Family photos

In my search through the internet I have been finding what I do and do not like in family photos. I love photos that look effortless, natural, and unrehearsed. I guess you would call them "candid," where the people look like themselves rather than posing as the picture perfect family. I like photos where the family members are showing affection towards one another...i.e. hugs, kisses on the cheek or other parts of the face, photos where the subjects are face to face. Photos where people are laughing are some of my favorites because it shows the natural joy of being in a family.

The following photos are ones I pulled from the internet. I included a website address where possible in order to give credit to the photographer. I also included a caption with each photo explaining what I liked about the photo.

For this upcoming family photo shoot I would like to do a more urban setting, so I included photos taken with an urban backdrop.

The photos are merely for inspiration and I am open to the creativity of the photographer. Every photographer is an artist and has a unique pespective. As a clothing designer I do not like to make copy-cat designs but I do find inspiration in other people's work. I hope this is helpful in portaying my style and helpful for my photographer. BTW, my photographer Jenny Parten is amazing.

I like the staircases or step as a backdrop/prop


http://www.danielaberkhoutphotography.com/blog/2009/06/16/urban-family-session-st-catharines-family-photographer/

http://www.melissahathaway.com/blog/2010/12/urban-family-portraits-in-the-pearl-district/


I like the walking hand in hand, except the family walking across the street for an urban setting



http://simplicityphotography.com/blog/

I call this the celebrity family shot. I think it would be fun to do a shot that looks like a tabloid/paparazzi photo




I like this sibling pose. The reason I like it is because of the affection between the big sister and the newborn baby. My older children love to hold their baby sister and it does this mom's heart good to see them be affectionate towards her.

http://www.dana-made-it.com/


I do not like naked sibling poses or half-naked sibling poses, they just weird me out. It's one thing if the kids are shirtless because they are swimming, but just for a photo is kind of odd to me. Like the ones below. And for some strange reason many of them have a barn or barn-like backdrop.

  

However, this one does not bother me. I think it is because it seems more natural to me.



A few more things I don't care for:

The parents in the background staring at the children. It seems fairly populat and I don't know exactly what it is that I don't like, but they just don't appeal to me.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/in-spir-edphotography/3232521899/

I don't like a big, uniteresting backdrops. When a photo is being taken of people I like the focus to be on the people, when the backdrop is big it seems to demonate the photo and leave the people as an afterthought.
http://rialeephotography.com/blog/2009/11/23/happy-monday-modern-childrens-photographer/



Some of my favorite pics from when I was growing up were of my siblings and I sitting on the hood or back of a vehicle. It was usually during or at the end of an event and we always looked happy. The old truck in this photo adds a vintage feeling, which is kind of fun.

http://inspiremebaby.com/category/inspire/family/page/2/


More examples of affection between family members
http://rebeccawestby.blogspot.com/


http://www.jeansmithphotography.com/blog/?cat=5


http://www.lockedillusions.com/blog/tattoo-mom-and-son/


And finally I want to include some new-born photo ideas that I like, because they're cute and I have one and she's cute.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmphotoimages/4229712931/


http://weheartit.com/entry/8107587


http://sarahjordanphotography.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-came-early.html