Seattle In Home Family Photography : Parzybok

Seattle in home family photography : close-up of mom smiling down at six kids

Why do I want to shoot Seattle in home family photography? I’ll show you right here.

I had a chance to photograph a family of eight in their beautiful Seattle home a few weeks back. Yes, you read that right – eight. Six kids from pre-school to high school and they were all home-schooled until last year. I am in awe of their gorgeous, hard-working, fun-loving mama. The kids welcomed me into their lovely and quirky remodeled mid-century home one Saturday morning which such great manners, I was taking notes for myself and my kids – ha! Mom and Dad had recently remodeled their expansive kitchen, the hub of their home, and it was important to document the family hanging out in there. Being that it was an early Saturday Seattle winter morning, I used artificial light to supplement the existing light while enabling me to still shoot film photography, my favorite.

Luther, their doodle, was a little leery of me and the extra gear I brought. As I was setting up the light, he crept under the kitchen bench to keep an eye on the whole situation. Once we started he was as happy to participate in the photo shoot as the rest of his family (you’ll notice him throughout these photos). I strongly believe our pets are part of our family and should be in the family photographs, too. You can see other family photos with dogs throughout my blog.

The session was laid-back and easy breezy (and fun)! We took little breaks so mom and dad could enjoy a cup or two of coffee and the kids could grab a quick snack (and I could re-load my film cameras and adjust my Prophoto strobe for the next series – see below).

Dad sat down to enjoy a cup of coffee and the boys piled around him on the couch. I may have twisted their arms about where they were going to hang out, but I mean seriously. Cool vintage couch, brick wall, mounted deer head, cowhide rug, and turquoise floors?? How could I not use this space? The one problem was the quality and amount of light was pretty terrible, so I added strobe. Can you tell?

We retired to the living room that had this amazing red rug (note that red looks AMAZING on film) and amazing beautiful natural light. The girls started playing with their dog Luther so I told them to get down on the floor with him.

We then piled everyone with mama on the couch and worked to get some comfy, cozy, natural photos of all of them together (while Dad got to take a little break).

We ended the session getting crazy and having fun outside in their backyard. I loved the textures and patterns of the old cinderblock wall and green shrubbery, so I had the kids hang out on the bench and do their thing.

The entire experience was too fun! I am so lucky that I get to make lasting tangible memories for families in their homes, where they hang out every day and memories are made. This place that families get attached to that has a lot of meaning for them. Why wouldn’t you want to have a photo session in your home? I was really intimidated by having to photograph a large family of eight, with artificial light, and on film, but it was really more than I could have hoped for. I hope they think so too!