Christmas-themed family photos are very popular. And for good reason. They’re quick, you get a small number of images, and those images can be used for Christmas cards, gifts or to put up around the house.
But what do they actually show?
Often, a family dressed up – sometimes in matching outfits – to portray a particular version of family life. A little bit perfect, a little bit polished, a little bit Christmas-card-ready. And I can absolutely see the appeal. But it’s not for me.
I’ve been asked about Christmas mini sessions before. I know photographers who run them very successfully, and whose clients are absolutely delighted with the results. I could probably make decent money doing them too.
I’m still saying no because everything in me screams: this is fake.
Not fake as in the family isn’t real, or they didn’t have a lovely time. Just… it isn’t how I want to photograph family life.
I’m much more interested in honest representation. In photographs that actually feel like the people in them – and that remind you of what your life looked and felt like at that particular point in time.
So if you want Christmas photos with me, we absolutely can do Christmas photos. Just not in a 15-minute slot on a themed set.
Instead, we can spend an hour or two at your home, doing the things you actually do. Decorating the tree. Wrapping presents. Baking biscuits. Playing a game. Reading Christmas stories. Hanging up decorations.
Or, frankly, doing something completely non-Christmasy. Because your family doesn’t suddenly become a different family just because it’s December. And that’s what I want to photograph.
Real life is so much more interesting to me than a posed photograph on a staged set. No shade if that’s your jam. Plenty of families genuinely love that kind of photography. It just isn’t mine.
A few years ago, I wrote about why I love winter family photo sessions at home, and what they can look like. I still stand by everything I wrote then.
5 reasons why winter in-home family photo sessions are the best
Because ultimately, I don’t want you to look back at your photographs and remember the set you stood on or the outfits you wore. I want you to remember your family, as you were then – and all the little things that made that particular Christmas yours.
