At-home in Bangor, Maine: A Family Photography Session With Older Kids
Erin and her family recently moved to Maine from California. They found their dream farmhouse in central Maine, already featuring a barn, plenty of garden space, and a little pond out back. As I pulled in I was blown away by the view from their home - rural Maine forever has a place in my heart and their land encapsulated everything I adore about the inland backroads in our state. We spent a short, slow afternoon walking around their yard, making family photographs that are true to this season of life. Photographs that are proof that the mothering continues - so the family photographs should not end in the teen years!
Finding beauty in your own space
Home is where so much of life happens! It’s also where we feel most at ease. Especially when photographing older kids, picking a location that is comfortable is so important to creating photographs that are true to you and your family. There’s already so much beauty in the everyday of your home life. Plus, family photographs at home will never go out of style!
For this session, we started by the barn - taking a few family portaits along the guardrail. This family just exuded a coolness factor, and I totally leaned into what they were already doing and how they were acting together. No stiff poses or forced smiles. These photographs focused on their unique love language and interactions.
Shortly after we moved down by the pond where we could have photographs for a few different pairings. The goats came out for a brief moment, but after some time of not cooperating (let’s be honest, they just wanted to get back inside), we pivoted to taking a few more candid photographs out back. Simple, short, yet powerful in creating photographs for the walls of their new home.
What to expect at an at-home family session
When you reach out to me, I respond quickly with a few questions (if needed) & and some dates to consider for our session. In just a few email exchanges we will have picked out a time & location! I even send over a little styling guide - I provide free 1:1 styling support if desired.
In the days leading up to our session I’ll reach out to confirm, but otherwise there’s no prep work that needs to happen on your end. You don’t need new outfits or a super aesthetic clean home. We will find the beauty any and everywhere in the life you are already living. On the day of a session, I’ll show up with my cameras. We’ll chat a bit & start slow. I like to have an activity (even if it’s just a walk or a picnic blanket) to center the session. While I’ll help by giving some prompts to reduce any feelings of awkwardness, I’m really there just to photograph you all as you are. Nothing forced or extra posed - just real life moments. At the end of most of my sessions, both parents exclaim how easy and nice the time felt, how it went by fast, and how they enjoyed themselves.
In a few weeks time you’ll get a link where you can download and print all of the photos from our time together. From just about an hour together, we will have created a gallery of photos for your family album. Photos you can treasure for lifetimes.
A call to photograph yourself with your kids (at any age)
Why is it that we don’t take as many photographs of our older kids? The photographs I have with my own mom seem to stop right around those pre-teen years and are more or less absent up until the obligatory prom photos. Gosh what I wouldn’t give to have more photos of me and my parents & brother throughout these teen years.
The photos don’t need to stop when raising teens! The parenting continues and so should the photographic proof of all the ways you make life move forward with older kids.
