Family Photos at Home

When I ask families where they'd like to be photographed, most of them first think of a park, a lake or a meadow full of flowers. Yet there's one place that is often underestimated: your home. It's where children feel safe and where your everyday life happens – and in twenty years, that everyday life is exactly what you'll miss most.

In this article I'll tell you why I love sessions within your own four walls, how a morning like that unfolds and how you can prepare for it in a relaxed way.

Why at home?

At home you don't have to travel anywhere, nobody gets grumpy in the car, and if the baby needs a nap or a feed in between, that's no problem at all. In familiar surroundings, children become themselves much faster: they show me their room, their favourite books, their cuddly toy. And suddenly the camera doesn't matter any more.

The pictures that move you most later rarely show the perfect moment – they show your ordinary one.

The photos also capture things that change faster than you think: the wallpaper in the children's room, the spot at the kitchen table, the stairs everyone always sits on. It's exactly these details that turn the pictures into a real family record.

How a session at your home unfolds

We start without any fuss: I arrive, have a coffee with you, and the children get to look at my camera. Then I follow you through small everyday moments that we've thought about together beforehand, for example:

• baking pancakes or having breakfast together
• a pillow fight on the big bed
• reading a picture book on the sofa
• brushing teeth, combing hair, putting on shoes
• dancing through the living room to your favourite music

I only give small prompts and otherwise stay in the background. After about one and a half to two hours we have enough stories for a whole gallery – without anyone having to pretend.

Light matters more than tidiness

Many parents worry beforehand whether their home is “photogenic” enough. The good news: you don't need to tidy the whole house. I mainly photograph in the rooms with the most beautiful daylight, usually where the big windows are. A bit of lived-in chaos is part of it and makes the pictures real.

My tips for your session at home

• Only tidy the two or three rooms we'll photograph in – clutter simply goes into a basket out of the frame.
• Open curtains and blinds and switch off the ceiling lights. Soft window light is the most beautiful.
• Plan the session for the morning or late afternoon, when the children are rested and fed.
• Wear something comfortable that suits your home – socks and favourite jumpers are explicitly allowed.
• Pets are part of the family: dogs and cats are very welcome in the pictures.
• Think of one or two rituals that are typical for you. That's where the most personal pictures come from.

The right approach for every age

I like to photograph newborns and babies very calmly in their parents' bed or in the nursery. Toddlers need movement and play, school children love little tasks and may even press the shutter themselves. And teenagers? They're often surprisingly relaxed once they notice that nobody expects a posed smile from them.

Would you like to capture your family life just as it is right now? Write to me – I'll come to your home anywhere in and around Munich.