The summer of 2021 might earn the official title of "The Summer of Family Reunions".  One of the side effects of our covid year was missing our family gatherings. Based on the amount of phone calls I have been getting for extended family reunion portraits in the last couple weeks, I think we are all planning for some happy reunions this summer.  Of course, I'm a family reunion portrait geek, so I love hearing about everyone's plans to reunite.  I figured since so many people were planning to create new extended family portraits this year, I would blog some of the questions that I answer a lot around extended family portraits.

WHY DO WE HAVE TO COORDINATE CLOTHING?

Clothing is an important factor with big groupings because there are so many people that the chaos of uncoordinated clothes can overpower the faces and emotional connection.  I'm certainly not a fan of everyone wearing the same clothing.  But coordinating a color pallet to share with the whole group will make everyone like the portrait more.  When dressing a big group, it is a lot like dressing yourself.  You wouldn't wear stripes, plaids, floral, pastels and primary colors ALL AT THE SAME TIME.  It looks too crazy to throw every single pattern and color on at once, there's just too much going on to see the face.  The same guidelines apply to dressing a whole family.  Keep the clothing simple so that the faces and the relationships can be the star of the show.

WHAT PHOTOS SHOULD WE HAVE TAKEN WHEN WE ARE ALL TOGETHER?

I usually have a mentality that if everyone is all dressed up then let's have as much fun as possible.  Besides the whole family together, here's a list of the groupings that could be captured during family reunions.

-Grandkids (with or without grandparents)

-Grandparents with their immediate children

-Just grandparents

Doing individual family groupings can be hit or miss often times.  Sometimes the smaller groupings don't want to create their family portraits at the same time as the whole reunion because they want a unique style or they like a different photographer.  I usually like to air on the side of creating each individual family portrait but I won't push if someone says they don't want one.  I would rather be safe then sorry when it comes to groupings but sometimes that has its limits within the family dynamic.

WHY HIRING A PROFESSIONAL IS IMPORTANT

Organizing large family portraits requires someone who can quickly take control of the whole group and make sense of the pose.  I have a hilarious family portrait of my whole extended mothers side of the family that was created around 1981. There are over 20 of us in the photo but the photographer didn't group us according to who was married to each other and which kids belong with which parents.  The result is a fantastic "awkward family photo" where all the married couples are split up throughout the photo and there is just a jumble of random kids that aren't in any specific order towards camera front. (SEE PHOTO BELOW) I love this portrait for all the wrong reasons: my uncle looks married to my mom, I look like twins with my cousin, and the clothing looks like sesame street and little house on the prairie vomited their wardrobe all over us.  All these elements combine to make a good laugh but it certainly doesn't make it investment worthy and something that makes sense for our great great great grandkids. 

WHY DO I WANT A PHOTOGRAPHER THAT WILL PRODUCE A FINISHED PRODUCT

The organizers of family reunions often think that the simplest way to please everyone is just to get a disk of images and call it good.  Well, that can be the easiest way but it will hardly yield the best portraits.  On big groups, especially with any smallish children, you will need artwork to create a grouping where everyone looks good. Gone are the days where it is acceptable in the family group to have someone with half blinking eyes, or a little kid crying their eyes out, or a person with their finger up their nose.  True professional photographers will make sure you have a finished portrait that everyone can feel good about. 

I know it can feel like extra work to coordinate a fantastic extended family portrait but it is always worth it in the end.  No one ever walks away from a family portrait bummed because they took the time to look good or unhappy that the correct artwork was done to make sure they don't look half-baked. When we look back at historic portraits of our ancestors they look priceless because they took the time make it a special occasion. (Leave the light up ELmo shoes at home please.) A little extra planning on the front end can make a world of difference on the final product.

I love helping make timeless family heirlooms. Give me a call and I'll help make the process as easy as possible for you.