There’s been a lot of conversation on the world wide web lately about taking your own family photos. Seriously, since fall of last year, I’ve seen a significant number of ‘how to’ posts about taking your own family portraits… and we’re not talking selfies, here. We’re talking beautiful, posed, perfect family photos…. like this one. 

Obviously, the above shot was NOT taken with a tripod, a selfie stick, a timer, a remote, or anything else related to taking your own family photo. 😉 I’ve read these posts and I’ve thought to myself, ‘YES. I can TOTALLY do that. I can take all my own family portraits… won’t it be so great?’.

I would now like to officially invite you to my house and challenge you to find ONE family portrait. Ready? Go.

Oh, you don’t need to come over and look? You’re right… BECAUSE THERE ARE NONE HERE.

In fact… I recently reached out to Jamie Clark Art (she’s AMAZING!) because I want a custom illustration of my family to hang in my home. All I have to do is send Jamie a family portrait to work off of…. oh, wait. ….

Lucky for me, my husband is a trooper and we’re going to take a quick tripod-shot to be able to send her to work off of, but this whole scenario got me thinking…. as a family photographer, why don’t I have any family photos!? I used to tell myself that it was because I don’t have a ‘family’, which is bogus. Now I realize it’s because I’ve never given myself the chance to be the client… but I’m working on changing that with a custom illustration from Jamie. 😉

Technically, we do have some portraits together – my little family is made up of two people and a pup. The photos were each taken on two different occasions and not by me. I’m wearing wedding attire on both occasions because apparently the only time I’ve been in photos are on the day I got married, and the day we celebrated getting married.

YOU GUYS. I need to get it together. I don’t believe in taking selfie-family-photos… I believe in family photo shoots. It’s what I do… I don’t encourage my clients to take their own family photos. Now if you just need a quick snapshot, that’s the exception. But if you want updated family photos for your walls, your holiday cards, and your albums…

get.them.professionally.done.

Nothing can compare to professional photos where someone else can step back and look at you, the composition, the framing, the lighting, the way your head is tilted, where someone’s hand is placed, … the list goes on and on. Maybe you’re a total timer-master, or the reigning-remote-champ, and maybe the title of this post should not be ‘Why YOU will Never Succeed at Family Photos’ and really be ‘Why I will Never Succeed at Family Photos’, because let’s face it… I have nothing to show for it at this point.

Let someone else direct you – show up, look like your beautiful, amazing self, and let someone else take care of the nitty gritty because

you.deserve.it.

Your family will thank you, you will like the way you look, and you will just be winning all the compliments. So throw out your tripods, your remotes, and your selfie sticks. Make 2015 the year you DO succeed at family photos.

casey and her camera is an Indianapolis Family Photographer specializing in family, couple, lifestyle, senior, and wedding photography for Indianapolis, Indiana and the surrounding areas.