Hello-! Welcome back to the not so every week Weekly Wednesday-! This week we’re back to share with you a repeat family whose 2023 Extended Family Portrait Session we captured just a few days ago-! We first photographed this wonderful extended family in 2019 a whopping 4 years (and a Pandemic & Recession) ago in Southwest Michigan at a beach on Lake Michigan. We all played it very safe during the Pandemic, so we were thrilled to be back with them to photograph this wonderful group- this time here near South Bend, Indiana-! This Extended Family Portrait Session was purchased by their adult kids as a gift for their 50th Anniversary, so we were thrilled to get to capture some wonderful memories for Steve & Kathy.
We started by capturing their Extended Family Portrait Session On Location in a few spots that we had scoped out prior (as location scouting is key for multi-generational Sessions). Because we finished capturing their Session with under 10 minutes to spare, we headed inside to capture a bit of the festivities in their Club House. They had the 50th Anniversary catered (wonderful local small business RoseLily), had a live music trio (with a pre-planned surprise guest performance by their granddaughter Sunny who had started violin 4 years ago when she was 4 years young), had some beverages, brought in some of their own zinnias, and the kids were excited most to get to use the pool table as dinner was being prepared live. Anyway, on with the Session-!
We started the Family Portrait Session with Sarah’s family since they were with us and ready, then we made our way through the family portraits in our standard order that we’ve captured most of our client families in for the past 14+ years. It was crazy to see the kids most of all because as we all know, just a handful of years in a kid’s life is probably the most dramatic change a person undergoes-! Last time we photographed this wonderful family 4 years ago (2019/ pre-Pandemic at a Southwest Michigan beach at Lake Michigan) the youngest was a literal baby, so it was surreal to see her now as a sweet kid.
Steve and Kathy seemed to be in great spirits for their 50th Wedding Anniversary-! We love getting to photograph our couples’ 50th Wedding Anniversaries (most often in Chicago, at the Basilica at the University of Notre Dame, at their Anniversary Surprise Parties that their adult kids throw, in Southwest Michigan, etc) and this day was no different. It’s not every day that we get to help folks celebrate 50th Anniversaries, 100th Birthdays, and more, so we love getting the opportunity to capture resilience, love, and dedication.
The grandkids were great as usual and so easy to direct for their formal group photographs-! The cousins really seem to love each other, are very patient, and are fun-loving.
The 2 oldest cousins are the same age, so we’re sure it helps to have cousins who just “get” what it’s like to be the oldest (and what it’s like to be the youngest). To have allies in your cousins is the best thing ever (speaking from experience)-!
Though qualified to teach fine art & MFA Photography at universities, I find it so rewarding to get to work with and capture folks of all ages- from babies to grandparents who are celebrating their 100th Birthdays. Getting to photograph literal newborns within the first week or two of their lives all the way through 100th Birthday Parties over the past 14+ years has been mind-boggling, but it really does show the depth of the human experience.
We tried to also capture some fun images of the kids and they did a great job-!
We even managed to get some fun summer flowers in the mix by the end as well-!
Since we had 8 or so minutes to spare at the end of the formal portraiture, we headed into the Club House after the Family Portrait Session in order to capture a bit of the wonderful celebrations and surprise for Steve & Kathy.
Their 50th Anniversary was catered by a local high end restaurant (who cooked On Location) and the family also had some wonderful drinks to enjoy.
A wonderful surprise that their adult kids gifted their parents for their 50th Wedding Anniversary was the surprise of live music- a strings section including their 8 year young granddaughter-!
Their granddaughter played some songs of her choice along with another violinist and her extended family listened/ watched on with pride.
Her little cousins watched on impressed as well-! Once she was finished with playing music for the evening, she and her cousins ran off to play pool at the pool table while dinner was being made.
Happy 50th Anniversary again to Kathy & Steve! Thank you so much to Sarah as well for reaching out to us a couple months ago to hire us and get everything pre-planned. It felt like a wonderful full-circle moment getting to capture your lovely family again after a bit of a crazy time (Pandemic just 6+ months after we captured your last extended Family Portrait Session at Lake Michigan) and we’re thankful for wonderful families like you all.
P.S. We wanted to share a couple outtakes-! When not literally in the group Family Portraits, the kids helped out by singing to their grandparents & parents to elicit some genuine smiles-! We need to hire them as assistants <3
When teaching Fine Art Photography to University students I always remind them that what they were taught in strict Commercial Photography or Lifestyle Photography is not necessarily true for fine art. The first thing I do is tell them to throw out the rules of what they were told they “have to do” within photography (or any other fine art for that matter). Blurry images can be wonderful. You can use concepts to purposefully only show a shape or shadow within an image to convey meaning. Taking a more conceptual approach can broaden your understanding, a viewer’s understanding, or a patron’s understanding of something in the world (or make them question/ ponder something).
While this image isn’t necessarily Fine Art, it’s blurry and that’s ok for an outtake. The reason that we’re hired as professionals for our products (high end printed images, other physical goods, large heirloom albums, Christmas/ Holiday cards, Wedding Invitations, New Year’s Cards, etc) and services (14+ years in) is because we rarely have blurry/ unclear images due to our skillset and speed at this point… but I still love to see a good happy mistake.
In 50 years of marriage we’re sure that these two faced some hard times, but they did make it through and have a good life, 4 wonderful grandchildren, & 4 adult children to show for it. Some families that we’ve been hired to photograph have included even bigger circles as there were divorces and whatnot (which there seem to be in most families in the U.S.A.), so the more the merrier I say. We’ve photographed families with 4 sets of grandparents and somehow they made everything flow wonderfully, so no matter how blurry life gets, I do think everything ends up working out how it’s supposed to. (A bit heavy for a random Wednesday, but it’s been a long 3 years for pretty much everyone, y’all).
Catch ya next blog post-!