Nobody standing still
This one ran in bright afternoon light rather than at golden hour, which is not what most people picture for a family session. It worked because this family was never going to sit still anyway, and hard afternoon light suits movement better than it suits posing.
There was a football, a wooden ladder the kids immediately claimed, and a plaid blanket that spent more time being dragged around than sat on. I mostly stayed out of the way and let it happen. One of my favorites from the day is a boy mid-kick with his father turned away in the foreground, completely unaware.
If your kids are the sort who cannot be asked to stand somewhere and smile, this is roughly what a session with me looks like. That is not a problem to be solved. It is the photograph.
It was a park, which is most of why it worked: open ground, shade when the kids wanted it, nobody minding the noise. If you are picking a spot of your own, Roseville and Rocklin have plenty that do the same job — Maidu, Mahany, Johnson-Springview over in Rocklin. If an hour sounds optimistic with small kids, the thirty-minute mini sessions are the short version, and the rest of the recent sessions are worth a look.
