A “year in the life” photography package isn’t for everyone.

It is an investment, for sure.

It means that we can get together multiple times a year (12 is the suggested amount, once per month, but really any amount works!) and document the growth of your children, especially if they’re in particularly dynamic parts of their childhoods (e.g. transition from toddler to preschooler, transition from early childhood to adolescence, etc).

I’ve got a really sweet photo story to share with you today: it was a documentary family session I photographed in Ottawa a few weeks ago.

This family was about to make an epic move: from Ontario to Saskatchewan!

So, they were just about ready to pack everything up and put it in boxes. We booked in the sessions as soon as we could possibly squeeze it in (on a Monday!), so that we could get some photographs of important things before they were all packed up.

During family get-togethers, there’s often someone within the family who takes photos… but it’s more awkward because they never get to be in the photos themselves (trust me, I know… this is why this year, we’ve hired Tim Forbes to be our family photographer so we can all hang out and ALL be in the photo)

So I jump at the chance of being the photographer to help the family all be present with each other.

Now, for the Solc family, it was important to take a few traditional photos.

Candids were great, they said, but we also want some of all of us all together, and a few of each family.

Well, of course, we can take some time to do this, I said!

I’ve done more posey family photoshoots, and it’s been stressful. Stressful for the people involved, because they were too concerned about looking “just right” and smiling to the camera. But also stressful for me, because I knew that those smiles would never be as genuine as we could get if they just relaxed.

So over time, I’ve made it so that I mostly work with families who really and truly care about their real lives. Families who are not ashamed to post real photos. Families for whom family photos are not used to brag on social media, but rather - to cherish and relive, for years and years to come, with other family members and friends.

A couple of months ago, Tim Forbes and I had a photoshoot exchange: He photographed my family, and I photographed his.⁣

Now, for those of you who don’t know, Tim is one of the best documentary photographers this side of Ontario. He’s primarily a wedding photographer, and was actually my mentor. I shot an entire season of weddings as his second shooter in that first year of business, back in 2016.

He’s been in the biz for nearly twenty years, and it really shows! His work is perfect. (no pressure, Tim 😉)

Here is our first session: it was during the darkest days of winter, mid-January. I went over to their house on a school-night, and the session was about capturing their dinnertime together. Jacklyn made some chicken and rice, the boys played some games on their tablets while dinner was being made, and then everyone sat together and shared stories from the day.

This is an oldie but a goodie :)

I drove to Ottawa in early May of 2019 so that I could meet this beautiful family and take some candid photographs of them doing their thing.

They have three daughters, and we had already settled on a one-hour session in their home, during which time we would be able to take some photos both inside and outside.

Lola is a beautiful and playful brown mastiff. She is eight years old now, and I photographed her when she was a three year old pup as well!

So I got to see how much she has changed in that time.

Which is not really all that much, haha.

I have been photographing Tiiu and Dale’s family for several years now. The very first time I saw them, Tiiu was still pregnant with her daughter.

It's been a joy to watch the kids grow, and develop personalities. So much personality!

This is a family you might have seen on my social media before, or maybe even on the blog.

You see, I've been following the Timmerman-Veley-Halladay family for a long time now.

I've been their family photographer for years, in fact.

You’re heard about family doctor, family dentist… family therapist… what else?

Well, family photographer :)

This was a really fun session with a really amazing family who have a cottage on Wolfe Island just a hop away from Kingston, on the ferry.

I've actually been photographing this family for quite a few years.

One of the first times was when Patrick and Kay were getting married, after which we did a "Day In The Life session” at their Cottage.....

This photo session was all about capturing moments with Grandma.

The girls have an amazing grandma.

She lives out in BC, but often spends weeks at a time travelling to Ontario to be with her granddaughters.

Some of the awesome activities that they do include swimming in the backyard pool, learning about flowers and gardening, eating yogurt together, and just enjoying each other's company.

Wolfe island is a pretty magical place, and as I've learned, there is a long and rich history to it.

Another thing I've learned about Wolfe Island, is that there are the “Islanders”, and then there’s everybody else.

You might have lived on the island for 10, 20 or even to years, but unless you, your parents, and your grandparents was all born on the island, you're probably not really considered an “Islander.” (Right? Islanders, help me out here!)

That doesn't mean you can't have an absolutely amazing experience living there, mind you. Even if you move there later on in life, like Sally and Arnie - the matriarch and patriarch of this family.

Today I’ve got a super special story for you!

The kind of heart-melter that you can’t help but get a little emotional about.

It’s the story of baby Leo, born during the pandemic, the second sibling to be born to surrogate mother Kera, and to be joining the family of Uli and Alex, two fathers from Italy.

It brings the term ‘blended family’ to an entirely different level! 😍

Here’s how documentary newborn photography is different from the traditional studio newborn photo experience:

• it can be done anywhere - especially in your own home!

• there’s no baby ‘age limit’ - babies can be just a day old, or they can be a few months old! Each phase of a baby’s life is precious and can be documented to preserve cherished memories for a family. Whether it’s those baby wrinkles when they were just hours new to the world, or the chubby thighs as they started to fill out from all that yummy milk.

• it doesn’t take nearly as long - candid photos of babies and their families enjoying their time together don’t have to take hours. Some families choose to document a “Day in the Life” with their baby, so that we can capture many activities, especially if they have older children, too. But many families with a newborn and no older siblings are perfectly happy to spend just an hour swooning over their little one, and we get dozens of beautiful memories captured from this experience.

Of course, a documentary session needs to capture the everyday moments. If every single day of your lives, you hop on the subway, then transfer to the streetcar, to get to your favourite place… then it would be a serious error not to include at least a bit of those moments in the Day In the Life session.

For some families, this is just as obvious as breathing. For other families, this idea is a bit more novel. They’re used to more traditional types of photographs, so capturing simple things like walking down the street seems like… photos you would discard.

You might know that I have a passion for capturing candid family life. In this post, I will compare candid photography to other types of photography. I will prove to you that candid family photography is the BEST (and possibly most challenging) type of photography ever.