50+ Ideas For Your Next Family Photo Session

lifestyle photo session ideas montreal family photographer

Last time you tried to get your family photographed at the mall studio your littlest hurled THE.ENTIRE.TIME.

It was rough.  It was a disaster.

You are not doing THAT ever again.

I don’t blame you.  I wouldn’t either.

Your family portraits don’t need to be forced on your little ones.   

Family photography should be about spending time together, going on adventures, playing, laughing and having FUN – all while capturing REAL memories that you will LOVE looking back on.

I am a family photographer who loves to photograph families in their home, but I know a lot of people would prefer to do something else, or wonder about what I would photograph for 90 minutes + in their “boring” regular lives.  So, I put together a list of 50+ ideas for your next portrait session.

Have more ideas?  Please leave a comment below and I’ll add them to the list!

montreal lifestyle family baby maternity photographer

IDEAS FOR PHOTOGRAPHING FAMILY AT HOME  

  • Family playtime – let’s do all your favourite family activities!  
  • Tickle war
  • Reading stories
  • Baking your favourite cookies, letting the kids really get their hands, and probably everything else, DIRTY!
  • Painting together (paint brushes optional!)
  • Bubble bath (your tub and a whole lotta bubbles! we can accessorize with goggles or snorkelling gear!)
  • Learning how to ride a bike
  • Family dance party
  • Saturday morning routine – from breakfast to nap time and everything you do in between
  • Morning routine.  bed head, breakfast and bath.  bring it.
  • Craft time, the messier, the better!
  • SUPERHERO costume day!  try them ALL On!
  • Playing dress-up & a tea party
  • Getting a pet?  Let me be there to capture the look of shock and happiness on your little one’s face!
  • 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed…or even just one or two, however many you’ve got will do.
  • Day in the Life (4+ hours of capturing your family on a regular day)
  • Naptime adorableness, because they are so so cute when they sleep
  • Playing instruments together
  • Favourite card & board games 
  • Moving?  Let’s celebrate the end of a chapter in your current home
  • Walk, aka adventure, through the neighbourhood

Crazy stuff we do with our kids before they get too big and heavy:

montreal lifestyle family baby maternity photographer

OUT AND ABOUT: FAMILIES ON THE GO

  • A trip to your favourite ice cream parlour, the more sprinkles the better…
  • A trip to the Montreal Biodome
  • First train ride for your train lover
  • Trip to the library
  • Trip to the farm
  • Apple Picking
  • Exploring the streets of the old port or downtown
  • A day at the zoo – capturing your little one’s eyes lighting up as they see the animals!
  • Getting your first fish from the pet shop
  • Going Fishing

Bowling:

girl bowling montreal

Collecting Pokemon:

collecting pokemon

SUMMER

  • Backyard bonfire and roasting marshmallows
  • Backyard camping
  • Splashing in the lake
  • Family picnic, with a blanket a basket and all the picnic trimmings!
  • Backyard fun – swimming, swinging, making bubbles and kicking the ball around
  • Feeding ducks at the lake
  • Hiking through the local wooded trails
  • Front porch family time
  • A trip to the beach
  • Trampoline!
  • Strawberry Picking

girls on trampoline in princess dresses laughing

girl biking and laughing

WINTER FAMILY MEMORIES TO CAPTURE

  • Building a snowman, family style
  • Snowball fight
  • Making snow angels
  • Dancing in the falling snow
  • Building a fort
  • Backyard skating rink
  • Snow day sessions can end indoors with a nice cup of hot cocoa topped with everyone’s fav, marshmallows!

girl with sled going to slide in winter snow montreal

SPRING

  • Dancing in the rain
  • A trip to the Apple Orchard, where the trees are in full bloom and the animals are waiting

girl feeding goat at petting zoo

CELEBRATING YOUR CHILD’S BIRTHDAY

  • Birthday celebration – capturing all your little one’s favourite things on their birthday, right through to icing the cake and licking the spoon
  • Birthday balloon surprise!  Surprise your child by having a room filled with balloons waiting for them when they wake up!  We can have a morning breakfast party!

GENERATIONS

  • Picking up your beloved family member from the airport
  • Hanging our with Grandma & Grandpa
  • Playing cards with grandparents
  • Looking through old photographs together

The best time to do this is now, before life gets in the way.

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