That was definitely the case for the Martineau girls and their family. (editors note: the decision of how to lump an entire family together for a single blog post, when everyone has a different last name, and the feminist implications of referring to your family by their maiden name, despite marriage and the expectations of defining yourself and family by the names of the people that you have married…well, this became a very complicated conversation via Marco Polo)
Anyway….when Tiffany and her partner Shaun, announced that they would be packing up their twins, Harper and Jack, and coming all the way from Oahu, Hawaii, for their very first family visit to Washington, my best friend Shelli and I knew that we had to get the entire family together for some long overdue photos.
You may remember Harper and Jack from their introduction on this blog, four whole years ago when i was lucky enough to photograph them at their home in Oahu!
This was one of those sessions that felt about so much more than simply getting a nice family portrait. It was a chance to bring everyone together, soak up a beautiful summer day, and finally document this particular season of their family.
And, naturally, there were twins.
And multiple puppies.
So, you know… we had our work cut out for us.
A Sunny Day in Port Orchard
We couldn’t have asked for a better day for this family session.
The sun was shining, the water was sparkling, and the beach in Port Orchard gave us the perfect backdrop for a relaxed summer family session.
There is something about being near the water that makes family photos feel a little less formal. Instead of standing in one spot and smiling at the camera for an hour, we could let everyone move around, interact, and enjoy being together.
And when you’ve got little ones involved, movement is your friend.
We let the twins explore, gave the puppies plenty of opportunities to make things interesting, and embraced the moments that weren’t perfectly planned.
Because those are often the moments that end up being everyone’s favorites.
Wrangling Twins, Puppies, and Everyone in Between
There is a very specific kind of family photography that happens when toddlers and puppies are involved.
You make a plan.
The twins have a plan.
The puppies have a different plan.
And somehow, everyone ends up having a great time.
But honestly, I wouldn’t want it any other way.
The goal of a family session isn’t to manufacture an hour of perfect behavior. It’s to document your family as they actually are. The giggles, the cuddles, the chaos, the little personalities, and all the tiny interactions that you may not even realize you’ll miss someday.
And with twins, there are twice as many of those little moments to catch.
The puppies added their own special brand of chaos, too, but they also made the photos feel even more like this family, in this season of life.
The Moment That Got Connie
Some moments happen during a session that you simply can’t plan for.
This was one of them.
At one point, I asked the girls to give their mom, Connie, a kiss.
It was such a simple request. Just a sweet little moment between a mom and her girls.
And then Connie started to cry.
Not the kind of tears you expect when you’re trying to get through family photos without completely losing it. The kind that sneak up on you when someone suddenly gives you a glimpse of just how much you mean to them.
And honestly, I think that’s one of the most beautiful things about photographs.
We can spend so much time trying to get everyone to look at the camera, smile, and behave that it’s easy to forget what we’re actually documenting.
We’re documenting love.
We’re documenting what it feels like to be someone’s mom.
We’re documenting the little people who won’t always be this little, who will someday be grown and standing beside their own families.
That moment with Connie is exactly the kind of photograph I hope every family gets at least once.
Not because everyone looks perfect.
Not because everyone is looking at the camera.
But because you can feel it.
And years from now, I have a feeling this will be one of those photographs that takes Connie right back to that exact moment.
Family All the Way From Oahu
Having family travel from Oahu to be together made this session especially meaningful.
It’s easy to think of family photos as simply something you do every few years, but when family is spread across different places, those photographs become little time capsules.
They preserve the people who were there.
The way everyone looked.
How little the kids were (and how big they are getting!).
Which puppy was still tiny (Willow).
And what it felt like to have everyone together in the same place.
These are the photos that will eventually become the ones hanging on walls, sitting in albums, and being pulled out years from now with someone saying, “Look how little they were!”
And that’s exactly why I’m such a big fan of taking the photo even when life feels a little chaotic.
Documenting Connie and Ave
And, of course, we had to give Connie and Avery a few photos of just the two of them (and Moses and Willow of course).
Because parents are often so focused on making sure everyone else gets photographed that they forget they deserve to be in the pictures, too.
The Photos That Matter
There are plenty of reasons to schedule family photos.
Maybe you want updated pictures for the walls.
Maybe the grandparents have been asking.
Maybe everyone is finally in town.
Or maybe you just looked around one day and realized, Wow, these kids aren’t going to be this little forever.
Sometimes, “long overdue” is actually the perfect time.
Because years from now, nobody is going to care that one of the puppies wouldn’t sit still.
Nobody is going to remember that the twins needed a snack break.
They’re going to remember that everyone was together.
They’re going to see those little faces and remember exactly how they looked at this age.
They’re going to remember the sunny day in Port Orchard, the trip from Oahu, the beautiful garden, and the slightly chaotic family session that somehow captured all of it.
And they’re going to remember that little moment when the girls kissed their mom and Connie cried.
And that’s the good stuff.
So yes, these family photos may have been long overdue.
But I’m pretty sure they were worth the wait.
2amphoto 