How To Incorporate Documentary Family Photography Into Your Traditional Family Portrait Business

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Are you in love with documentary family photography and looking to take your business in that direction? Many of us documentary family lovers fell in love with this genre because it reminds us why we got into photography in the first place. Photographing the moments! Yet somehow, market demands steered many of us into more posed work (which we can also love). But now what? How can we make the change without sacrificing everything? It can be very intimidating to make a shift in your business, but these 5 tips should help you make changes gently and effortlessly.

1. Remember: Your existing client base is your target market.

Never forget this. Your clients have great taste and a passion for photography. And people who value photography and art will be the first to understand and agree with your passion for documenting the everyday. It is a common misperception your clients will only value one type. The real problem is just that many don’t even know about it or they do but feel they only have a budget for one type of session. If you can solve these problems for them, you don’t need to go in search of an entirely new client base. They are already right in front of you!

2. Share what you love about it and they will love it too.

There are so many things to love about documentary family photography; it will be easier than you think to get your clients on board. All you have to do is start talking about how it is important, and it will naturally create the need. Use your newsletter, your social media accounts, and your website. To portfolio build you can reach out to a few of your clients who you think would be great for your portfolio. You can also take some self-portraits of you in the frame and let them know why you are passionate about being in your documentary images. It won’t take long for many of your clients to fall in love with this genre of family documentary just like you did.

3. Meet Both Needs.

One way to encourage your clients to get their feet wet with documentary sessions is to include regular portraits with the purchase. You can offer a discounted mini session of traditional portraits with any docu session or even incorporate traditional portraits into your docu session. One of my first portfolio building DITL sessions started with a few hours of home life and ended with a quick portrait session. It was perfect and is still one of my favorites. Get there while everyone is waking up, document the morning, and the getting ready for the day and shoot the portraits then! It’s a great compromise.

4. Position yourself as a leader in documentary photography.

If you love documentary family photography, chances are you love other types of documentary photography. Another way to increase bookings is to show your mastery of the style. Doing some births, baptisms, events, and even personal photojournalistic projects will increase consumer confidence and position you as a leader in this style. Your photographer friends in the community will think of you for these type of referrals and projects.

5. Forget the labels.

It’s a very true statement that “the riches are in the niches” and specializing helps narrow your target market. However, it’s also important to not get overly caught up in this. You don’t only have to offer DITL or births or lifestyle portraits. You can specialize in “family” and still be niched enough. Some of us need and thrive off variety and you will find there are clients who will love purchasing many different types of “family photography” from you. Best of luck to you!

children mourn dead pet - documentary family photography

Facebook Community Post – April

Facebook Community Posts

Thank you so much for all your April submissions! We loved seeing all your documentary family favorites. This month’s top honor goes to Rose-Life Photography by Lauren Kerwin. Make sure to stop by her page, and the pages of all our Top 5 artists to check out more of their lovely work.

Rose:Life Photography by Lauren Kerwin

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Ashley Marston Photography

Stephanie Michaelis Photography

Stacey Ilyse Photo and Films

Sherida Rae Photography

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To see your photo here next month post your favorite documentary family images directly to our Facebook timeline. You can also share your photos on Instagram using the hashtag #shamoftheperfect for a chance to be featured on our Instagram feed and our monthly IG Top 5.

Incorporating Video into your Documentary Shooting

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If you’re anything like me, you’ve been using your camera almost daily, taking pictures for years and just ignoring that little video camera icon switch staring at you everyday. I finally decided it was time to make the switch over and learn video. I’m kicking myself for not doing it sooner. Incorprating video into your documentary shooting is such an easy transition. You’re already capturing your everyday life with stills and telling your story. By adding video to your stills you’ll be adding the voices, the giggles, the wobbly baby steps, and the kisses…you’ll be adding the motion that helps bring your stories and memories to life. You’ll use all the same techniques you already know for composition, capturing the moment, and using light

There are numerous online workshops and tutorials that all cover different aspects of shooting video from storytelling to business and brand films, and YouTube will definitely be your friend when you’re just getting started. But the best way to learn is to just practice and play around. Dig out your camera manual, have a little read, make the switch and start shooting!

A few tips below that I’ve learned along the way:

1. Getting Started

You’ll be shooting video in live view in manual mode. If you don’t normally shoot in manual, I’d recommend closing down a few stops than you normally shoot in to make it a bit easier, at least to start with. If you’re photographing clients, start shooting a few clips of video as well and if you have enough to work with surprise them with a fusion film. The more you practice swapping between stills and video, the easier it becomes.

2. Move your body! A lot!

Just like when you’re shooting stills, you’ll want to completely shoot the scene and will need to capture it from all different angles. Think about your compositions and then shoot wide, tight, from above, from below, straight on, pan up, pan down, pan sideways…just keep moving! When you put your clips together you don’t want the viewer to be watching your film from the same point of view the entire time, and to avoid the clips looking ‘jumpy’ vary the angles. Start with a clip shot straight on followed by one shot from above, then from below, then panning above, then back to straight on.

You don’t always need to follow the action. Let the action come in and out of your frame. Capture the little details to help set the scene and tell the story. A wide shot of the outside of the family house, the sun rays on the leaves, the rain falling, the bubble bath and kids towels, the pictures on the wall, the toys on the floor, the baby clothes hanging in the closet, the muddy knees, the baby toes, etc.

3. Music and Colour Grading

Finding the right music for your film is SO important. It sets the mood for your film and helps bring out the emotion in the viewer. I can literally spend hours listening to music to find the right one, and have gone as far as re-editing a film because I wasn’t convinced the music was right. A tip to make it less time consuming is to mark your favourites. This will give you a short list of songs that may not be right for one project but could be right for the next one. There are a number of music licensing sites, some with subscription based fees which are great if you’re making a lot of films and some that offer music for as little as a few dollars for personal films, so there is no reason to not find great music for your project.

There are also different options for editing from Premier Pro, to Final Cut Pro to iMovie, each with their own pros and cons and lots of tutorials online, so you’ll need to find what works best for you. I was already an Adobe Cloud user and could bundle my applications together, so I edit in Premier Pro. I do find the editing options a bit limited, so I colour grade and edit my clips in Lightroom first. It’s an extra step and can be time consuming depending on how much work you do to the clips, but it helps keep my clips looking consistent and I can match them to my style of photography as well.

4. Think about the story you want to tell

You’ll want your film to flow so you need to think about the story you want to tell. Have you shot an opening scene, and the middle or body of the story. How will it end? Sometimes I shoot my ending clips at the very beginning of the shoot and sometimes I’ll shoot a whole scene that doesn’t make into the final film. You’re the artist and the visual storyteller, so you need to decide on how to best tell the story.

5. Get Creative!

Try making a film in slow motion, or using a lensbaby or a macro lens for an entire film. Start a film project – one second a day for a year, a day in the life, daily breakfasts for a month. The options are endless, just get creative, start shooting and have fun!

child points at spot on map - documentary family photography

Featured Session – Katie McMenamin

Featured, Featured Session

This session from Katie McMenamin stood out for us, not only because of her beautiful images, but also because of her long standing relationship with the family pictured. Katie says:

“I have been photographing families for almost ten years now and started shooting documentary sessions several years ago. The majority of my work is still lifestyle sessions, but documentary really has my heart. There is nothing like going into a family’s home and capturing all the little moments that they’ll want to remember years from now. I love how it preserves a sliver in time, how it’s about more than just pretty pictures. I firmly believe that the value of these photos will really be felt ten years from now, when life looks very different than it does at the moment.

I have been photographing this family since their oldest of four kids was just one. This Winter was the first opportunity that I’d had to photograph a documentary session for them. Mom home schools their older kids and dad happened to be home that day, so it was a really relaxed, typical day in their home. I photographed a bit of their home schooling, the kids playing with legos, lunch and nap time. The kids’ personalities really shone and I loved watching them interact with each other in this setting where they’re super comfortable. It was by far, my favorite session that I’ve ever had with them.”

You can read more about Katie on her website, Facebook page, and Instagram account.

Our contributors also asked Katie a few questions about this session and her work in general. Below is her Q & A:

Aniya: Hi Katie, I love that you’ve been able to move this family from lifestyle to documentary. How do you see this creeping into your business, and how would you go about marketing these sessions differently from your lifestyle sessions? Also, I see that you aren’t afraid to get close in, and go in some places that some photographers stay away from. Do you ask before, say, going into the bathroom? Did you find this particular documentary session more relaxed since you do know this family particularly well?

I started out shooting weddings about ten years ago, and even then, I was always drawn to the photojournalistic moments over the posed photos. So when I started focusing on family photos, even in a more traditional lifestyle session, I always loved capturing documentary moments. I shot my first fully documentary session almost five years ago, https://www.kmcmenamin.com/r-family-part-1-manayunk-documentary-family-photographer/. I feel like it’s been a slow build since then. At first, I didn’t think I’d be able to sell this sort of session to people, and honestly, I was too scared to even try. Once I had my own kids, I realized the true value of these photos. I have been working harder to show these types of images on my website, blog and social media and to encourage my clients to at least make a portion of their session documentary, which I think gives them a taste of this type of work. I love nothing more than when a client who had a traditional, lifestyle session, tells me that a documentary moment that I captured was their favorite image. Lifestyle images with beautiful light and smiling happy kids sell themselves. I really think it’s harder to see the value in documentary photos unless you see photos of your own family.

Any time I know the client before the session, it is always more relaxed. I also always have my clients fill out a pre-session questionnaire. So even if I don’t know them, I can get a taste for what moments are important to them and who they are as a family. If I am capturing a personal moment and it wasn’t explicitly addressed in the questionnaire, such as breastfeeding or a toddler on the potty, I will usually ask if it’s okay. If a little one is older than a toddler, then I just give them their privacy in the bathroom, unless the door is open and they’re brushing their teeth or washing hands, etc. I am also extra discerning with what I share online. I never want to make my client feel uncomfortable with an image that I share, so if it feels too private or intimate, I will either ask or simply won’t share it. I think it takes a lot of trust for a client to let me into their home to capture everything, the good, bad and ugly, and I really want to respect that trust.

mother and daughter in child's bedroom - documentary family photography

Felicia: How did you convince this family to try your documentary approach or were they intrigued because they have seen the shift to documentary (maybe through your personal work?)? When you shoot for yourself, do you find you always take the documentary or lifestyle route, or both?

This family actually won a contest that I was running to promote this type of session. I love nothing more than a documentary session, so the more interest and excitement I can generate for this type of work, the better. From that contest, I was also able to book a few other clients for documentary sessions as well.

When I am shooting for myself, I definitely take more documentary photos. Looking back at images from when my first daughter was born, four years ago, most of my photos of her tend to be lifestyle. I think that was just out of laziness. For me, it felt easier to set her up in a clutter free zone in a pretty outfit every once in a while than being at the ready with my camera at all times. In the last couple of years, I have found a balance. I keep my camera out all the time and if something cute is happening, I try to grab it. I don’t beat myself up if I miss the moment though and I still take tons of iPhone photos. I do love a posed, genuine smile for the camera photo of my kids too. Just like in my client work, I really feel there is a place for both lifestyle and documentary.

mother tickles child - documentary family photography

Erika: What is one thing you learned from this session and/or is there anything you would have done differently?

I feel like I learn something from every session that I shoot. In this case, I overshot and gave too many images. It’s something that I consistently struggle with and it’s a lesson that I’m constantly trying to absorb. I get emotionally attached to my clients’ images just like I get emotionally attached to personal photos. But just like my personal photos, I know that they won’t all be printed and revisited, so I think it’s really important to be able to give them the best of the best to choose from. I don’t want to leave them feeling overwhelmed.

father and son on couch- documentary family photography

Jessica: What types of moments would you say you are most drawn to as an artist? Do you see light and composition first, or is the moment in the scene which draws you in?

I am definitely drawn to moments first and foremost. When I first started shooting this way, I would stress if a shot weren’t perfectly composed. But now I’ve come to realize that meaningful moments outweigh technical perfection 100% of the time. Sometimes, things are happening fast and getting perfectly into position just isn’t possible. Likewise, I love great light in an image, but when I’m shooting in a documentary style, I just let things unfold and use the light that I have available. If I have the time to compose things thoughtfully, I really love shooting things happening in the foreground and background simultaneously or shooting through things. Dimension always makes photos much more interesting to me, regardless of the light.

child with stuffed animal - documentary family photography

Leslie: What’s your favorite image from this set and why?

I have the hardest time choosing favorites (see above), but if I had to pick, it would be the image with their youngest sucking his fingers and holding his lovey. There are just so many things about that image that seem to capture a moment in time that is fleeting. At one and a half, he is right on that edge between baby and toddler and this image feels like it grabs on to that little bit of baby that is left in him. This session was only a few months ago and who knows if he is still sucking his fingers or toting his lovey around. I also love that you can see the hint of lunch left on his face. Such a real life moment.

mother reaches for books while holding coffee - documentary family photography

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Want information on how you can be a featured artist? Check out our submission page for all the details.

Finding Your Creative Voice

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In the world of photography, how do we find our own unique voice that will stand out amidst the sea of sameness? I wrestled with this question in the early years of my journey as an artist. I had so much to learn as far as business skills go and certainly technical skills too. So, I soaked up everything I could by looking at other photographers, industry magazines, what was getting the most likes and affirmation. But it all felt empty to me.

I knew what I was looking at was mostly mediocre, and though it might have been pretty it didn’t speak to me in any meaningful way. It wasn’t interesting and full of life. I wanted more than pretty pictures. I knew that I was drawn to something different than what I was seeing in the photography community, but I didn’t quite know how to translate what mattered to me, much less offer it to the world. When I first photographed a baby, I put the baby in a basket. I thought that was what you had to do when you photographed a newborn. But it wasn’t authentically me (or the baby, I might add). Luckily I was able to find a path that was more true to who I am and how I see the world. And now I’m passionate about refining my own creative voice and helping others do the same.

WHO ARE YOU? Matching who you are as an artist with who you are as a person

IN A SENSE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS ARE YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY- DOROTHEA LANGE

In order to understand yourself as an artist, you must first know yourself. This requires some digging deep into your story. These questions are useful tools in the process of self-examination. Grab a few blank pieces of paper and some of your favorite pens for these exercises. Set a timer for 3 minutes for each of these. GO!

What are words that people use to describe you? (go ahead, ask them! But I recommend only asking people who really know you, not throwing it out on your social media platforms to the masses. Take it from me) What are words that you use to describe yourself?
What are areas of loss, sadness, crisis or tragedy in your life? Write down specific events or general themes that emerge.
What are your areas of interest and curiosity? Passions? Write them all down.
What are your goals and dreams?

Step back and take a look at these maps. What surprised you? What themes emerged? Where do these maps overlap? Circle the things that you want to explore more or that you feel strongly drawn to. Take some time to write about how these things influence you as an artist and what you might be motivated to do differently. Is there a personal project you might want to pursue based on themes that emerged?

Resources: I highly recommend the book Strengthsfinders. It is a detailed personality inventory that will determine the natural areas of strength in your personality. Focus on those strengths and let go of your weaknesses. You will grow fastest where you are naturally strong.

Another incredibly helpful tool is the book Start with Why. You can watch the TED talk here. This is such an important step for any artist or entrepreneur, or really for any endeavor. Things will become so much more clear if you have a strong sense of WHY you are doing it all in the first place, and then you can communicate that story through your art.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? What you see is what you get!

YOU DON’T MAKE A PHOTOGRAPH JUST WITH A CAMERA. YOU BRING TO THE ACT OF PHOTOGRAPHY ALL THE PICTURES YOU HAVE SEEN, THE BOOKS YOU HAVE READ, THE MUSIC YOU HAVE HEARD, THE PEOPLE YOU HAVE LOVED. – ANSEL ADAMS

I believe that if you focus on becoming a more interesting person, you can’t help but become a more interesting artist. Where are you looking for inspiration? Who are you looking at for comparison? If all your photography heroes are on Instagram, you need new heroes.

Take a social media break for at least a week (you won’t die, I promise). You cannot make authentic work if you are copying what everyone else is doing and filling your creative tank with someone else’s vision. Stop looking at peers and following industry blogs. Notice how you feel without all that noise. You absorb what you see and can’t help but reflect that in your own work.

Look to the masters of your craft and learn what makes a truly GREAT photograph, not just one that gets a lot of likes. Here’s some ideas of where to start: Magnum contact sheets, photojournalists, Sally Mann, Sam Abell, Annie Leibovitz, Cig Harvey, Jessica Todd Harper, Alan Laboile, Vivian Maeier, Craig Semetko, Robert Frank, LensCulture, Cartier-Bresson, Elliot Erwitt, Nat Geo photographers, Petapixel.com, openculture.com (free art book downloads)

Look outside your genre to nourish your creative soul- some things that inspire me are Dutch masters, Caravaggio, Wes Anderson, Chef’s Table series on Netflix, Start with Why- Simon Sinek, Big Magic- Elizabeth Gilbert, The War of Art- Stephen Pressfield, The Artist’s Way- Julia Cameron, Fire Starter Sessions- Danielle LaPorte, Steal Like an Artist-Austin Kleon, The Untethered Soul, Brene Brown, documentaries, Norman Rockwell, erikkim.com, movies, music, nature, FOOD, TED Talks, cookbooks, poetry, podcasts

BE DARING, BE DIFFERENT, BE IMPRACTICAL, BE ANYTHING THAT WILL ASSERT INTEGRITY OF PURPOSE AND IMAGINATIVE VISION AGAINST THE PLAY-IT-SAFERS, THE CREATURES OF THE COMMONPLACE, THE SLAVES OF THE ORDINARY. – CECIL BACON

Finding your unique creative voice is a lifelong journey that will change as you change. You can cultivate and grow your own vision the more you invest in nourishing your soul through this process.

Just as nourishing your body with whole food takes more time and intention than eating convenience food without real nutrition in it, finding your voice takes time and intention, and sifting through a lot of noise. Most of all, remember “A GOOD PHOTOGRAPHER MUST LOVE LIFE MORE THAN HE DOES PHOTOGRAPHY.” – JOEL STRASSER