Are studio portraits a thing of the
past?
Before I had kids, I thought I liked photography. I took pictures of the Great Pyramids, of the Parthenon, the Empire State Building, and the Colosseum. I snapped photos of flowers and sunsets and my toes in the sand. I never realized how passionate I was about photography, however, until I started having kids. There’s no sight in the world as beautiful as the smiling faces of the three little people I created. (Hubby helped.)
Organic is simply more interesting
I have one picture of my brothers and sister and myself that is basically family legend. I don’t remember it being taken, but I’m sure it was similar to the other studio portrait experiences we had growing up where we all dressed up in our Sunday best and smiled our stupidest smiles while trying to hold some weird pose the photographer put us in. In this photo I’m wearing the most ridiculous bow you’ve ever seen, my sister has her best crazy smile on, and my big brother was trying to keep our baby brother from falling over. We love it because it’s all sorts of awkward, but other than that, there’s nothing spectacular about it.
Photos snapped outside or while kids play or while family members interact are far more interesting than ones where the kiddos are forced to pretend they like each other while sitting in clothes you had to fight to get on them. The lighting, the backgrounds, the emotion are all best when they aren’t forced.
Real life makes personality shine through
Any and every parent knows what I’m talking about when I say that kids have the worst smiles — when you tell them to smile that is. They try, they really do, but when you tell them to look at the camera and look happy, what you get is often strange. (And likely hysterical.)
Memories are made from experiences
When you are a child, pretty much everything is new and fascinating. When you take your camera to the beach, to the woods, in a place where there are large rocks, you’re giving them something fabulous to experience. This is what memories are made of. When you create an experience by traveling together or setting up something with your photographer, the pictures you get as a result will be images truly worth treasuring.
Shauna Armitage blogs about the beautiful disaster that is parenthood over at The Violet Moon. She’s mom to three little nuggets and is raising a family of passionate travelers. Shauna loves hiking with her brood, hotels that deliver cheeseburgers to your room at midnight, chocolate, yoga pants, and wine. Pinot Noir please! Connect with Shauna on Facebook. @VioletMoonBlog
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I couldn’t agree more to these reasons. I like photos that embody life and personality and I don’t think studio portraits capture those.
One Awesome Momma
I take a billion pictures of my kids and I still try to get studio portraits taken once or twice a year just because I know that my family wants them. Sure, I frame them too, but I think I do it more for my family than myself.
Studio portraits are so ingrained in our tradition that I don’t think it will ever go away. But I do agree that “real life” portrait variants are emerging and preferred.
Honestly. I have no idea why anyone would do studio portraits again. ALTHOUGH…My photographer friend has a great studio in downtown Seattle and she ONLY uses natural light. It is awesome!
This is great! I was recently involved in a family portrait session and It was miserable. Thanks for sharing my the real deal is always better!
xx nicole
http://www.nicoleparise.com
I agree these are much more personal. I think a large part is (not to go all 6 million dollar man) but we have the technology. We aren’t restricted to clunky equipment anymore that is hard to travel with.