The Best People You Know

Why multi-generational family photography has become so relevant and meaningful.

I’ve never been more proud of anything than this group of fools.

Below is my family (with a few members missing). A tripod, self-timer and me running into the frame is how this photo was taken when the Alberta contingent was home for a visit last summer.

framed multigenerational family photo on a dresser

 We deserve better—a full Family Art Session—but this framed version graces my parents’ home with pride.

Lately, my inbox has been flooded with requests for for multi-generational family photos.

Why the sudden surge in interest and urgency for family photos with grandparents and grandchildren and siblings? 

People are clamouring to get into my schedule, which I won’t open yet for another month.

Still, I’ve spoken with several daughters planning to celebrate the heads of their households in photography this year. They told me about their families expanding with new babies during these pandemic years; about being separated from their elderly parents, and about wanting to give the people who gave them everything something meaningful.

Still more women have explained to me that, as a result of being apart, they feel compelled towards greater closeness, and that their families deserve better than smartphone snapshots, hastily planned pictures taken in a local park or, worse yet, nothing at all.

They’re watching their children grow. Their siblings and parents age. Feeling the anxiety of time passage and delays. It leaves them craving connection, context and meaning.

These women have told me that their families deserve better than iPhone snapshots, hastily planned pictures taken in a local park or, worse yet, nothing at all.

When I look at the faces of my siblings and their children, I see my life in them. 

In my sisters and brother, I see my DNA.  My childhood memories. I see my vigilantes, and the sharers of my joy. In my nieces and nephew, I see a future I want to watch unfold.

Simply put, these are the best people I know.

If you’re planning a family get-together this year or if you’ve noticed that pictures of your newest family members are absent  from your home, let’s talk.

I can help you get the best people you know on the walls of your home, to help close the connection and meaning gap.

Here are some selections from my favourite multi-generational family art session of last year. (No self-timers were used, we did it right!)

A multigenerational family picture taken on a beach in Ontario in the summer.

A grandmother and grandfather pay loving attention to their grandchildren in this example of multi-generation family photography.

Grandparents play with their grandchildren on an Ontario beach in the summer in these multigenerational family pictures.

A family photo of featuring four siblings happily strolling arm-in-arm along a beach during summer .

A grandmother and grandfather carry and hold the hands of their grandchildren as they guide them barefoot over the sand in this multi-generation family photo.

Three siblings in the arms of their mother amuse each other in this custom family photograph taken outdoors in the summer.

A smiling grandmother lovingly holds her exuberant infant grandchild on a beach next to the water, in this example of multigenerational family photography.

A custom family photograph of a young boy standing ankle deep in rolling waves on an Ontario beach in summer.