Don't forget grandma and grandpa | Familjefotograf Stockholm

“Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild.” ~Welsh Proverb

When was the last time you took a photo of your parents with your children? Do you have a beautiful photograph of you with your own grandparents? Does your child have a photo of them with their grandmother or grandfather? Maybe your father takes your eldest child fishing every Saturday. Do you have a photograph of this? Maybe your mother likes to read to your daughter. Have you documented this?

And what about the great-grandparents in the family? They are a vital part of family dynamics, too. Are they regularly included in photographs?

I once had a client who asked me to take a photo of his daughter with his grandmother. It was a fleeting moment, captured quickly on camera, and has since become one of my client’s most cherished photos because his grandmother died shortly after the photo was taken .

That bond betwen grandchildren and their grandparents can be such a beautiful thing.

My approach to photographing tweens and teens | barnfotograf Stockholm

In a nutshell, I let them be themselves :). I give them tips on what to wear - something that won’t embarrass them when they look back on the photos in years to come. We chat, I make bad jokes and I basically capture them as they are. If they don’t feel like giving me a big smile, that’s absolutely okay. If they want to horse around and be playful, that’s okay too. If they want to channel their inner James Dean and just be cool, I will photograph that.

I love when families book photo sessions for their tweens and teens. These are their last few years before they fly the nest, why not capture this period. I know one mom who gives each of her children a big photo book when they move out, full of all the key moments in their life. I will definitely be stealing that idea for my girls when the time comes :)

My approach to sibling photography | Familjefotograf Stockholm

As you all enjoyed my recent blog post My Approach to Family Photography, I thought you might also enjoying hearing about how I approach photographing siblings.

Hopefully, you will by now notice a common theme in my approach - FUN. For the most part, I do my best to illict laughter from younger siblings. I don’t tell younger siblings to smile. I give them a reason to smile. Sometimes that’s my bad Swedish, sometimes it’s their parents dancing (yes, I have been known to make parents dance) and sometimes they are just so naturally happy that all I have to do is lift my camera and I’m getting the megawatt smiles.

I also like to get my little subjects to engage in something fun, for example, whispering their favourite ice cream flavour to each other and I have to guess it, reading together, tickling each other, or just them lost in their own world of play. Sometimes though (and because they are usually my favourite kind of shots), I will aim for a more serious expression. The right kind of serious look can make for a very interesting photograph ;)

My approach to family photography - the Jolly way

When you are six feet under, how do you want your loved ones to remember you? What would you want your photographs to say about you?

Now, I could be wrong, but I doubt anyone wants to be remembered as a grumpy bugger. Right? I can safely say all my photo sessions are grumpy bugger-free. And why is that? First of all, I prepare all my clients for our photo sessions. They get tips on what to wear and what to bring to their photo session, and they are told exactly how the shoot is going to flow and how I will direct them, so there is no sense of uncertainity on the day. On top of that, I create a fun and positive atmosphere, so if there was any trace of grumpiness right before our session, it would soon dissipate and before you know it you would have a pain in your face from smiling (natural smiles that is, no forced smiles on my watch).

So, now you know. Jolly photo sessions feel natural, fun and relaxed. You will be well prepared in advace and treated like a favourite cousin on the day. And best of all, you will have beautiful, timeless, grumpy bugger-free photographs to cherish forever ;)