Every Day Matters | Why book a day-in-the-life family photoshoot? | Documentary Family Photography in St Albans, Hertfordshire
With all the hustle and bustle of family life, it's easy to get caught up in the whirlwind where finding moments to pause, take a breath, and appreciate the present can be a challenge. As a documentary photographer, I make honest photographs of your everyday life, giving you the opportunity to freeze moments in time and allow you to time travel back to cherished memories whenever you want.
What is a day-in-the-life family photoshoot?
Day-in-the-life photo sessions uses a documentary approach to capture real, unscripted moments and emotions of your everyday. I spend several hours to anywhere up to a full day with your family to document your life in an honest, intimate and candid way, preserving moments and feelings you want to hold onto and look back on. It’s photojournalism meets family photography.
The benefit of a longer day-in-the-life photo session is it gives everyone time to relax into the session, particularly for young children who take a little time to get familiar with the camera to show their individual personalities. Longer sessions are stress-free and gives everyone the opportunity to go at their own pace as I capture the moments as they naturally unfold. You don’t need to tidy or dress up. We can document a typical day in your family life with some activities planned or you can simply potter around in the house and have fun in the garden. Whatever floats your boat and what you want to remember of your family life right now, I capture the routines and rituals that make the integral parts of your everyday and are significant memories for your family. You’ll have so much fun during the session and feel so relaxed, you’ll soon forget that I’m there with the camera!
Photographs have a place in the home. As a natural storyteller, I make artful photos that show the richness and beauty in your family story with all the emotions, connections and details you felt and saw in the photos as if you were standing right there in that moment in time. I skilfully craft and compose photos capturing meaningful moments that feels authentic to your personalities and memories which you would want displayed on the walls of your family home and in keepsake albums.
If this sounds good and you are wondering how a day-in-the-life photoshoot looks, then read on.
Documentary family photography in St Albans - Cambridge family photographer
I am a Cambridge photographer, but I will travel anywhere in the UK to photograph families for day-in-the-life sessions! And that is why, during one winter’s day, I found myself at the Collins’ family home in St Albans, where I had the wonderful honour to spend a whole 24 hours with the family of five along with their gorgeous pup, photographing their family life.
With three kids and a dog, I knew it was going to be a busy household and documenting unexpected moments will be plenty! Emma is a family photographer herself, so she understood how powerful it is to have honest photos that reflected the real family moments. Being the designated family photographer, I know how hard it is to be in your own photos, so I made sure to focus on Emma sharing favourite moments with her kids so she could see herself in the photos and show how much love they share together. With two older kids in the family, these photos will become increasingly meaningful with time when they start heading off to uni, which at the time of the photoshoot, was only a year away.
I had a wonderful time with the family and it was an incredible privilege to be trusted to make photos and document the everyday for another photographer. It’s heartwarming to know that the photos would be treasured and looked upon for a long time to come…perhaps even the grandkids and future generations would enjoy them too!
Below are a selection of photos giving a glimpse into the day-in-the-life photoshoot with the Collins family.
You can view my video to learn more about my approach to documentary family photography.