Abbie Rufener Photography... candid.modern.photography: Family Pictures

I mentioned in a post a while back that I needed to schedule family pictures for my own family. And I did! And I felt what a lot of you probably feel. I worried about what we were going to wear, where we should shoot them. And then I worried about the weather (which wound up being gorgeous) and worried about whether we would be late (we weren't). I worried that Ella would be a terror (she wasn't... although she was quite active). I got knots in my stomach waiting for Shelby to arrive because of my nervousness. In case you haven't caught on yet, I'm kind of a worrier. And, I kind of need to work on that. But that's a whole different blog post.

Let me offer a few hints to help you not worry as much as I did. For clothes, pick out what your husband is going to wear first (this is easiest), then you, the wife, then your kids. Don't feel that you need to all wear the same color, just make sure that they go together. As for the location, where do you love to go? If you could visit one or two certain places outdoors for some rest and relaxation, where would you visit? Then, don't worry about the weather. You can't control it. If need be, the session can be rescheduled. As for your kids, relax. Kids will sense if you're stressed. Go with the flow, let them do what they want (more or less). The photographer will help guide you through your session and try to help with your kids as much as possible. And finally, relax, relax, relax. Your session will be fun! You'll feel like a model! You'll feel beautiful and important and in the end, you'll have some of the most beautiful images of your family you've ever seen.

I knew of Shelby because we both sometimes frequent a photography forum so I contacted her to see if she would be interested in photographing my little family, and in return, me photographing hers. And she agreed! So on Labor Day we met up on the mall for a couple mini-sessions and here are some of my favorites that she took of us. Thank you Shelby. These are more precious to us than anything.