The person taking the pictures
I photograph families and couples in Philadelphia, and I do it two ways in the same session.
The first is the portrait. Everyone in the light, everyone looking, nobody blinking — composed, sharp and flattering, built properly rather than hoped for. That’s the frame that goes on your parents’ wall and into the holiday card, and it deserves to be made on purpose.
The second is getting out of the way. Reading the room, anticipating instead of interrupting, and pressing the shutter when something true is happening rather than when everyone has finally arranged themselves into a line. The leaf fight, the piggyback, the meltdown, the look between two people who have just decided on forever.
Most photographers pick one of those and sell you on it. I like both, so sessions here run about fifty-fifty, and neither half is the consolation prize.
I also write about where to shoot around Philadelphia, which is mostly an excuse to keep scouting parks.
How a session goes
You tell me who’s in the photos and roughly what you’re hoping for. I pick the location and the hour — or work with the one you already have in mind, if it means something to you.
The first twenty minutes everyone is a little stiff. That’s normal, and it’s exactly when we make the posed frames. After that the kids stop caring that I’m there, and the rest of the gallery happens on its own.
Thirty edited images, high resolution, in about two weeks. Print them big. That’s what they’re for.
House rules
Posed and candid, fifty-fifty. Both belong in the same gallery, and both get the same effort.
A portrait is worth doing well. So is staying out of the way. Knowing which moment calls for which is the whole job.
If the photographs could be of anyone, they’re not finished. Your family doesn’t look like a stock photo and the gallery shouldn’t either.