Family photos are just as important to me as they are to you!  I have to walk the walk once a year the same as all my clients and gather up the courage to get in front of the camera.  You might be surprised to hear this, but I hire a photographer for my own family.  I mean, try being a hairdresser and cutting your OWN hair.   It’s impossible.  I can’t be stylists, mom, hair dresser, dresser, kid wrangler AND photographer for my own family.  Let me rephrase that… I CAN but its ugly…and I sweat…and I do not look  happy and relaxed AT ALL!  Trust me I’ve tried.  So here is how I do this…..its actually easier that you might think.

 

Oh, first and foremost…thank you endlessly to Daniel Pullen Photography.  He’s the bomb.  His work is amazing, and he has such a love for the Outer Banks.  I think that is why I love what he does so much.

First pick a color palette

I am no stylist believe me, but if you search up color palettes you can find some great inspiration on what goes well together.  Check out my family guide and style board for more on this…but basically my philosophy is:  coordinate, don’t match. I choose colors that make the photos interesting and will pop when I hand them on my walls.  Here is a sample of the color palette I found on Pinterest for this shoot (Pinterest can be the bane of my existence…like when clients want me to recreate a shot exactly….ha…but it really can have a place too!;)

Start choosing outfits

I start with the kids.  I want their unique personalities to shine through in the pieces, so I actually give them the color scheme and let them pick what they want (with my veto of course).  I had too many crappy  faces in photos because I tried to force outfits, so now I just pick my battles ha (can you tell I have 3 girls?:).  I like one or 2 prints to make their way into the mix,  then it’s easier for me to find something for my husband and I to match.    Once I start getting things together I lay them out and see what I have.  I will switch things around until I am happy and so are the people wearing the clothes.  For this shoot since we were coordinating 2 families, so we shared the ideas we had like this:

Add some accessories to pull together the color scheme, but don’t over think it.  The more un-pulled together it looks, the better…in my opinion:)

Be YOU

The biggest piece of advice I can give is to just show up in what makes you feel like YOU.    I mean I really love my sweats and comfies….but I feel best in something that is flattering, comfortable and timeless, so that’s what I try to aim for.  I want my kids to feel the same in what they are wearing and as they get older they do start to care, so let that shine through.

 

Side note….we did not mean to pick the same shirt for the men haha.  We just have the same taste and apparently shop at the same stores…guess we should have shared all the outfits we chose hahah.