When you want documentary family photos in Austin, Texas, I’m there!

There’s something magical about photographing a family over the years — watching them grow their very first baby, move across states, add more babies to their family, add animals, and adopt new rhythms to their days. I’ve been lucky enough to photograph this family since they were expecting their first daughter back in St. Paul, Minnesota. Added another baby girl in Baldwin, Wisconsin, and now one more daughter under the big Texas sky in Austin.

Their life now looks like RV road trips to Big Bend, and rescuing horses from slaughter. Barefoot mornings feeding the chickens. It’s thunderstorms and muddy boots; it’s hot summer afternoons in their pool; it’s where chores and getting dirty is just part of the fun of the life they’ve always dreamed of.

This home, this life that they love, it’s exactly what they wanted to see in their documentary photography session!

Here, where their real, beautiful life unfolds. And when they look back on these photos they giggle and grin as they remember their toddler losing her clog in the mud, her wiggling her toes with the strange sensation of the muck. How she was so eager to help the older girls carry the hay for the horses and she loved to throw it in the air and feel it rain down on herself. How fun it was that mom and dad let them jump in the pool in their dresses at the end of the photoshoot.

They’ll remember the sweet friendship their oldest had with her pony. The gentle spirit of that animal and how it brought a tenderness to their lives that they didn’t even know they needed. They’ll enjoy reflecting back on their middle daughter’s love of plants and growing a garden. They’ll have photos of where that love began and was nurtured, here in their Austin home.

But what about everyone looking at the camera?

And those snuggled up family photos where everyone is looking at the camera – did you know that actually I do those too!!! We sneak a few of those in, because we all like to have a few of those! But I find that they feel much more much more relaxed, carefree and unforced, when they are mixed into a day of play and normal life. There are no bribes, no yelling, no tears to get those smiling shots. They are mixed into the beauty of your life, and therefore they are stress-free and turn out lovely.

Let Your Life Set the Scene

Your home, your land, your animals, your morning rituals, you already have the perfect backdrop. You don’t need anything fancy to have meaningful, beautiful family photos.

No matter where you are in the world, Austin, Paris, or Sydney, if you are craving photos that truly reflect your everyday magic, let’s talk. I’m currently located in Colorado Springs but am happy to travel so you don’t miss out on documenting this season in your life, right now, just as it is.

Reach out to me here.