A style and philosophy in photographing kids & family portraits

In photographing children and families, I want to show their personality, and I want to show how everyone interacts with each other. That spark. That dynamic. We want real. No cheesy smiles.

With kids who are more shy, I move further back, and use a longer lens. I want you to play with your child, and in that interaction with your kids, their real nature will come shining through anyway.

Perhaps the style that I’d like to be known for could be called: Capturing Wonderful Portrait Photos For You.

Going with the flow

Sometimes things are just not going to go the way we plan. Then, we just go with the flow – we improvise and we play.

Here, a final shot in this photo session, Jack’s dad just grabbed him and held him upside down when he didn’t want to cooperate. And there’s the photo – the happy bouncy kid is back! It’s not all that formal, but it is a memory of the day, and there’s Jack, unmistakably him.

Capturing your child’s personality

Any parent will know that the kiddo has a distinct personality from the moment it is born. For the photographer then, the ideal is to capture some of this peronality.

My own take on photographing babies, is that I want to forego all the props and  accoutrements associated with baby photography you often see – the hats and such. While the toys are often necessary to keep the child’s attention, I still like to phootgraph just the baby.

Liam’s parents were close by, getting his attention. I prefer that if anyone calls to him, that they do it right over my shouler, nearly breathing down my neck. Snapping fingers and pointing where the child should look, never works. It just doesn’t. ‘t anyone is going to call the baby, and I want the baby to look more or less towards the camera, then the other person needs to be right next to me, hovering right behind me. And there’s the expression and personality.

Lifestyle portraits of your kids

We will most definitely have the more formal portraits, but we have such a small window in which we have a child’s attention and cooperation – and then they will want to roam free, and run and play. So the approach is a varied one – I want to give you photos that best shows your child’s personality. Who they are. That determination and sense of self.

We’re going to have fun!

The intention is that the photo session be fun. Of course, we know what we’re really doing here is getting the children into our favor by making the photo session fun. A great photo session should also be about time with your kids, and at the end, leave everyone energized. We all got to play a bit.

My studio is in Fairfield, NJ – I’m therefore available for photography to a wide circle of towns nearby – Wayne, Clifton, Franklin Lakes, Oakland, Bloomfield, Montclair. You know, that entire area in Passaic and Bergen counties in northern NJ. So please contact me if you’d love timeless photographs of your family. Especially the kiddos.