Summer Family Photography: Why It Is So Great And Why It Is So Hard

Not so long ago I saw an article „How many summers do we have?“ No it was not a scary article about the life and it's meaning! This article was about summers we are spending with our kids before they grew up. I think that every parent knows that they are actually not so many, but of course we do not think about it all the time.

Summer is an incredibly special time of the year when you have kids (even if you cannot stand the heat like I do!). Not only it is a perfect season to potty train, it is time when we connect as a family and have adventures.

For children summer is endless. There are so many things to explore and experience and there are so many ways to grow and change. By the begin of the new school year you usually have a partially new kid (who needs clothes and shoes in a different size). But for me the best thing about summer is that there are so many days we really spend ALL together. And you know what? This very special first, second or tenth summer with your children is just about to begin!

You should really take time to feel how long, slow, funny and precious these days are. The days you spend tickling and giggling will keep you warm for the rest of the year and beyond. Make a list of fun things your kids like to do in summer (and things that you liked to do as a child!) and try to have these moments captured. And do not think too hard. The most memorable things are always the most simple: having fun in the water, building sand castles, playing ball, eating ice cream, riding a bicycle, climbing a tree and running, running, running. I do my best to capture those simple joys during my summer sessions, because they matter most!

Summer photographs will transport your kids into their most bright childhood days over and over again. And they will do this in three, ten and in fifty years. And these memories will be about the time you spent all together.

And you will always be able to recall all these precious so similar and so different summers when your kids were little. You will have a wonderful story to go through again and again seeing how your children were growing and how their summer adventures evolved.

This will be my seventh summer as a mum and third summer as a family photographer and I already have an impressive summer fun collection!

Summer is definitely a great time to take pictures, great but hard. On the one hand there is this endless light (especially if you are in Scandinavia - we spent a couple of summers there) but on the other hand the light is almost always hard. The hard light is the light that gives you strong highlights and strong shadows – very tough situation if you are aiming for a delicate portrait. And on sunny summer days that is what you have to face almost all day long.

To succeed with summer portraits of your children, try to take pictures early in the morning or late in the evening when the sun is low. OR find a good solid shade. This will let you make beautiful portraits even on the sunniest of the days.

You can also learn to use the hard light for your benefit. Strong shadows and strong highlights are great for the action shots – so do not be afraid to take pictures of your children running, jumping and playing in the water in a strong sunlight. These will be really dynamic and impressive pictures.

Summer photography is really fun and divers and captures some of the best childhood memories. But will my kids really have fun in front of the camera? Will we look natural? Is it not too stressful to jump and run in the heat with a bunch of kids (one toddler is also enough to get into a marathon feeling)? These are the usual worries every parent has, when trying to book a photographer or when trying to capture her own children. But do not worry there is a secret ingredient how to look natural in front of the camera and have fun. And I will be revealing it in my next post! I will show you how to avoid stress not only during the photo session with a photographer, but also when you are making your family pictures yourself.

Please let me know in the comments what are your favourite things about summer and what challenges do you meet while trying to capture them! Thank you!

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Thank you!

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