The Magic of Story Sessions - One of my favourite topics!
Pictured above: story session with Gai Waterhouse and her grandchildren
As a family photographer, my passion is capturing the genuine, heartwarming moments that make up the tapestry of your family’s life. One of the most enchanting ways to do this is through a story session. But what exactly is a story session, and why is it especially magical for families with little kids?
A story session is a relaxed, candid photo shoot designed to capture your family’s everyday life in all its authentic glory. Unlike traditional, posed sessions, story sessions focus on the natural interactions and spontaneous moments that truly reflect your family’s unique dynamics. It's about telling the real story of your family, with all its beautiful, messy, and joyful moments.
Why Choose a Story Session for your family?
Comfort in Familiar Surroundings:
Little kids are often most comfortable in their own environment. This helps them relax and be themselves. This comfort translates into more natural and heartfelt photos.
Capturing Real Life:
Story sessions focus on the everyday moments that might seem ordinary but are actually the most precious. Think messy meal times, impromptu dance parties, and quiet storybook moments. These are the snippets of life you’ll want to look back on and remember. This alwao makes for more creative, artistic images that will look gorgeous and more interesting on your walls.
Embracing the Mess:
Kids are messy. And that’s perfectly okay! In fact, it’s wonderful. Story sessions embrace the chaos and capture the unfiltered moments that make your family special. Whether it’s flour-covered faces from baking cookies or a toy-strewn living room, these genuine scenes are what you’ll treasure most.
Natural Interactions:
No poses and forced smiles here! Story sessions capture your kids being themselves. Whether they’re giggling, pouting, or lost in play, these real interactions create the most meaningful and memorable photos. I jusy capture their magic ljke a fly on the wall. I will provide some direction where necessary but that's the beauty of these sessions, kids can just get on with doing their thing and we capture the real them.
Pre-Session Chat:
Before the session, we’ll have a conversation about your family’s routines, favourite activities, and special moments you want to capture. This helps me understand your family better and plan a session that reflects your unique story.
Going with the Flow:
Kids have their own rhythms, and that’s part of the fun. During the session, we’ll follow their lead, capturing moments as they naturally unfold. If your toddler wants to play dress-up or your baby needs a snack break, we’ll roll with it—these moments are all part of your story.
Unscripted:
Expect the unexpected. The beauty of story sessions is in their unpredictability. Whether it’s a spontaneous hug, a bubble-blowing frenzy, or a quiet cuddle, these genuine moments are what make your family unique.
Family group shot
We will always get these. We'll get a gauge of how the kids are feeling on the day and if they're feeling shy I often will do this shot later in the session when they've warmed up to me. If not this is a good shot to start with as the energy is high and we can can some lovely family happy group shots.
Home: You know how nice it is looking back on pics of the house you grew up in - well that's what we are creating here for your kids when they grow up!
Albums: This is the best way of using these images from your shoot. I offer beautiful heirloom albums with flat lay pages that will preserve your gorgeous little family stories for decades.
Grandparents
Why not ask your parents to join on the day and get some gorgeous photos with the kids.
Great for Kids and Pets:
Kids and pets are often more comfortable and natural at home, making it easier to capture their true personalities. There’s no need to worry about them getting restless or shy in an unfamiliar place.
These documentary style sessions are a chilled, authentic way of capturing the every day life of your family in pictures. It's a way to freeze time and document what life was like. Imagine looking back on these when the kids have grown.. remembering the things the kids got up to, the intricate details of the house you lived in, seeing the spirit of your family together in a relaxed, unposed way just being together just doing everyday things!
This is most definitely an un-posed session, although at times I will of course provide some direction. It's more about doing some activities together like cooking a meal, the kids playing with chalk and bubbles in the driveway, gardening.. playing with the dog, reading a story to your little ones, playing in the local lake or beach, having a bonfire.. anything really that doesn't involve a screen! I will just move around you and capture the real and honest moments you have together.
Portraits of your kids: as well as all the authentic shots of the kids playing etcI always will make sure we get some nice smiley portraits of each of the kids.
Even the big kids.
Activities the kids love:
We’ll focus on activities that your kids enjoy. From building block towers or a forte to reading favourite books, or playing in the cubby house..these experiences create a backdrop for authentic and heartfelt photos.
I'll be honest, this is my favourite family photo shoot style because its meaningful and its creative. It's why I got into photography all those years ago (when I studied photography at Uni and processed all my own film in my darkroom at home!) Being able to be led by the natural authentic moments really fulfils me as a photographer. Capturing beautiful moments of interaction.
Light is everything as a photographer and a home shoot allows me to find many nooks and crannies that are so beautiful to shoot in to create creative meaningful images that tell a story.
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