March 29, 2022

Why Grandparents Should be in Your Family Photos

Family Photography

The majority of my grandparents passed away when I was young and I would do anything to get a snippet of our life together.

Today I am inviting you to my own family album. I have tried to always bring my camera for family gatherings. Sometimes I take it up and snap a few photos and I never regret when I do.

I have found memories of myself sitting in my grandfather’s lap pretending to read the newsmagazine he was reading. Or watching my grandmother bake those cookies no one can ever recreate. When we think of family photos, we immediately think of the core family, and the thought of including more people in to the shoot can be intimidating. But if there’s anything to learn from watching the years fly by, it’s how precious these little moments are.. I know that inviting my own parents to a photoshoot may not be something I long for. I'm already worried about wrangling my children and then having to also please my parents feels like a flashback to Christmas and all the chaos. But I know it will be worth it. I certainly see these precious moments captured in my work all the which is why I am encouraging both you and me here.

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One essential thing in raising our children, is that I want them to know how loved they are. Not just by me and my husband, but by a family. We need to show them that they are part of a heritage. I want them to remember the arms and laps which held them for hours upon hours. I want my children to look back at the photos, when they are my age, see who made them to who they are.

It's not uncommon to hear that grandparent may be reluctant to be in the photos, and I think we need to remind them that we are not doing adventure photography, in perfect portrait photography. We want to take photos of us, exactly how we are today. That could be reading books to the grandchildren and blowing soap bubbles. It could be to give the kids a bath before bedtime. Maybe sharing a cup of tea and split a cookie together. What does your grandparents like to do with your children? That is what we would capture.

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A generational photoshoot really is a gift that keeps on giving, the longer time passes, the more we will appreciate the memories, and what we once had.

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Some other things that have been on my mind lately:

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Here is a great blogpost about how to display photos in your home.

Here is an incredible book form a Finnish author that I am reading right now. It's poetry written as a novel, or vice versa and I cannot recommend it enough.

Here is a cookbook I am impressed and a bit intimidated by. Great gift!

If you have any suggestions on more blogpost topics you would like, let me know here!

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