When I get asked to do a large group family session, I always get excited. These sessions are filled with energy and laughter. I also love to photograph these because I get the opportunity to document grandparents and their grandchildren together, which is always such a special bond to capture. These sessions are a great gift to give to grandparents for the upcoming holidays and it is one that not only the grandparent will cherish, but you will too.

One of my favorite clients contacted me about a last minute extended family session. Her brother in law was visiting from Hawaii and she wanted to take this opportunity to capture the whole entire family together. It was also the first time they were meeting the newest baby of the family, so it was an extra special visit.

I love photographing extended families, but they do require a bit of strategic planning and time management. When there are very young children involved, I include at least 90 minutes for the session, which allows for breaks for the children and provides me an opportunity to photograph the various groupings that most people want to capture during a session. Believe it or not, that one formal group all eyes on camera portrait that most people want to capture during a session can take as long as 20 minutes to capture when there are little ones involved. I never rush to capture this image and my goal is to make the experience as stress free for the parents and family member as possible.

It was a beautiful night the day of this session. We had some gorgeous sunlight at the start of the session and then some gorgeous clouds rolled in that created such a beautiful and moody sky in the background. The sun was struggling to get through those clouds, so it added some beautiful dimension to the images. I know the sunset is always desired for these sessions, but cloudy evenings are also beautiful.

I am now booking family sessions for the Spring and Summer months. My sunset sessions do tend to book up months in advance, especially for weekend dates. If you are interested in a session, feel free to contact me for more information. Here are some images to show what an extended family session gallery might look like.

If you are interested in scheduling an extended family session, contact me. My sunset sessions tend to book up a few months in advance.