Family Portrait Session :: McKinley Park East Sacramento CA

Hello Beautiful People!

I recently had a fabulous family session at McKinley Park in East Sac, and I wanted to share some of my favs from the session!

I met the lovely family in the Rose Garden area, and even tho the roses haven’t started too bloom quite yet, there were still plenty of other flora and fauna surrounding us.
That is definitely one thing about CA that I am still in awe of, even in ‘Winter’, something is always in bloom!

I adore family sessions: my approach with families is to begin by capturing some staged images, especially when there are young children or babies involved: get those pretty portraits in first!
As the session goes on sometimes outfits can get a bit ruffled, hair-dos might get a little wind-blown, someone might get cranky or hungry (it’s me, I’m hungry) – so it’s best to get those posed images in asap!

After the posed images, and often times during, what I truly love to capture are the moments in between.
The fun, cute, silly, goofy, loving moments of you all being together.
I document as things happen naturally. I do my best to not interfere, interrupt or heavily influence anything.
Am I there to help guide you during the posing portion? Absolutely.

But what I really love is photographing those unexpected, unplanned, never to happen again twinkles in time.
Especially when kids are involved! I’ve heard those times go by quickly.
Like one second they are babies and then next they’re heading off to college – so making sure I document the way they are, right now, including all those facial expressions, all of them – even the cranky ones,
is so important.

I’m pretty fun to work with, I mean, look 😉

The other thing I always encourage anyone who hires me for a family session?
If you’re the parents or guardians, please please PLEASE:
Be in the photos with the children!

Let me tell you something, I recently lost my dad and an uncle, and one thing I am so very thankful for is the photos I have, not only of them, but of them with ME.
It isn’t flippant or cliche when I now say those are some of my prized possessions.
Those photos. Those reminders.
Of who they were, who we were, what they looked like, what we looked like, together.
Those, along with the memories attached, are beyond precious to me.

Your kids want you in those photos, with them.
They will not care what you looked like, or if you were having an off body, hair or face day.
They will not care.
And I know it’s not always easy to step in front of that lens, I get it.
I personally am not a fan of being photographed (eep!).
But I also know, years and years from now, your children are going to adore those concrete memories they have of you, with them.

*stepping off my soap box now*

Enjoy some more favs from this family session below: