In case you missed the memo, it’s family portrait season! I absolutely love this time of year. Every weekend when I come home from a session my husband asks me how it went. A trailer quickly fires off in my mind replaying the chaos of the previous couple of hours and I reply, “okay, I think.” In the moments of screaming-crying-please-sit-still-smile-stay-don’t-run-play-nice-sighs-of-defeat, it’s hard to tell if it was a success or not. But Allison has been through this before. This is the third time I’ve photographed her family and she knows just how to survive a family photo shoot. And having survived over ten years of family photo shoots myself, I thought you might find my “How to Survive a Family Photo Shoot” guide helpful, if not entertaining. As a bonus, this is a great survival guide for life in general, as well. Enjoy!

How to Survive a Family Photo Shoot

• Take a shower and wash your hair. Wear something that makes you feel beautiful. Appreciate your soft, round middle and tired yet smiling eyes. Do not be shy about the fact that you have cleavage and really great shoes.
• Ask for help when you need it and remember patience is a virtue.
• Breathe. You’ll need to be comforted and reassured over and over again–how could you not? You were meant to be loved, so let it in. Inhale. Exhale. Breathe.
• Play whatever game your kids are playing. Stop apologizing. Stop explaining. I’ve seen it all before.
• Don’t hold back. Allow yourself to be ridiculous and feel joy. Put all your energy into the place where your heart is leading.
• Play your favorite song on your iPhone, set it for repeat, and dance to it like no one is watching…or everyone is watching.
• Submit to the chaos. This can be terrifying and uncomfortable but there’s nothing to do but ride it out. It is critical for you to understand that there is no wrong move here and the powerful energy around you is going to happen with or without your blessing.
• Let go of all your assumptions. You don’t know how this adventure will play out and you are not in control. Face the moment with eyes wide open, unafraid, knowing that love is all that matters and everyone is working towards a happy ending.
• Smile. Let your eyes say everything. Shine.

Depending on how you look at it, I have about 9 siblings. But most of my childhood was spent with two younger sisters and one younger brother. The two youngest were (and still are) lovingly referred to as “the girls”. And even though I am also a girl, I am not one of “the girls”. The Girls wore matching outfits and were roughly the same size and only separated by one year in school. The Girls had the same friends, the same enemies, and at any given moment were each other’s best friend or worst enemy. They wanted to be me and I wanted to be an only child.

There was a time when I hated my sisters borrowing my clothes. I didn’t want them in my room and I didn’t want them touching my stuff. Unless of course, they were cleaning my room, which I paid them to do on more than one occasion. Sadly, my underpaid wages are no longer enticing to them anymore.

Nowadays, we all have a collection of each other’s clothes in our own homes and closets. I love it when someone compliments my outfit and asks where I got it. “Oh these shoes are my sister’s and this shirt…belongs to my other sister”. And I love it when they’re in my room. My living room. My bathroom. My dining room. My kitchen. I love it when they’re in my space and I love that we can share all kinds of stuff. Gone are the days of tossing the youngest down the laundry chute. These are the days when we giggle about laundry rooms gone up in flames and the miracle of magic erasers (Seriously. What is in them!?).

So it was an absolute delight to photograph my friend Jon with his girls. These girls who have so many things in common and yet are all so very different. His girls are confident and sassy; hysterical and oh, so pretty. Poor Jon is clearly outnumbered by this troupe of girls and such a good sport. They all make a pretty good team. After a trip to Uwajimaya for homemade sushi fixin’s, we strolled through Carillon Point just a couple of hours before sunset. Each girl flaunted her own unique personality and I felt like one of The Girls amongst their dimpled smiles and bouncy hair.

After an hour plus of skipping and giggling we returned to their casa for comfy clothes and a smorgasbord of sushi. A truly impressive display of teamwork and artwork went into the assembly of enough rice, fish and veggies to feed a small army. We finally called it quits when the last of the rice was used up. What happened next still gives me heart squeeze.

The Girls setup pillows and blankets across the living room floor and they huddled together around their buffet for family movie night. Delicate fingers stuffed giant balls of delicately wrapped sushi into their hungry mouths. And for the first time in hours, it was silent. With heavy eyes and a full belly I left them before the end of the movie. But not before we hugged it out and made promises to hang out again soon. Those girls.

Thank you for a spectacular sunny afternoon. Thanks for letting me be one of The Girls. I loved it more than you can imagine.