Sessions with me are different. I aim to capture authentic moments and connections. I take the time to guide my clients into genuine moments to capture the smiles, laughter, and affection. It is my desire to not only show my clients they were there, but to make them remember how they felt when they were there.
My sessions basically start as soon as my families get out of their cars. I prep them ahead of time so they understand that I am capturing them from start to finish. I explain to the family that constant movement and touching is so important to embody the emotive, candid moments I am capturing. I assure parents that even if their little one is fussing or not wanting to be involved that it will be ok.
For the above image, mom had just gotten out of the car and her little one was taking in the surroundings. I told mom to let him cling to her and to move her dress back and forth. This created the movement in the dress. My main focus was that little hand reaching for mom. I shot this at a shutter speed of 1/1000, an iso of 800, & a f/stop of 2.8. I tend to shoot underexposed to hold onto all the tiny details and moodiness of the moments.
One of my favorite moments is when I have just mama with her littles. So often mom is the one taking photos at home, so I really spend time capturing her with each of her babies. For this image I told the boys to love on their mom. I tell them to whisper in her ear why they love her and to give her kisses. These moments always mean so much to mom and you will always capture genuine emotion on her face.
For this sweet mama and little one moment, I told mom to rest her cheek on brothers head and to look softly toward sister. I then told her to think about the moment she found out she was pregnant with each of them and then to think about the first time she ever heard their heartbeats. These thoughts always bring out the soft affection and emotion in mom’s face.
And you see her hair blowing in the wind? Don’t ever shy away from wind! This helped to bring a stirring emotion to the image. And to make sure I capture each strand of hair, I keep my shutter speed up as high as I can. For this image my settings were shutter speed of 1/1000, iso at 100, and f/stop of 2.5.
As we learn photography, we are taught to make sure everyone is in focus and I do agree there is a time and place for that, but when capturing these candid, unposed moments my f/stop rarely goes above 2.8. I am trying to capture the emotion and the details of the moment. I set my focal point in the center and let them interact. I observe them with intention and capture the moments. The image above was taken during golden hour with the sun behind them in open desert. My settings were iso 100, ss 1/1000, and f/2.8. Sometimes trying to get 3 boys ranging from ages 14 to 5 to interact is tough so I told everyone to tickle the middle brother. This way I was able to pull true emotion from everyone.
I strive to make my sessions fun and carefree. One of the fun games I love to play with my families to get everyone laughing and comfortable is the blanket game. I have mom and dad (or just dad if mom is holding an itty bitty baby) hold the corners of the blanket and tell the kids to run under the blanket as mom and dad lift it up. I always demonstrate first because the kids always get a kick out of me running around. And depending on the kids personalities I either tell them to race or hold hands. I sit down on the ground about 20 feet away with the sun behind them. And on the count of 3 have them run towards me. It’s a great ice breaker and it usually loosens dad up too so I try to do this game early on.
For the image above my settings were iso 200, ss 1/1000, f/2.8.
Towards the end of our session, I try to throw in another game to get the kids interacting again. I have everyone hold hands and play follow the leader. I have them circle around me and lead each other around. For the image above, once again my f/stop is 2.8. I focus on different points as they circle around me. Sometimes the hands and other times the faces. By capturing all these focal points, I am able to add more images to their gallery.
I had mom and dad hold the little ones and bump their hips together. This always makes everyone laugh, even little ones who might not be having a good time.
To add even more emotion and variation to my families’ galleries, I always take a moment to capture just mom and dad like the image above. I get them super close together and tell dad to whisper in his wife’s ear what he had for breakfast… in his sexiest voice. It always gets the two of them laughing and it’s fun to remind them what life was like before the little ones.
And then like I said before, I shoot all the way to the very end. The image above was taken as we were walking back to our cars. I tend to chase the little ones around and by this time they think I am the funniest person. I keep my shutter speed up around 1/1000 and my f/stop still at 2.8. With the little ones in focus running around, I will usually capture mom and dad in the soft background bokeh. I remind them to look at their littles or each other with a smile.
As you probably gathered from reading this, my secret ingredients for my candid, unposed family sessions are movement, constant touching, golden light, high shutter speed, and a wide open f/stop. I love capturing these moments for my families and I know they treasure them forever.
When I am not capturing and loving on my clients, you can find me living and loving on my tiny farm in Wittmann, Arizona with my amazing husband and two little ones. Here you will usually find me with my camera in my hand hanging out with my animals, baking, tending my garden and capturing our life on our farm.
Along with capturing families, I specialize in capturing motherhood, and mentoring other like-minded creatives. You can follow along with my work and home life here:
Check out more of my work here: www.gypsysoulphotos.com