How to Look More Natural in Family Portraits

Family Portrait Session | New York, NY

Welcome to March! 🌸 Spring is just around the corner, and it’s the perfect time to think about booking your spring portrait session. Whether you're looking to capture family moments with spring blossoms or simply embrace the season’s fresh energy, I’d love to help you create beautiful images and memories.

Today, I’m excited to address a question from a client who asked about how to look more natural in photos. It's a topic that comes up often, and I’m happy to share my tips and tricks to help you feel comfortable and confident in front of the camera.

Tip #1: Savor the moment. One of the first things I do to help people forget themselves during a session is give them prompts to engage and connect with their family members. I want the experience of the portrait session itself, and not just the resulting images, to be an enjoyable experience and a positive memory for you and your kids. When this happens, you will naturally look more relaxed and happy in your photos and feel less self-conscious. I like to capture a mix of both traditional portraits (when everyone looks at the camera), as well as a variety of more natural interactions. I will have you switch between these types of portraits throughout the session. This helps your smiles and gestures to feel more fresh and real.

Tip #2: Movement. I've found that movement often helps me capture a more natural expression or posture. This movement can be very small. It can be a shift of your gaze, a movement of the hand to twirl your little girl, or a small kiss on the cheek, or casual walk together. I guide you through these small shifts and prompted movements throughout a session. It can also be movement that occurs right before I click the shutter that allows you to forget yourself.  It's amazing how very small shifts in posture or positioning can make all the difference in helping you look natural. Pausing for breaks help minimize fake or frozen smiles. If you are taking photos on your own of family members I recommend introducing an activity like blowing bubbles, playing with the family pet, or smelling flowers. Moving and interacting with the world helps you forget yourself.

Tip #3: Let the Kids Be Kids. If there are young children involved, l often give them moments of free rein so I can capture their spontaneity. Whether they’re playing, laughing, or exploring their surroundings, the candid moments with kids are often the ones parents love most.

Tip #4 Natural Poses.  A loose and relaxed stance or posture isn't always easy to maintain with a camera pointed straight at you. It's also difficult to know how you look without seeing yourself in a mirror so I try to fill in as your mirror by giving you direction. I pay attention to details in your posture or posing that will help you look natural throughout your session. I may direct you to laugh, lean into each other, shift your weight from one hip to another, bend a knee, put a hand in a pocket, link your arms, embrace a child, or have someone rest a head against a shoulder. I will ask you to tip a chin up or down depending on your height and relationship to the camera or shift your feet. Sometimes I'll direct a relaxed hand hold or a sitting portrait which will help you appear more natural. I'll consider what looks most natural with child placement and how it effects your posture if you are carrying a child and suggest modifications if needed. Most people feel less awkward in a photo if they are doing something with their hands, so holding a child, or a child's hand, makes a big difference. This also usually calms and relaxes your child in front of the camera as well.  

Tip #5 Dress Comfortably & Intentionally. Don't underestimate the power of clothing to help you feel comfortable and confident and move naturally. Your children's cooperation will also last longer if they feel comfortable in what they are wearing and don't feel itchy, constricted, or uncomfortable. Some basic tips are to choose soft fabrics that allow for easy movement and comfort without being overly clingy. Choose fabrics that are wrinkle free or make sure to iron or steam them beforehand which will help you focus on your family instead of your wrinkles. If your session is during the spring or fall when temperatures can vary between warm and chilly bring along extra layers for your family so you can stay warm and relaxed. If your session is in the heat of the summer, make sure to wear lighter colors that won't show sweat as easily. I offer styling sessions to help you prepare for your portrait session and guide your clothing choices for the whole family. This helps you select clothing that will look natural in whatever setting you choose and also allow you to feel comfortable and at ease with movement during the session. 

I hope these tips are helpful for you to feel more at ease during your portrait sessions. It's my job as a photographer to capture your family naturally even if you feel a little uncomfortable having your portrait taken. It's quite normal to feel a little awkward in front of the camera and I can guarantee you're not the only one who feels that way. You are in good company! I'm confident directing the session to capture what I need to make you look great. 

Remember, you can always send me your questions or topics you'd like me to address, I'm here to help and love hearing from you!

Wishing you a wonderful start to the month and the spring season!

Collaborations with Children

“I’ve worked with children in places all over the world–among them an Italian neighborhood in Boston, the Colombian Andes, rural India, the Appalachian mountains, and North Carolina, Where one of my students was fond of saying, ‘I wanna take me a picture.’ I’ve heard it said by children and adults many times, in many languages– ”I want to take a picture” –when what they meant was, ‘I want to be photographed.’ Their desire to be photographed was as strong as their desire to photograph.” –Wendy Ewald

I took a workshop many years ago all about teaching kids literacy through photography at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University in North Carolina. I was able to meet and speak with a photographer, Wendy Ewald, who has done amazing work teaching and collaborating with children. I was amazed at the natural talent and expression in the children’s work she shared with us. I love this sentiment (above) about how many kids and adults say they want to take a picture when they have an equal desire to be photographed.

I’ve observed this many times in my own work as I show a child a portrait I’ve taken of them. They often react with curiosity, excitement or surprise. Some children immediately want to take the camera out of my hands. Others, instead, start directing me on how they would like to be photographed. They begin experimenting and changing their facial expressions, movements and postures. They very naturally sense that a portrait is often a collaboration. It involves trust, communication, curiosity and creativity on the part of the photographer and the subject.

This collaborative quality of portraits is one reason I love working with people so much. Photographing children, specifically, can be both uniquely challenging and gratifying. There is a spontaneity and honesty that tends to come to the surface more quickly when working with children than when photographing adults. Children also tend to be more at ease in front of the camera and less self-conscious than adults. They are less critical of themselves and can enjoy the process of creation without their insecurities getting in the way.

Frequently, children can have very short attention spans in front of the camera if they are bored, hungry, tired or distracted. I advise parents to make sure their children are fed, hydrated and well rested before a portrait session, and my job as a photographer is to help them become engaged and curious about the process. When they become active collaborators, I’ve seen many children exhibit incredible patience when being photographed. If I take a little bit more time during a portrait session to allow children to explore the picture making process with me, I find it easier to gain their cooperation and trust. They become bored very quickly when they see I’m keeping all the creative decisions to myself. I also think it’s important not to force a photo from a child. In a sense they need to “give” me their portrait rather than me “taking” their portrait. This is why I suggest rescheduling or postpone a session if a child isn’t in the mood to engage and doesn’t respond after consistent gentle persuasion.

I find children to be naturally talented photographers and collaborators because they are constantly observing the world and people around them with fresh eyes. They are always exploring, collecting things and absorbing new information. Adults have become more familiar with the world, which sometimes blinds them to the novelty of things they have come to see as routine or mundane. Photographers are always trying to look at everyday things in new ways, in new lights, from new perspectives and often remain sensitive to more subtle stimuli in our environments so we can often collaborate well with children.

I’m personally drawn to capturing moments of stillness in children, moments when they have allowed themselves to become curious about what I’m doing and what I’m asking of them. In these moments they often become quieter and more attentive–instinctively and silently collaborating on what becomes the final portrait. Collaborating and connecting with children is often a very subtle process and much of it is non-verbal. My intent in each portrait session is to capture something inward about each child, their curiosity, their trust, their innate innocence, their stillness, their honesty.

If these thoughts resonate with you and you are drawn to this portrait approach and style, feel free to reach out to me at reed@rebeccareed.co to set up a free consultation. I would love the opportunity to collaborate with your child on a portrait both you and they will love. I’m currently booking children’s portraits, motherhood portraits and day in the life sessions in anticipation of Mother’s Day.

Have a great weekend!

Photography Influences | Mark Shaw

Many years ago when I first started considering photography as a career path, I was lucky enough to meet and have a conversation with, a very talented and award winning NYC photographer, Lanola Kathleen Stone. She answered many of my initial questions and also gave me several great pieces of advice. One of those suggestions was to study great photographers and to find photographers that inspire me.

I was an American Studies major in college, and my humanities classes often turned out to be my favorite. As a student, I loved digging into an individual artist or writer’s work. and analyzing it with my classmates and professors. As a teenager, I was very drawn to films and the craft of filmmaking. I loved watching historical and biographical documentaries.

I remember watching a film on PBS about the Kennedy family and was enamored with the original video footage and still photographs of the Kennedys. I especially enjoyed footage or photographs of their family at home, on vacation or with their children. It felt like a small, behind the scenes glimpse, into their lifestyle, but these images were much more elevated than the average photos of family life. I started reviewing more photos of the Kennedy family and found that many of the photos that I was the most drawn to, were all the work of photographer Mark Shaw.

As I studied his photographs, I found Shaw to be adept at capturing natural moments in a very artful way. You can view some of this work here. I loved both his color and black and white work and found both to be unique and thoughtful with amazing attention to composition, expression and moment. I discovered he had worked as a fashion photographer for Harper’s Bazaar and also freelanced for LIFE magazine. It was on a LIFE assignment that he was assigned to photograph a story on Jackie and later became a personal family friend as well as the Kennedy’s unofficial family photographer. I also discovered he photographed many film celebrities and icons including, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Danny Kaye, Cary Grant, Pablo Picasso, Yves St Laurent and Coco Chanel.

Here’s some thoughts on Mark Shaw’s photographs of Audrey Hepburn during the filming of Sabrina by author Juliet Cuming:

“The revealing, true-to-life photos that Mark took of Audrey are typical of his work and his photographic philosophy. He called his favorite pictures "snapshots." He preferred shooting on location to shooting in a studio—even though most of his financial success came from big ad campaigns, much of which was studio work. He liked a natural look and in order to keep his subjects relaxed he worked with as little photographic equipment as possible.”

— Charmed by Audrey: Life on the Set of Sabrina

This description of his work resonates with what I aim for in my own photography work. I really prize natural, genuine moments. Even in more formal portrait work, I really value natural and genuine expressions and postures and Shaw really seems to be a master of this skill. I also love how Shaw uses the natural environment to be a part of the story in his images. His photos of the Kennedy’s inspire me in my day in the life photography work.

Every artist, writer, musician, poet etc. often has many influences that inspire their work and I’ve wanted to share a little about some of my own personal influences. I strive to be as thoughtful and intentional as Shaw in considering the composition of my images and also in anticipating moments of genuine feeling and expression. I find inspiration in his focus on family life, and humor, as well as in his approach to color and natural posing in more formal portraits. I love how he elevates and makes art of simple, natural human moments.

I hope to share more photographer’s, artist’s, writer's and musician’s work that inspires me in the future. Let me know if there is anything you want to hear about.

Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend!

See some of Shaw’s celebrity work here including the photos referenced above of Audrey Hepburn.

See some of Lanola Kathleen Stone’s work here and here.

February is for doers

“If January is the month of change, February is the month of lasting change. January is for dreamers… February is for doers.”
— Marc Parent

Charles Englehard Court, The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Photo by Rebecca Reed

Here’s a few suggestions for you February doers looking for family friendly activities in NYC:

Start with Art at the Met

Kids Week at the Intrepid Museum Feb 19-26

Jurassic World Live Tour Feb 20-23

Len Cabral Presents Stories for a Winter’s Day Feb 12

World’s Beyond Earth

Ready to Skate Story Time ends Feb 22

Broadway Week 2 for 1 tickets ends Feb 27

Access Workshops for Children, NYC Ballet Feb 12 & 26

In Motion Workshops, NYC Ballet Feb 12

Here’s a few suggestions for arts & culture lovers:

Gwendolyn Brooks: A Poet’s Work in Community Jan 28—June 5

I first discovered Gwendolyn Brooks when I was assigned to present on her poem Kitchenette Building in my university literature class. Since then I’ve really enjoyed exploring her other work and purchased this collection in a little used bookstore when I was visiting New Haven, Connecticut. I’m excited to catch this exhibit addressing her political and social impact at the beautiful Morgan Library.

En Foco: The New York City Puerto Rican Experience, El Museo De Barrio until Feb 27

The Mandala Lab at the Rubin Museum Open till October 1, 2031

Watch the video after following the link to get a sense of what the experience is like. From the museum website: “Inspired by powerful Buddhist principles, the Mandala Lab features five thought-provoking, playful experiences—including videos, scents, sculpture, and curated percussion instruments—that guide you along an inner journey focused on self-awareness and awareness of others. See, smell, touch, and breathe your way through the space, designed to inspire connection, empathy, and learning.”

Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art

There’s a Walt Disney exhibit at the Met for the first time ever. Learn more about it here.

The Color of a Flea’s Eye, New York Public Library

From the NY Public Library website:

“Intrigued by the Picture Collection since childhood, the artist Taryn Simon embarked in 2012 on an overarching study of the Collection itself. Starting with subject folders from the Collection’s open stacks—Handshaking, Police, Oxygen, Broken Objects, Abandoned Buildings & Towns, and Financial Panics, among others—she arranged and documented their physical contents in large-format photographs, overlapping loosely associated images into tableaux that suggest abstract color fields, neural networks, or tiled search results. For Simon, the act of photography also suspended the Collection in its flux, making explicit the unexpected meaning often derived from its accidental juxtapositions. Simon’s photographs reveal the Collection to be an inadvertent recorder of changing mores, and discloses latent fault lines of power, race, and gender. At the same time, the works point to the invisible hands behind seemingly neutral systems of image-gathering, locating an unlikely futurity in the past.”

If you have any additional recommendations feel free to leave them in the comments.

Have a great weekend!

Day in the Life FAQ | How to Prepare for a Meaningful Session

“I am very much aware of my own double self . . . The well-known one is very under control; everything is planned and very secure. The unknown one can be very unpleasant. I think this side is responsible for all the creative work . . . he is in touch with the child.” –Ingmar Bergman

Day in the Life Session, NYC

Here are some of my answers to FAQ about Day in the Life sessions that will help you prepare for a meaningful day. If you have any additional questions please share them in the comments. 

How do I prepare for a Day in the Life Session? 

First, here are a few things you don’t need to do to prepare for your session: you don’t need to buy new outfits for your family, you don’t need to bribe your kids to behave for the photos, you don’t need to clean every corner of your home and make all the beds, you don’t need to plan a day of expensive, out of the ordinary activities for you and your family. 

This is what I would recommend to prepare:

Sit down with your kids and explain the process of a day in the life session to them. Explain that a photographer will be coming to photograph the family for the day. Tell them this is a unique kind of portrait experience–they just get to hang out and have fun with the family for a day and I’ll be tagging along to enjoy the day with them and take photos along the way. Explain that the photos will be photojournalistic in style, which means that nothing is posed or staged like traditional photos. I won’t be asking them to smile or stand still or anything at all. Let them know that this kind of session is about telling a story with a variety of images from the day.

Day in the Life Session, NYC

Resist the urge to overly plan your day, or organize your entire household before your session, unless that is a routine part of your life. Allow your real life to be present for the camera. Many of my favorite images from day in the life sessions are the simple routine interactions that happen everyday in mundane, imperfect, and even messy settings. The more you can be in the moment, and embrace imperfection, the more you will love your photos.

Day in the Life Session, NYC

There’s no need to coordinate outfits. Again, this is not a typical photo shoot. If you wouldn’t normally coordinate your entire family’s outfits on a regular day, don’t do it for a day in the life session. During one of my day in the life sessions the kids were wearing mis-matched clothing because it was mis-matched clothing day at school. In another, a little girl wore a tutu that she typically dressed up in several days a week. If you have kids that like to pick out their own outfits everyday this is perfectly okay. Embrace your everyday wardrobes.

Get excited to spend some time with your family and enjoy their company. Get excited to fit a photo session in your family’s schedule that won’t take any time away from your regular schedule and is entirely flexible. Many of my clients ask me what I would like to have them do for their day in the life session, and I always turn the question back to them. What would you do on a regular weekday or weekend with your family? Would you wake up the kids, make breakfast, do the dishes, watch Saturday morning cartoons, do the laundry, take the kids to the park or playground, ride bikes, make dinner, get take-out, brush teeth, read bedtime stories, etc? It doesn’t need to be anything out of the ordinary unless out of the ordinary things are a part of your routine. Weekends might be a day you do things that are a little outside your weekday routine and plan more specialized activities. These can be good days to plan your session as the family is often spending more time together. Live your everyday life on the day of your session–this is what I’m trying to capture, not an idealized version of what you would do on the most perfect day you can imagine. Be as flexible on the day of your shoot as you would be on a normal day: snow day and you want to go sledding with your kids? Great! I’ll come along. Shift your mindset from what you normally gear up to face at a traditional portrait session––we have all been conditioned to be aware of and perform for the camera, to make things look perfect. I want you to unlearn that instinct and forget the camera is there. If you are able to shift your focus from the camera to your family I will be able to capture those genuine interactions and emotions. 

Day in the Life Session, NYC

Enjoy yourself. I find that portrait sessions can sometimes become stressful for parents, as they worry their children will become impatient or misbehave. Children are very connected to their parent’s emotional state and can sense their stress through tone of voice, manner, and body language. I’ve noticed that as soon as a child senses this stress, it can create a spike in their own stress level, and that usually expresses itself as misbehavior, impatience, or meltdowns. Obviously, this isn’t always the cause but it can influence this behavior or intensify it. If you can prepare yourself to relax and enjoy yourself during your day in the life session, your children will often naturally relax and enjoy it as well. Another reason to relax is that your children do not need to behave perfectly for a day in the life session. A child’s emotions naturally fluctuate throughout the day and I want to capture that variety and not just a fake smile for the camera.

Day in the Life Session, NYC

If you would like a free consultation to explore the possibility of booking a Day in the Life session in 2022, please contact me at reed@rebeccareed.co or on instagram @rebeccareed.co

An Introduction to Day in the Life Sessions

 "It is important not only to be photographed in ways that indicate caring, nurturing, love and success, but also to see those images and take them in."

– David Krauss 

What is a Day in the Life session? 

A Day in the Life is a photojournalistic style session where I tag along and capture a day in your life with my camera. It’s an opportunity for you to spend time interacting with and enjoying your family during your normal daily routine, with nothing planned or posed. 

What is the intent of a Day in the Life session vs a traditional family portrait session?

The intent is to capture the everyday scenes of your life — from the mundane to the spontaneous and unexpected. 

These sessions allow me to capture your family interactions during the in-between moments, the routines of your everyday, that wouldn't normally be considered worthy of a photo shoot but get much closer to portraying the realness and essence of your life than your entire family dressed and posed perfectly, smiling at the camera.

I want to document your family's routine and relationships in a natural and timeless way that you will treasure in years to come.

The unposed nature of a day in the life session results in images that couldn’t be captured in a traditional session: a family having a dance party at home, a mother giving her kids a bath, a father entertaining his kids in a subway car.

When you look at these images years from now, they will take you back to the different scenes and spaces of your everyday life.

The images from a day in the life session will add something special to your photo collection–they are tied to your life in an intimate way, that will spark memories of those places you will want to remember long after they have changed, or you have moved away. 

If you schedule a Day in the Life session once a year or every 2-3 years you will create an invaluable collection of the stages of your family life over time. 

What is my philosophy behind Day in the Life sessions?

A Day in the Life session lends itself to the kind of images that some psychologists are using to help their patients. David Krauss, a licensed psychologist who uses people's photography and family albums to assist in mental health therapy said, "I think it is really important to show a family as a family unit. It is so helpful for children to see themselves as a valued and important part of a family unit. A photographer's job is to create and make the image look like a safe holding space for kids where they are safe and protected. Kids get it on a really simple level."

A parent's connection to their children, and the ways their daily routines and even mundane interactions reveal how much parents care for, nurture, and sacrifice for their children are some of the themes I've captured in many of my Day in the Life images. There are also unique themes that unfold during each session as each family and family culture is unique. In one of my Day in the Life sessions I noticed that as a parent would hold out their hand to hail a cab their young children would simultaneously lift their little hands to do the same. It’s these little details that these types of sessions shine at capturing.

How long is a Day in the Life session?

I offer both 6 and 12 hour Day in the Life sessions. Both my 6 & 12 hour sessions can be shifted to capture any hours of the day between 6:30am–9:30pm. I can also create a custom, extended session for your family if you would like to capture your entire daily routine, a weekend or a vacation.

What is the investment in a Day in the Life session?

Day in the Life pricing varies based on your individual needs, session time and end goals. I generally recommend a half day (6 hours) or a full day (12 hours) but I also customize these sessions to be shorter or longer. For example, I can create a custom extended session for your family if you would like to capture your entire daily routine, a weekend or a vacation. Please contact me for questions about pricing.

Archival Products

"My personal and clinical bias is there is something very powerful in touching your fingers to an actual print. Touching the photograph where a face is smiling or the shoulders, it is the same thing as touching a book when you read it,” said Carl Steinberg, a licensed psychologist  working with kids in Eugene, Or. “There's a lot of stimulation of the brain when you have that sensory experience. That is a bit lost in the move to digital."

The narrative quality of Day in the Life sessions lend very naturally to wall art, books and family albums and I offer a variety of options to preserve your stories. These make great coffee table books that you and your kids can see and touch regularly.

What will I receive for my investment in a Day in the Life Session?

In addition to your session time, you will receive a pre-shoot consultation where I walk you through my process and give you all the information you need to prepare for your session. I will share my photography approach and philosophy, and you can share anything you think will help me to understand your family culture, as well as your individual personalities and interests.

During your session, I will be tagging along with you in a similar way that a wedding photographer tags along with their clients throughout a day that is a huge milestone in their lives. I will draw from over 10 years of experience in photography including many years of photography education through workshops, documentary photography courses, mentoring, and professional critiques.

After your session, you will receive an in-home or zoom image reveal (your choice) where your entire family is invited to view your images together and I will share options for adding prints, folios, albums, and slideshows to your package that suit you, your design preferences and your lifestyle. I can help you curate a collection you will love and view everyday.

All of the best images from your session will be delivered to you via a convenient online gallery and edited in a natural, timeless style. These will be made available for viewing, downloading and sharing with family and friends for 30 days. You will be given the option to download both web-size and high resolution versions of your images for both web and print.

One year from now what images will you wish you had captured of your family today? What stages of your children’s lives will have passed into new stages? What memories will these images allow you to access 10 years from now, 20 years from now? What details from your life, that you don’t want to forget, may fade in your memory without a visual reminder? Contact me at reed@rebeccareed.com to set up a free consultation for a Day in the Life Session. Let’s make some images you will be so grateful you made the time to capture this year and that will appreciate rather than depreciate in value over time.