You confess to me the first time we talk that you’re nervous about having your photos taken. You haven’t had photos taken since high school, and now you’re getting married, post college. Or maybe it was your wedding, that was just a few years ago. Well, the kids are in elementary school now, so maybe more like a decade ago? You lament that there are so few photos of you as a family. Maybe you did them with your newborn – the first one – but not since then. I get it. Life happened, and somehow you woke up one day and years had passed since you had professional photos taken of your family.

You think I’m just saying that, but no, I really get it. I started my marriage with great intentions of doing photos every year. And for the first couple years, we did a good job of getting those photos done. But then, life happened. We moved, we bought a house, we adopted a dog. Days turned into months, which turned into years. And then I got pregnant, and I got my butt in gear. We did maternity photos, photos I’ll cherish forever. But now I’ve blinked and my baby is six months old. [No really, I only blinked. It can’t have been six months already.] I want real photos of the three of us. Right now. At this stage where she snuggles her head into my shoulder when she’s tired. Where she’s almost sitting. Where she’s full of giggles and smiles.

Maybe your kids are grown and gone. When’s the last time you did a big family photo, huh?

This has been on my mind for a while, the way we stop taking photos. But last year, my family got some news that really shook me. The big dreaded “cancer” snuck into our lives. Thankfully, it was caught early, and after a very successful surgery, we’re nearly a year out and that sneaky word has no place in our family. But I realized this week – when the last time I got good photos of my family – my parents and siblings and all of us – together? Besides that one I did a couple years ago at Thanksgiving? It’s been a long time. Too long. What if things hadn’t gone so well for us? Oof.

[And yes, this news came while I was pregnant. I cried buckets of tears. But things are so much better now.]

I know my excuses – I have nothing to wear, I’m busy, I can take them myself. You just want to go to the gym, lose five pounds, grow your hair out, wait til your kid isn’t a Tasmanian devil 24/7… Ladies and gents, I’ve heard them all. And while I say these are excuses, they are also facts of life. The things that make us these people right now.

Take a moment and look around you. This moment, this time in your life – when your babies are this size and your spouse looks so dang fine – it’s fleeting. So schedule that session sooner, not later. Because someday when they’re grown and gone, I want you to have beautiful photos to look back on. The kind of photos you hang on your wall, not just the ones on your camera roll.

Maybe standing in a park in your best clothes isn’t your thing. Or your kid’s thing. I get that – I totally do. Let’s do something together! We’ll go for a hike, pick some berries at Greenbluff, or make cookies in your kitchen. This doesn’t work for mini sessions, but in home lifestyle sessions are fantastic. Your family is comfortable, your photos reflect your crazy, beautiful, messy, happy life as it is right now. And bonus: I come to you, so if a shoe gets lost or clothes get dirty, it’s okay. You’ve got more in the closet (or the laundry basket). <3