Full Life. Full Gallery
Why I Believe Your Family Story Deserves More Than One Perfect Picture
Family Photography Moments even with the furry kid!
There is always that ONE family picture. You know the one. Everyone is looking at the camera. Everyone’s eyes are open. The children are smiling. Mom loves how she looks. Dad is looking in the right direction. Maybe the dog even cooperated. It is the photography that gets framed. The Christmas card photograph. The one that grandparents immediately ask you to send to them. And YES, I absolutely want that picture for you and strive to give you multiply versions of that image. But when I photography a family, I am never thinking about just one beautiful family portrait because your family is not just one picture.
Your Life is FULL. It is full of personalities. Full of movement. Full of relationships. Full of laughter. Full of quiet moments. Full of children growing faster than we ever imagined they would. Full of hugs, teasing, handholding, dancing, snuggling, running, laughting, and sometimes even a little chaos. So why should your family gallery tell only one tiny piece of that story?
That is where the idea of Full Life. Full Gallery comes from. When I deliver a private family photography gallery, my hope is that you do not simply find one photography that you love. I want you to scroll through your gallery and recognize your LIFE.
A Full Gallery Tells a Story
I am an all-inclusive family photographer. My private family sessions typically include 55-65 final images, and sometimes more. With both color and black & white because why not. But I never want the number of photographs to be the focus. The important part is why those images are there. I am not trying to give you 60 slightly different versions of everyone standing in the same place looking at my camera. Instead, I want those images to work together. Like the pages of a book. We might begin with everyone together. Then we photograph the children individually and then maybe a sibling sandwich! Moving around helps with little wiggles too. I love having mom with kids and dad with kids oh and yes mom and dad together too! I am a romantic to my core. Throughout all of those combinations, we create room for movement, interaction, creativity, laughter, and the completely unexpected moments that often become my favorites. One picture shows me what your family looks like. A full gallery begins to show me who your family is. The difference is incredibly important to me.
The Full Gallery Actually Begins Before We Meet
Even before I pull my camera out, even before I pull up to the location, we are meeting for your family photos, my work has already been planned. I call this my “workflow” or my photographer homework. After you book your family session, I begin learning about your people with my questionnaire. How many children do you have? What are their names and ages? How long have you been married? Where did you meet your significant other? Any fun anniversary this year? Any fun milestones? What makes your family laugh? What do you all like to do together?
These questions might seem simple and maybe silly, but they help me begin building a picture of your family before we are standing together at your photography location.
After the family questionnaire, we select your location. Marlo Moody Photography Location Guide.
As an all-natural-light photographer, the lighting at your favorite location is a huge part of how I plan each family session. I think about sunset and sunrise. I think about where the light will fall in a specific spot at your location. I think about how the location changes as we move throughout the spots. Most of my suggestion locations have two or three different little pockets that I know we can move through during our time together. This movement is extremely important to me so that your gallery has a variety of images without feeling rushed or overly complicated. After all these thoughts and details, I create your family photography workflow.
My Workflow Gives Your Family Room to Just BE
It is a road map for your photography session. Before we meet, I have already thought about the combinations I want to capture. Your images are in my mind along with how I will direct the family in each of those photos. The workflow is not there to make your session feel rigid. The organization gives us freedom. I’ve done the homework so that you can arrive ready to just BE. You as the parent, “don’t think just Do” (my son’s favorite quote from Top Gun Maverick.) You show up. You get to love your family. And I guide everything else. Marlo Moody Photography - Family Photo Workflow
You, the parent, are part of Your Story
The relationship as a whole, is very important but I also try to intentionally photography the parents! Yes, just the two of you! Without the children or maybe with the children looking on. I know sometimes this feels strange or uncomfortable. But your relationship is part of the family story too. Before there were soccer practices, dance lessons, school drop-offs, homework, snacks, laundry (okay…there was always laundry), bedtime routines, and a family calendar that somehow seems to get fuller every year….
There WERE the TWO of YOU!
I strive to create space during your family session to photography your relationship too. It does not need to be complicated. Sometimes it is simply standing close together. Holding hands. Laughing. Looking at each other (for just a second). For just a few minutes, you get to remember that part of your story. And someday your children will get to see it too.
When you finally receive your family gallery, I hope there is that one beautiful photography where everyone is looking at the camera. If I’m doing my job well, you will hopefully have two or three of those images. But then I hope you keep scrolling. And scrolling. And smiling. I hope you feel the warmth of your spouse’s hands. You hear the giggles and laughter from the children. All of these images belong together because your family is not defined by one moment. Your family is thousands and thousands of moments happening beside each other.
