#1 Tip To Get Your Kids To Participate (happily!) During Your Lifestyle Family Photos | Austin Lifestyle Photographer

I’d love for you to meet the amazing P Family. I’ve known them for 10 years – from the very beginning days of my photography business. They’ve continued to trust me all these years to help capture the essence of their family and their brands (check them out here and here). I’ve had the joy of watching their sweet family grow, and they forever inspire me as a Lifestyle Photographer.

One of the many things I love about photographing the P family is that they are some of the most authentic people I know. Their goal for our session was to capture the real them:

• the genuine sleepy eyes
• the bedheads
• the silly expressions
• the laughter
• the running around
• the squirming
• the real emotions

And, during our session, someone decided she was done with this photography stuff and needed to go explore. She’s in the background of several images while we captured the rest of the crew. And it all works so perfectly well! Why does it work so well?

Well, that leads me to the question so many parents have about their upcoming family session:

What’s the secret sauce to getting my kids to participate during our family session?

I’ve got good news: you don’t have to get them to ‘behave‘. They are behaving, like kids!

And frankly, this should be REALLY good news for you. It gives you permission to relax and be as free as your kids want to be. 

Look, we can get cute shots of your kids no matter what. When they’re sad, or running from you, or have messy hair, or making funny faces, they’re still cute! But for adults? We’re just not as cute when we’re mad. And, believe me, it makes it a bit more challenging to get some quality photos in.

So, my number one tip to help you look forward to your family session and get the most bang for your buck?

Let go of some of the expectations you may have for perfection.

That’s the beauty of capturing lifestyle images–your family can be free to be yourselves.

And, for what it’s worth, for the more “posed” family shots, I do have some tricks up my sleeve to get everyone to smile. Looking for more tips? I have eight more here! You can also see how to best prep for your family session here.

So, if you’re breathing a heavy sigh of relief, let’s get your family lifestyle session booked! Can’t wait to show the magic of your family!

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Alissa is an award-winning brand, maternity, newborn and family photographer + documentary filmmaker in Austin, Texas. She serves the Austin and surrounding areas.

If you are interested in a brand session, you can find information and general pricing info here. You can follow Alissa Cordoba Photography brand page on Instagram here.

If you are interested in a maternity, newborn or family session with Alissa Cordoba Photography you can find all of the details here and full pricing information here.

You can contact Alissa here or email her directly at alissa@alissacordoba.com