You know you’ve thought it: is my family even right for a documentary session?

In a nutshell, below is a list of THIS photographer’s six dream clients. How do YOU measure up?

1. The one whose family traditions are prized above all else.

In case of flood or fire, the one thing you’d grab from your house is your photographs, because they hold the key to all that’s sacred in life. Sure, you may really love that baby blue vintage truck, your custom-built pool, or your collection of great dresses from Anthropologie. But when you think back across the years, the thoughts that get you all weepy are the traditions you’ve established with your loved ones

When I walked into this beautiful Austin home this spring, nobody was uncertain about how our documentary family session would feel. One of my favorite things about repeat Day in the Life clients is the ease with which we fall into the day, comfortable and trusting, excited but relaxed. The last time I photographed this family, Finn was a wee toddler full of big feelings. The family was renting before buying into this Travis Heights dream home some months later). There were questions. Lots. 

But it turns out, these questions aren't just on the minds of scheduled clients -- they're also on the minds of those still wondering if a documentary family photo session is for them at all.

On your very first ever day of school . . .

Did you spring out of bed?

Or did your mom rouse you gently?

So, here’s how it went down.  The kids were newborns, then infants, then toddlers. They were a ton of work, and honestly not very good companions. So I did what we all do – I sought out the company of friends with kids to pass the time with. The kids would play (or cry, or sleep), and we’d talk, laugh, day-drink. It was delightful. They had friends, I had friends, we didn’t have to spend every waking second with one another . . . win win. And then the kids basically grew up.

Immediately upon returning from five weeks in the Colorado Rocky Mountains with my kids, I stuffed a dozen jumbo garbage bags with our possessions and hauled them off to Goodwill.  And it felt damn good.

Random, you think? NOPE.

Here’s why: The #1 thing I took away from our time in a cabin in the woods was this:

As often as I meet a mama who’s absolutely overwhelmed, frustrated, and at her wit’s end with her child and the particular phase he’s in, I meet another who’s just so smitten with how sweet and perfect things are right no (ok maybe not QUITE as often, but it does happen, I swear).