I have been a family photographer going on nine years and all too often I find families fall into the trap of feeling the need to wear the perfect ensemble of clothing. And to be completely honest, I do the same thing when I have my family photos taken, I want us to look well coordinated and pulled together. In fact I do what many of my families do, I stress about it for weeks prior. I have even gone into credit card debt buying us all outfits, that the boys will never wear, in an attempt to make us look like the perfect family. When picture day arrives, I battle them to don their argyle vests and put gel in their hair. Through tears I comb their bangs to the side and then we arrive for photos, all so very happy, as you can imagine. Yet, and this is where they hypocrisy comes in, when women call me asking for advice on what to wear for their family photos, I tell them this: “Wear what you love and what you feel good and comfortable in. Let your kids wear what they love and feel good and comfortable in. The most important thing is you feel good about how you look and comfortable in what you’re wearing and I love for kids to be able to express themselves through their clothes if they want to.” Rarely do mom’s bite…they usually hit Pinterest next for ideas using the key words “family photo clothing ideas.” (I know this because it’s what I key in.)
But once in a while, a family will show up and I can see right away that they embrace their kid’s crazy sense of fashion and just go with it…or, perhaps, they lost the battle at home and decided a happy child was more important than a perfectly dressed one. Either way, when kids show up in tutus and super-hero capes I always smile. And this little girl with her hair pulled back in way to many barrettes will go down as one of my all time favorites. I love the care she put into her hair that day and I love that her mom just let her go with it. Looking back, even just 5 years from now, it’s that row of barrettes that will speak volumes about the stage in life she was in and her charming personality. To me, she’s perfect in every way.
