Capturing the Beauty of a Family
Exciting news: this was my first paid client shoot! I’m sure you’re all wondering how this came about. Well, since my family has learned that I have started to take photography seriously, they want me to take photos of their families. At my grandpa’s house, we have a huge wall with all of the grandchildren’s portraits, so my Aunt Joni thought it would be a good idea to take portraits of the children to update the wall. So the plan was for me to take headshots of the children. The more I thought about it, I figured it would be a good idea to capture some group portraits as well. The hardest part of this whole shoot was finding a day that worked. So, after rescheduling a few times, I finally got the opportunity to take their portraits on March 18th!
By doing this I learned a lot of things. First off, it’s important to have fun with the clients! When you do that, you get more real smiles, as well as some cute candid shots. Second thing I learned is that official client shoots sound a lot scarier than they actually are. If you know what your client expects, there isn’t really much to stress about. Finally, I learned that it is a great idea to take photos of people you care about. I was worried about doing portraits because clients tend to be picky on those types of things, so in my mind I wasn’t originally comfortable with the idea of taking pictures of family members because I didn’t want to disappoint them. I was wrong, and it is actually fun to take pictures of people that you know. I can’t wait to take more portraits, because when you’re behind the camera you do get to know people even better, even if you already know them.
Now I want to tell you about my client. My Aunt Joni is seriously super mom. After common core took over the public school system, my aunt and uncle both decided it was best for their family to start homeschooling, and so my aunt became their teacher. She cares so much about her children, and looks for exciting ways to teach them. (I am actually a little jealous of all the fun projects they get to do in school that I didn’t.) She also loves writing, and has been working on writing books. She started a website called Joni’s Mania where she talks about the different things she’s learning. This includes everything from writing to trying to being published. You should check out her website! Joni also teaches piano, and has helped her children learn violin and voice. My aunt is also a wonderful cook and baker. I love going over to their house for family dinner, because it’s good food and good company. Anyways without further ado I present to you some of their photos.
