Five Reasons To Take Family Photos Every Year

There are so many things that make it hard to think about having family portraits taken. Let’s be honest, it’s easy to say oh we’ll do it next year and then you look up and it’s been five years!  You’ve missed kids growing by feet, missing teeth and so much that you would love to see in future years.

It’s easy to make excuses NOT to make time for family photos, but here are 5 reasons that you SHOULD have professional family photos taken!

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I will add a personal note:  I have four adult children and 3 grandchildren (with one on the way in December).  I WISH I took more family photos and looking back, the time is so minor compared to the lost time of missing photos and missing seeing them grow.  Having the images I did take on my walls and in albums, gives my grand-babies the opportunity to see their parents grow up and for us to see how similar my adult children looked to their babies.  One thing I can promise is that you’ll NEVER regret taking the photos! 

If you’d rather watch a video, scroll to the bottom!  Ok, let’s get to it!

1 | Create Memories

Memories tend to fade and the easiest and fastest way to remember memories is with photos.  When you see a photo, you tend to go back in time to that moment. Children change especially often, but even you as a parent age.  I always say the best time to take a photo is NOW — you will never be younger than you are today. 

Even the act of scheduling and taking yearly family photos themselves are crating memories for your family. Where you go, the laughs you have are all a memory.  Capturing these changes and growth enables us to capture a timeline of milestone ages and events.

2 | You’re Not Just Taking Them for Yourself, But for Future Generations

Capturing the holidays, the old photo albums come out and memories flood the room as relatives recount stories from their younger years. While at the time, you might not care about photos of you, your grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be overjoyed that they have pictures of you to remember you by.

My kids LOVE to look through my albums of family photos and my wedding album.  It’s a way for your kids and young adults to connect with you.

3 |Document Growth

Babies grow so quickly, I always encourage my families to get a Growing Baby Plan which is heavily discounted sessions for newborns, 3 months, 6 months, and one year.  They are helpful because having a new baby is a whirlwind.  Half the time you forget about all kinds of things as you are in the moment with them. 

Kids grow so fast.  Family portraits are a great way to document their growth progress, watching them change from year to year. Also, looking back on past trends and styles will be sure to provide a laugh in the years to come.

4 | You Never Know When the Last Chance for a Family Photo Will Be

I have always had former wedding photography clients contact me asking to create a piece of wall art after a loved one has passed with the photos I’ve captured for them.  The same is true for family photos.  When a loved one passes away, photos are WAY more important suddenly.

Here’s a personal story: I always photograph each family gathering and my family always complains.  I photographed Father’s day since my grandfather was 95, but I also capture the whole family.  Sadly my father passed away suddenly a few months after that and those photographs are so cherished to me.  More importantly they are super important to my adult children and their grandchildren, who never have the opportunity to meet him.

Bottom line, life is always too short and it’s unpredictable. Unfortunate things happen without warning and loved ones may pass unexpectedly. Take advantage of the time you have together now so that you won’t regret not taking those photos.

5 | High-Quality Photos to Last a Lifetime

In today’s world with shared albums on our cell phones, Instagram, Tik-Tok, and Snapchat, we don’t think about having photos taken professionally. And, we almost never print them.  I feel like this will be a lost generation with so few images printed and so many lost digital images over the last decade.

With the quality and digital size images professional photographers create, you’ll never have a problem creating large images to put on your wall, printing holiday cards, or making cool unique gifts for birthdays and holidays for loved ones. 

As a bonus to my clients, I have a professional printer attached to my online galleries, so they get a photographer’s discount on printing quality professional prints that last generations and not fade after 8 years from Walgreen, Costco, etc.

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