In Home Family Portraits | The Clarks

Whenever we have the opportunity to photograph our friends it is such a special occasion. Not only are Adam and Kelly some of our closest friends, but they are also our family as well. That means our children are cousins! That also means that their precious daughter is our niece and she has made us 'Uncle Miles and Aunt Sarah' for the first time ever.

Kelly and I had the opportunity to be pregnant side by side and our due dates were actually only two weeks apart. We were originally planning to photograph a maternity/couples session for Adam and Kelly this Fall before I went on maternity leave. But their sweet daughter surprised everyone by being born five weeks early! And since that moment, Mabel Louise has charmed her way into all of our hearts--we love her dearly.

Once Adam and Kelly came home and had an opportunity to get settled, we offered to photograph some family portraits in their home. Kelly got to wear the beautiful dress she had originally planned for her maternity session (which is one of the many reasons we both love Nothing Fits But--for their versatility to wear their dresses in any season of life). Adam and Kelly had their home decorated for Christmas and we had many picturesque settings for their photos. Underneath the dried oranges and fresh garland. Beside the Christmas tree with their stockings hung above the fireplace mantel. And after swaddling Mable so she was snug and warm, we snuck out to the backyard for a few minutes to get some photos in the snow.

We love photographing these kinds of in-home family portraits. There is something so peaceful about being invited into one's homes and documenting them in their natural environment. We felt as though we could take our time, settle into cozy positions, and enjoy the company of their precious family. And all the while we were photographing them as they were and capturing this sweet stage of life for them to remember forever.

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.