Every January – okay, more like March – I order an annual family photo album filled with the previous year’s adventures. For weeks, my boys pore over the memories stored in the pages. Sometimes I wonder how many of our outings, travels, laughs would be lost to time, if not captured with a few well-placed clicks. I don’t want to miss a single one.
Capturing your family’s outings takes a bit of planning. With good strategies in place, you can photograph your collective out and about fun – without your camera getting in the way of a good time.
1. Be Flexible
No one is a bigger killjoy than a mom-on-a-photo-mission. How do I know this? My family has been kind enough to tell me so! With time I’ve learned to be flexible. Even though I might have a clear vision of the image I’d like to take, sometimes the photo I end up taking is a happier and more genuine one because I let go of my original idea.
On a recent trip to Coney Island, I knew I wanted a shot standing by the Wonder Wheel entrance. It would be perfect: leading lines, vibrant colors, the vintage feel of the old Ferris Wheel. Well, the crowds and bright sun and impatient moods had other ideas for my Wonder Wheel photo. And I love the ones I got instead, inside the actual cabins as I joined in the fun, high in the air. Those images show actual delight instead of forced smiles. Sure, it’s a good idea to visualize some shots ahead of time but improvisation and letting go is critical if all does not go as planned (because when does that ever happen)!
2. Pare Down the Gear
Has your family ever felt your camera is an unwelcome, uninvited guest when you’re out and about? When you bring multiple lenses and other gear with you, you’re not just encumbering yourself physically, you’re also distracting yourself from your family’s good time, thinking about protecting your gear and which lens to choose. Raise your hand if you’ve begged off a roller coaster ride to protect your gear (mine is way up).
When you’re going to shoot your child’s portrait in a field, by all means, bring all the equipment you own. But en route to a museum, stadium or movie theater? Pare down! Unless you’re shooting, no one even needs to know your big girl camera came along for the ride.
Often, one well-chosen lens will do the trick. A favorite for outings is the 40 mm pancake lens, which is flat as a … well, you know. What you may lose in a few f-stops (the Canon version is f2.8), you gain in portability and ease of use. Also, ditch the camera bag, opt for a protective neoprene sleeve to protect your camera, and pop it in your purse. You won’t even think about it unless you’re actually shooting.
3. Let Go of the “Main Event”
Last fall my boys’ football team was invited to play at MetLife stadium after the NFL game. Naturally I hoped for a photo of them in uniform on the 50 yard line. And I got it. It’s pretty neat. But can you guess what my favorite photos were? The ones of them on the stadium escalator. Or bursting with anticipation in the stands. Or with the setting sun peeking over their shoulder as the crowd went crazy for a touchdown.
Sometimes the “main event” photos – the ones with the “nailed it” hashtags on Instagram, the big reason you’re wherever you went that day – are overrated. The images that make you remember how it felt to be there are the in-between photos. The ones you shot before you got where you’re going, or saw that thing you wanted to see. Sure, you can take those money shots too. You should! But often I find my children are more relaxed, and more receptive to being photographed, when they’re not at the “main event” yet.
4. Get Low, Go Wide
Chances are, if you’re going somewhere awesome with your family, a bunch of other families thought it’d be cool to go there too. That means crowds. This is why a wide angle lens is your friend when you’re in a busy place. If you’re a prime lens person like me, you may have to get super close to your kids to get a good shot. Crowds and other factors won’t give you room to back up or get your environment in the frame.
That’s okay, even a moderately wide-angle lens in the 35mm range will do this for you. And this focal length will give a more documentary feel to your images, which is appropriate for an out-and-about kind of day because this not a portrait session, folks! The idea is to capture your family’s amazing time, not necessarily to take your holiday card photo. That’s a project for another day.
Low-to-the-ground perspectives will also spotlight your child while capturing their surroundings. It’s hard to show where they are in their environment, and incorporate a sense of scale, when you’re shooting down at a child. I’ve been known to lie on my back and shoot up while at the beach to capture my boys jumping off of a lifeguard chair. And yes, I did duck walk behind my son at a carnival, camera in hand, so I could photograph the scale of the giant stuffed animal he’d won. Getting really low has clear advantages that will be worth all the squatting-in-a-public-place embarrassment, and then some.
5. Finding Compositional Elements
Everyone knows that light trumps all else when executing beautiful images but unless every family outing is at the golden hour or on a gently overcast day, your light may be less than optimal.
You can still add beauty to your images using the compositional elements in the setting around you. Keep an eye out for leading lines, especially in less crowded locations. Ask yourself if there are architectural elements that could frame your subject? Look out for color patterns: is there a color tone in your child’s clothing that might coordinate with your setting in some way? Consider introducing brightly painted walls or patterned floors to add interest to otherwise simple imagery. Add negative space, if you have the room for it, which can make your child “pop” within the setting. It also adds a sense of context for your family’s experience.
6. Kids’ Eye View
On family outings, I remind myself that the resulting images are ultimately for all of us to enjoy. That means capturing images where my children are not the subject, so that they can remember what it is that they saw too. I try to put myself in their place and shoot from their perspective: the big skies out of a ferris wheel window, the giant windows at a museum, the honking yellow taxis speeding down Fifth Avenue in NYC. Similarly, little details factor in the images from our outings: what we ate, street signs and more. These “supporting images” as I think of them, allow us to reminisce about the day and remember what made it special – from our whole family’s point of view.
Holly Berfield, New York
Photographer
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Holly Berfield is a family photographer in the northern suburbs of New York City. She is mom to 10 and 12 year old boys, and is married to her college sweetheart. Holly was previously a lawyer, until her love of photography made it feel impossible to do anything else! She adores travel, reading and food, which are combined in her bookcooklook project on her blog and on Instagram.
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