2 parents, a 2 year old, a 9 month and a cockapoo make up the Hamilton family I photographed. We photographed at their home. Doing shoots at ones home is my preference because pictures will help build memories for the child of their childhood, be it the rock out front of their house, the family sofa or steps. During the shoot, little sis needed a power nap, and while she did big brother and I got some shots of him in his suspenders. The suspenders he was not so keen on wearing at first, but with some encouragement we got the shots mom wanted and most importantly he was very pleased with himself too.

I prefer causal and candid shots when photographing families. Kids like to explore and do enough stuff naturally that going into their world is not a difficult place to get great pictures of them. The best approach is to be calm and happy and within an hour to hour and a half, all different kinds of great family photos are bound to happen. Here is a preview of such an approach. Sometimes photoshoots can be stressful and being calm sounds and happy seem impossible when all a parent wants is a quality family photo and it seems as though no one wants to cooperate. Funny thing I notice with kids is though, they want to be in the photos, when not asked to be, and it looks like others are having fun and getting attention. 9 out of 10 times, the one who doesn't want to participate, will run up in and be in the photo as soon as it becomes a shoot without them. I enjoy gaining their trust with the camera either way.