Oh how I just adore the family I’m blogging about today!!
Every family is beautiful and shares their own, unique bond, which is one of the many reasons as to why we greatly enjoy capturing family photo sessions! And, the holidays are certainly a festive time of the year, making photographing families just that much more celebratory.
We had the opportunity to capture Dustin and Gabrielle, along with their two beautiful children, for a lovely Christmas family photo session. However, this wasn’t our first encounter with this lovely family.
We first met Dustin and Gabrielle when they got engaged, as we captured their engagement photos in McHenry, followed by their bridal shower, wedding at Herrington Inn, maternity, and now Christmas. We are so honored to have been a part of their journey in life!
After we captured this gorgeous family, we asked Gabrielle a few questions, to build an even better bond with her and to discover her views on having family photo captured! We loved her answers, and would like to share them with you:
-
What’s your favorite family activity?
“We love hiking together, especially to waterfalls.”
-
Who are the members of your family and tell me a quick fact about each person.
- Dustin: He can fix anything
- Gabrielle: Likes to travel
- Gianna: Very artistic
- Juliette can make anyone smile
- Tell me about your favorite parts of our session, or why you enjoyed the session. “Doru makes it fun! We end up laughing a lot. He is open to the silly ideas we have, and we have fun trying different things.”
- Tell me about the outfits you wore to the shoot (where you bought them, why you chose them, etc.).“For our photos I like to wear very neutral outfits that are not too distracting in a photo. I don’t want the clothes to take away from the background or other textures or colors around us. We always start off planning our outfits around the kids. I came across that cute little dress for Juliette with the matching hat so then I just tried to coordinate Gianna to match her. It is getting more difficult these days to find something Gianna agrees to wear so that was a challenge.”
- What props did you bring and why?“We chose to bring a white fur blanket so that we could wrap it around us to symbolize closeness as a family. We also brought a cute Christmas sign for the girls to hold and a vintage gold mirror I found in an old house my parents just bought. I have learned that Doru does some really artistic angels in his photos using reflection, so I thought it would be a good tool to use for the baby to sit on and capture her curiosity when she sees herself since this age is all about curiosity and discovery.”
- What are some words of wisdom you have for other families preparing for a family session?”I always try to think of small details to make the photo a more meaningful memory. After all, that’s why we get family photos taken, to hold onto as memories. For example, the location we picked was where we were married. We used a mirror from my parents’ home and my daughter wore my grandmother’s Pearl’s on her wrist.”
- Were you worried about any parts of the session beforehand? If so, what were the worries?“We were doing our photos inside in the evening, so I worried about the lighting being stressful for Doru. Also, we were in a small public place, so I worried about things or people getting in the way. As soon as we started, I no longer was worried because Doru handled all of those challenges very well.”
We love getting to know our clients, and what they enjoyed about having their photos captured! We hope that you too have enjoyed learning about this beautiful family, and the many benefits of having your own family captured through photography.