There are the family photos you plan for, and then there are the family photos you don’t even realize you’re going to treasure until years later.
You know the ones: the pretty ones where everyone is dressed beautifully and the light is perfect and nobody has a suspicious smear of banana on their shirt are wonderful, obviously. But then there are the photographs that somehow manage to take you right back into a particular season of your life—the ones where you can almost hear the dog walking across the hardwood floors, remember what your baby smelled like, or see the exact way your partner looked at you when they thought nobody was watching.
Those are the photographs I love making most.
This family is a particularly good example of why I believe so strongly in documenting the ordinary stuff, because I’ve had the privilege of photographing their story in more than one chapter. I first photographed Mom for a boudoir session, then later photographed their maternity session, and eventually I found myself in their home documenting life with their new baby, their dog, and all of the wonderfully ordinary chaos that comes with a growing family. And yes, we even photographed them doing laundry. Which, I realize, is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the words professional family photography, but stick with me.
What Is a Reverie Session?
Reverie is my approach to in-home lifestyle and documentary family photography, and the idea behind it is pretty simple: instead of pulling your family out of your everyday life and asking everyone to perform for the camera, I come into your world and photograph what is already happening there. That might mean making breakfast together, playing with the baby on the floor, reading books in bed, letting the dog completely derail whatever I had in mind, or folding the laundry that was already sitting there because, well, you’re a parent and apparently the laundry is never finished. I’m not looking for a perfectly clean house or a family that knows exactly how to pose. In fact, I’d much rather photograph your home as it actually feels right now, because those little details are going to become part of the memory. The basket of tiny clothes, toys that somehow migrated into every room. The dog who follows everyone around and the coffee mug that lives permanently on the kitchen counter. The particular chair where you always end up feeding the baby. All of it belongs to this chapter. And someday, it won’t be there anymore.
This Wasn’t Their First Session With Me
One of the things I love most about being a photographer is getting to watch families evolve over time, and this session felt especially meaningful because I wasn’t meeting this family for the first time. I had already photographed Mom for a boudoir session, which is such a different kind of experience. It’s about stepping outside of all the roles we tend to carry around; mom, partner, business owner, caretaker, the person who remembers everyone’s dentist appointments and spending a little time simply being yourself. Then came maternity photography, when that story was changing again and they were waiting for their baby to arrive. And then, suddenly, there we were in their home with the baby actually here. That’s one of the reasons I love photographing maternity and family sessions for returning clients. There is something pretty special about seeing the same person in these completely different seasons of her life, and being able to document the transition rather than just one isolated moment. Plus, I was able to see their maternity framed in their home.
Why I Love In-Home Family Photography
I think there is a misconception that family photography has to mean finding a beautiful outdoor location, putting everyone in coordinated outfits, and convincing a toddler to cooperate for approximately 47 seconds while you hope the light stays good. And listen, I love an outdoor family session too. We live in Colorado, so it would be a little ridiculous if I didn’t. But in-home family photography gives us something a beautiful location can’t: your actual life. The place where your baby took their first steps. The bedroom where everyone piled into bed on Saturday mornings. The kitchen where you made dinner approximately six hundred times during that first year. The couch where the dog insists on sitting even though there is absolutely no room left. More than just backdrops, they’re part of your family’s story. And when your children are older, I have a feeling those details are going to matter more than whether everyone looked perfectly coordinated.
Yes, We Really Did Photograph Laundry
I keep coming back to this because I genuinely love that we photographed laundry. Not like laundry is particularly exciting—trust me, I have enough of my own to know that—but because it is exactly the kind of thing that disappears from your memory once the season has passed. Right now, maybe you’re washing tiny onesies every other day because somehow a person who weighs twelve pounds can generate an absolutely unreasonable amount of laundry. Maybe you’re constantly picking up bottles, toys, blankets and dog hair. Maybe your days feel like a never-ending rotation of feeding, cleaning, working, cuddling, changing, repeating. It probably doesn’t feel particularly magical while you’re living it. But someday, the baby will be bigger and the routines will change. Actually, while photography laundry she said “I will miss this.” The laundry will still exist, because apparently that part is eternal, but those tiny baby clothes won’t. And when you look back at these photographs, you’ll remember what your life actually looked like—not just the pretty parts we pulled together for an hour-long photo session. That’s the whole point of documentary photography to me.
You Don’t Have to Be Good at Having Your Picture Taken
This is probably one of the biggest reasons families choose a Reverie session. You don’t have to know what to do with your hands or how to pose. You don’t have to spend three hours cleaning your house before I arrive. And you definitely don’t have to convince your kids to sit still and smile at the camera for an hour, because I have no interest in making that the entire experience anyway. I’ll give you direction when you need it, but most of the time I’m watching for the little interactions that happen naturally. And they’re usually the things you’ll miss the most; the way you touch your baby’s head, how your partner looks at you. The way your toddler climbs onto the couch next to you and how your dog inserts himself into every single photograph because apparently he has decided this is his moment.
Colorado Family Photography, Without the Pressure
I photograph families throughout Denver and the Colorado foothills, including Conifer, Evergreen, Littleton and the surrounding mountain communities, and Reverie sessions are particularly great for families who want something more relaxed and personal than a traditional posed family photography session. They’re also wonderful for newborns and babies, maternity, growing families, pets, anniversaries, or honestly, just because you’ve looked at your kid lately and thought, How did you get this big already? You don’t need a milestone. You don’t need a birthday. You don’t need a perfectly decorated nursery. You don’t even need a particularly exciting day. Sometimes the most meaningful thing we can photograph is simply what Tuesday looked like when your baby was six months old.
Looking for an In-Home Family Photographer in Colorado?
If you’re looking for a Denver family photographer, Colorado lifestyle photographer, in-home newborn photographer, maternity photographer, or documentary family photographer, Reverie sessions are available throughout Denver and the surrounding foothills and mountain communities.
And if you’ve worked with me before for boudoir, maternity, branding, or another session, I would absolutely love to keep photographing your story as it changes.
Because getting to photograph one woman once is wonderful.
Getting to watch her become a mother, grow her family, bring home a baby, add a dog to the chaos, and eventually look back at all those chapters together?
That’s the foundation of your life.
“It was so wonderful to share our house and this season of life with you! We can’t imagine having anyone else take photos of this time. I’m so grateful to have photos from all of these stages ♥️” – NS
