Fall family photos have somehow gotten a reputation for requiring coordinated outfits, perfectly behaved children, and everyone looking pleasantly toward the camera at the exact same time.

I would like to formally release us all from that.

Give me the kid who won’t stop running. The toddler with a pocket full of rocks. The dad who swears he hates photos and then ends up laughing harder than anyone. Give me windblown hair, grass stains, bear hugs, somebody inevitably needing a snack.

A little chaos looks good on you, promise.

Because twenty years from now, I don’t think you’re going to miss the version where everybody behaved.

You’re going to miss them.

Your family photos don’t need to look perfect

When families book me for fall family photos in Loudoun County, one of the things I hear most often is some version of:

“My kids are crazy.”

Perfect.

They’re kids. They’re supposed to be a little wild.

You do not need to spend the drive to your session begging everyone to please, for the love of God, just cooperate for one hour. 😂

My job isn’t to photograph some imaginary, perfectly polished version of your family. My job is to pay attention to the one standing right in front of me.

The way your youngest still reaches for your hand.

The face your kid makes right before they completely lose it laughing.

The way your people pile onto each other.

The tiny exchanges happening when nobody realizes I’m watching.

Usually, the real magic is hiding in plain sight.

What actually makes a great fall family photo?

Light matters. Location matters. What you wear can certainly help.

But connection wins every single time.

That’s why my family sessions involve a lot more movement than posing. We walk. We play. We explore. We snuggle. Kids get to be kids. I’ll give you direction when you need it, but I’m also watching for everything that happens in between.

Those in-between photographs are so often the ones people love most.

Not because everyone was looking at me.

Because everyone was looking at each other.

Fall family photos in Northern Virginia

One of the reasons I love photographing families here in Loudoun County and Northern Virginia is that fall gives us such an incredible backdrop without needing to manufacture much of anything.

Fields, farms, tall grass, mountains, changing leaves, old trees, backyards — we have plenty to work with.

But the location is never really the story.

You are.

I would rather photograph your child running through an ordinary field with their whole face lit up than put your family somewhere “perfect” and spend the entire session trying to keep everyone still.

Beautiful things happen when nobody behaves.

What should you wear for fall family pictures?

Please don’t feel like you need to turn this into a military operation.

You don’t all need to match. You don’t need to buy five entirely new outfits. And your children definitely don’t need to spend an hour wearing something they hate because it matched the Pinterest board.

Think coordinated, not matching: colors that work together, layers and texture, comfortable clothes that move well, and things that still feel like you.

And if figuring that out makes you want to cancel the whole thing, I have a client closet and I’m happy to help.

We’re going to do an entire post about this next, because apparently getting five humans dressed is the hardest part of family photography. 😂

For all the wildly ordinary days

The older I get, the more convinced I am that these are the photographs that matter.

Not just the Christmas-card photograph.

The other ones.

Your kid buried in your shoulder.

Someone laughing with their whole body.

Little hands.

Messy hair.

The way your family fits together right now, before somebody grows another three inches or stops asking to be carried or suddenly doesn’t live under your roof anymore.

These are the wildly ordinary days.

And someday, this will all be back then.

That’s what I want to photograph.

If you’ve been putting off family photos because your family isn’t particularly good at standing still and smiling on command, we’re probably going to get along just fine.

I’m a Northern Virginia family photographer based in Loudoun County, photographing families throughout Purcellville, Leesburg, Middleburg, Bluemont and the surrounding Northern Virginia area.

Let’s tell your story.