I just booked a fall mini session with another photographer.  She didn't start doing non-studio shoots until after E was born, but I've always liked her work.  Just my self consciousness with a new person and hoping my kid isn't a total terror.

[hocus2]

Family photo's are totally a crap shoot. Sometimes they come out great. Sometimes they suck. Go into this process with humor and low expectations. Expect that at least a few photos with awkward family photo territory and that most will be fine and a few will be awesome. I like our family photo this year. Last year sucked. The year before was great.

[lindyanne]

We actually went with a different person bc we felt like we were getting the same feel for all our pics and they were getting boring, I love our new photog.

[bowies]

I'd love to stick with our same photographer but they already booked up their fall and Christmas mini sessions in under an hour this morning. That's just crazy. I think we'll make the switch to a less well-known photographer that friends of ours use.

[ssmjlm]

Aug 26, 2014 13:00:17 GMT -5 bowies said:

I'd love to stick with our same photographer but they already booked up their fall and Christmas mini sessions in under an hour this morning. That's just crazy. I think we'll make the switch to a less well-known photographer that friends of ours use.

LOL I may have called DH like 4 times b/c I wanted to make sure he thought the time I booked was ok.  This is a pretty popular photog.

[Ashley&Scott]

We've used 3 different photographers, to be honest while I liked (A) for her prices & flexibility I got bored with her work after 5 sessions with her. We tried a new photographer for his 18 month session then went back to (A) for his 2 yr pictures due to pricing & availability but I wasn't very happy with how they turned out. (poses were pretty much the same as previous sessions)

We took pics every 3 months during the first year, now we do every 6 months.

Newborn - 1yr - Photographer A
18 months - Photographer B
2 yr - Photographer A
2.5 yr - Photographer C

I loved our most recent photographer (C) so we'll go with them for our next session. 

[pugz]

we've used 4 different photographers. One for the first year, she is absolutely my favorite personality wise and her photos are great. However she doesn't do mini sessions. She is primarily a wedding photographer so she is pretty busy. We used a different one for an in studio valentine's mini session and I really like her. May use her for fall photos if she does mini sessions. A friend took photos for us last fall, it's really just a hobby for her. And the one we used for DD's 2 year pics I was not impressed with. My kid was flipping out and she didn't seem to really know how to handle it. She is big on themes and props and whatnot which isn't really our style.

[turtlegirl]

I've rotated between doing some pictures at Picture People in the mall for just kid pictures and using a real photographer for bigger family sessions.

I had used the same photographer that was a friend of mine since elementary school and actually majored in photography in college, etc (rather than a "mom-tographer") until just recently when she moved out of state. Since her sessions and prints were generally more expensive than others I supplemented with mall pictures for kid-only pics in between yearly family pictures.

We just did our first family session with a new photography team recommended by a friend and really loved them. I'll plan on using them for family shots each year from here on out.

[mlt]

We do photos once a year. I used one woman twice and then she got super full of herself and dramatic (judging from her vague drama laden FB posts) so we switched. I found a guy I loved but he recently switched to exclusively weddings. Tried a new lady for newborn photos this spring and the photos were BAD. So bad. Nothing like her website. I was furious. So now we're on the hunt again.

[heartmama]

I used our wedding photographer for both kids newborn, and by default 3 year pictures for DS last year because we were there for newborn with DD. I can't afford her every time, she's $$$$, but awesome.

With DS I was using a photographer who I knew from school, but she totally dropped the ball with our last session, and it took like 3 months to get photos.

I tried Picture People for Easter and will be using them for DDs one year photos next week, and for Christmas photos. I'd rather just get it all done in one day, and they do a really good job at ours. I think we'll get family photos by another photographer at some point though. I'm more on the every other year is good for a family portrait anyway.

[water*drop]

So far we've used 3 different photographers. We used one for maternity, newborn, 6 month, and 12 month pictures. We didn't really click with her, but we had already paid for the package before we realized it. We used mini sessions with other photographers to hop around until we found one that we really liked, and we used her for our yearly family session this year and will continue to until we have some reason to want to change (at which point we'll probably hop around mini sessions again to find somebody else).

[ilikedonuts]

We use the same photographer we use for newborn, 1st birthday, etc

I had been planning on using our wedding photographers since we are now friends with them, but they moved away and only come back into town for weddings they are shooting and don't have a ton of extra time.

[ilikedonuts]

I feel like for family shoots, the place you take them at really helps your pictures. If its a boring background, then the pictures just don't seem to have the wow factor.

I'm okay with studio pictures and backdrops for newborn and and 1 year pictures (mainly because my kids were born in late fall so we don't have any other choice), but we'll start doing Easter mini sessions every spring and then a big family shoot outside in the fall.