Running Wild
The most stressful part of a family photoshoot usually happens in the car ride there. The bribes. The hostage negotiations just to keep their clothes clean and get them to sit completely still, smiling at a stranger for five seconds so you can get one good photo to cherish forever. I am going to be blunt: Those photos suck. If that kind of stiff perfection is what you want, there are hundreds of malls across Southern California happy to take your money. But I don’t shoot in studios, and I don't want your kids to sit still. When you commission me to document your family, you are giving up the lie of the perfect, matching holiday card. Instead, we are heading into the dirt to embrace what a family actually is: beautiful, untamed chaos.
Let My Kids Run Free?!
I get it. I want that one "perfect" smiling shot of my own boys, too. But that is never the photo that ends up framed on my wall. The images that carry actual weight are the honest moments: a kid throwing sand, running from Mom, Dad standing there trying to figure out what he should be doing, or a toddler refusing to keep their shoes on. We will absolutely capture that one classic portrait where everyone is looking at the lens. But the how is where the art happens.
What Is My Method
Kids are wired to run, explore their environment, and test boundaries. If life will teach you anything, it is that death and taxes are unavoidable, but kids testing your boundaries gets a solid honorable mention. I don't fight that momentum; I use it. Photos are time frozen still. This is my art, but more importantly, this is your legacy. Twenty years from now, do you want to look at a "perfect" photo and remember how miserable it was to force everyone to smile? Or do you want to look at a massive print and feel the exact, genuine joy of letting your kids be exactly who they are in the wild? When you let them run, you get the authentic smile every single time.
