Outer Banks (OBX) Lifestyle Portraits

Lifestyle portraits of your family offers a look at your family in more depth than the Big Box store studio shots that give you an extremely limited type of poses and no location ocpportunities and the “beach portraits” that we all love. It allows for a  greater range of locations (including your own home), earlier daytime sessions, change of clothes, and  a bit more privacy depending on the location you choose.

A few days ago I photographed the Shelton family in their backyard on a canal on the Outer Banks.  I photographed their wedding several years ago, their first baby belly, their newborn’s photos and pictures of him for the next couple of years. This past Fall they were blessed with the birth of twin boys. A few days ago was the second time I have photographed them as a family of FIVE! Wow! They are all so adorable and sweet!

We went out to their backyard with a blanket, picnic basket and a few dozen blue balloons. Once the little guy realized that the balloons weren’t going to carry him off into the sky he was happy to enjoy the afternoon and playing in the grass, reading a book with Mommy, Daddy and little brothers.

These sessions usually last 2 or 3 hours when little ones are part of the plan, so we brought snacks, water bottles and juice boxes in our picnic basket.  Even though Shaiden has seen me throughout his life, camera in hand most of the time, at his age kids tend to not want to necessarily do the typical, sit down andmug for the camera, so it’s important to be prepared to go with the flow andjust let them play. A happy child is the most important thing when photographing the family. You want them to remember it as a positive and fun experience, and not a time that they are getting reprimanded and yelled at or punished for not fitting into the “standard” idea of what is expected at a portrait session.

You must think outside the box in these situations and be able to think on your feet and laugh it off if things don’t go as planned. At the end of the session I gave him a giant lollipop that had him all smiles and doing everything we asked after that…Duhhh. I guess I should have given that to him at the Beginning of the session! Well live and learn!