Evan and I went to New Orleans a couple months ago to meet Maddie, the daughter of our good friends Lee and Alli. I decided to practice taking lifestyle photos of her with them and with Lee’s mom. They didn’t want to have formal newborn photos taken, but enjoyed having early candid moments captured with their daughter.

Grandma came to watch Maddie while we went to dinner one night.

Maddie got a little fussy…she looks remarkably like Lee when she cries…

Evan calmed her down with the guitar briefly, but her parents kept her happy with milk and the calming sounds of traffic.

Congrats to Lee + Alli. We love little Maddie!!

Taking portraits of children is always a challenging task. Lately I have been more interested in doing “lifestyle” family photography. It is about capturing real-life moments at home with the family–the real memories.

I think they are sweet and in many cases mean more to the parents. I tried this out when I did a photo shoot with our nephew and new niece in Atlanta a few months ago.

I began my shoot by trying to capture cute moments during a posed photo shoot. I did get some images I am happy with, especially the ones where the kids are just being themselves.

I also got this sweet moment at the end of the posed photo shoot.

After that, however, I began just following them around and capturing them in daily life, interacting with their parents, grandma, nanny, uncle Evan and a couple with me (photo credit for those two goes to my husband, Evan). I photographed Harris eating, playing on the bed, playing with the family dog and after his bath. I photographed Margo eating and being cared for by the family. I am really happy with the results and the parents, Nicole and John, loved them.

I had to snap a couple of the whole family, but the kiddos were tired by this point and we were rushing off to dinner, so they aren’t the best.

I did a similar photo shoot with our good friends and their new baby too, which I will post on my next blog. I also have plans to do the same for a coworker soon. I highly recommend using this approach with kids, whether it is professional photos or your own family. The results can be much more meaningful and unique. Life is funny, messy and unpredictable, especially with children around. It is not neat and perfect like posed professional photos depict it. It is more fun to capture the beauty in the imperfect.