Four years ago I told my family we were having family pictures made.  I told them to wear blue, white, or khaki in any combination.

My dad threatened to wear a blue Hawaiian shirt.  I said, “great!”  He was taken aback, thinking I’d be upset that he was trying to ruin the pictures.  The thing is, my dad loves Hawaiian shirts, so I think that only adds to the pictures.  My brothers threatened to wear blue jeans.  Well duh, why did they think I chose blue as one of the colors?  🙂

The point wasn’t to have magazine cover material.  The point was to capture my family.  My real family, not some dressed up version of them.

And I take the same approach with my clients.  If you want to get all dressed up & have a magazine cover quality photo, then let’s do it!  My husband and I love that when we do our pictures.  But the rest of my family?  They would hate it.

You know what made my day when my family pictures were finished four years ago?  When my oldest brother said, “Well that wasn’t bad at all!”  Trust me, that’s the biggest compliment ever for someone who would much rather be hunting or riding a horse in a 10 year old t-shirt.

Which brings me to this pictures.  This is my oldest brother & his daughters.  This is them on an average day, in one of their favorite places– with their horses.

No need to get all dolled up… just take a few minutes out of their day to have some pictures to look back on.  We took some with the horses and a few without.

If this describes your family, don’t feel pressured to have the same look as everyone else in family pictures.  Just be yourself and enjoy the session.  You’ll treasure the pictures much more when you’re comfortable in them.