Shurtleff Family Photos - Galveston, TX
Family Beach Photos - Galveston Island
I love the power of the internet. I checked the inbox on my Facebook page (please go like it and follow it if you don't!) and saw a couple of unread messages that had been sitting there for over two weeks. "Hi, I saw a post in a Facebook group with your work, me and my family are traveling to Galveston for vacation in a couple of weeks and want to see about getting photos done." I felt silly for responding so late, assuming they had found someone else, but wanted to at least let her know I wasn't trying to ignore her inquiry and that I would love the opportunity if it was still available. We messaged back and forth for a bit, I went to sleep, and woke up the next morning to a notification saying she paid the retainer.
I made a vision board, Erin showed me their outfits and pictures of all of them prior to us meeting in person, and we agreed on poses for their family. She mentioned a couple of key details about her family dynamic to better prepare me for their session, and we met the following day at my favorite beach on the island.
Letting kids get comfy being in front of the camera :)
A few of their concerns:
Not getting time for the kids to warm up prior to the session.
Not getting enough great shots because of lack of warming up to the camera.
I assured them that I am not only a mom, but I don't like the overly posed family photos. I prefer people just doing their thing, whatever you instinctually do when a camera is put on you, and if you look uncomfortable or something isn't working, then I will step in and direct. With families though, I always say to just interact. Love on each other and laugh while doing it.
Combos of 4+
Larger numbers of people require more "poses" and combinations. I had a lot of fun swapping them out. It was like a relay race. "Kids first. Ok, Gemma out, Nick in. Ok Nick out, Erin in." And so on. My goal is to get everything with kids out of the way at the top half of the session so they can go play while me and the parents finish up in the second half. It's foolproof!
This is my second out of state family
and for some reason I feel more pressure to produce at these sessions because they're not local to me. If something were to happen I couldn't be like "hey, let's reshoot," it would be a refund situation and I'd probably turn that family off and that's something I don't ever want to do.
On Thursday it rained allllll day. I started to consider calling the session off around 5 or so and offering a sunrise session the next morning, but I didn't, and I am so glad I didn't because a freaking rainbow ended up appearing at the very end of our time together! What are the chances?! This sweet family from Arkansas got a rainbow in their beach vacation family pictures. Ahhh!
