Why Family Pictures are Important

It’s cliche, but it’s true ……. kids really do grow like weeds. Pictures are a way to stop time and be able to look back at those treasured memories. Sometimes you don’t even realize the benefits of family portraits until later in life.

1. Capture the changes in your family

Capturing all the stages of family life through family pictures is a wonderful way to preserve memories. Whether you choose to take family pictures every year or every few years, documenting the changes in each family member is priceless. From braces, hairstyles, and rapidly growing children to new additions to the family, these memories are worth preserving. I make my family do family pictures every year and I love looking back at the changes in all of us.

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This was an extended family shoot. I had the cousins all hug each other. I saw them again 5 years later and we re-created the shot in the exact order. How fun to see how they’ve grown.
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2. Everyone is together

Maybe it’s a holiday or a family celebration, but the whole family is together. For some families, capturing everyone together doesn’t happen very often. What a perfect time to capture those memories with family pictures!

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They were excited to have the opportunity to capture everyone in the family together while they were visiting from out of town.
This family was all together to celebrate the patriarch of the family turning 70.

3. Family Legacy

You are documenting and capturing the family not only for yourself, for your kids to look back at as adults and for future generations. Don’t put it off because you are worried about your hair or few extra pounds you might want to lose.  Your children won’t notice these things, but they will be disappointed if they don’t have any family pictures of themselves to share with their own children.

4. Create art for your home with family pictures

What is better than having a canvas or prints of the ones you love up on your wall. My husband says we have no wall space left and he’s not wrong. I love looking at the faces of my family around the house. The kids also like to see themselves up on the walls. Here is an article if you need some help on how to hang your pictures or planning a photo wall.

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This is a canvas collage I did up for this family that hangs in their home.
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Here is a canvas photo wall in my own home.

5. You never know when the last chance will be

This is a hard one, but you just never know when you might lose someone. Life can change without notice. This one hits close to home for me. We did a photo session with my husband’s family even though no one wanted to do it and the weather wasn’t perfect. So thankful we did it because only a few months later my father-in-law fell ill and passed away. We now treasure those pictures. It is a similar story for the family below. Take advantage of the time you have together now so that you won’t regret putting it off later.

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This is a beautiful memory of their beloved dog they lost not longer after this session.