Hanson Family | Arcadia

We were invited out to Arcadia to document the beautiful Hanson family last summer. With their permission, we brought our daughter Edith (a few months old at the time) and carried her in the baby carrier while we photographed. It ended up being a true joy as the girls were just ecstatic to look at the camera and say 'Hi, Edith!'. We ended up with some of the sweetest, authentic smiles and giggles and at the end, I crouched down so the girls could say a proper hello to Edith. Their oldest was just a gem as she walked over and so gently held Edith's hands and quietly whispered hello.

We chose to document the Hanson family with a few traditional group smiling photos but beyond that, we opted to document them interact organically. On a beach in Northern Michigan, that meant the kids tossing stones into the water, trying to outrun each other, and lots and lots of twirling in pretty dresses all with a stunning sunset backdrop. I think it's our favorite type of portrait session to document, ones that feel like real life and truly reflect our subjects personalities. It's one of things we love the most about photography, when we can actually tell stories through our cameras.