Printed photographs are what matter | Familjefotograf Stockholm

When I suddenly lost my only brother four years ago, the whole family scrambled for photographs of him. No, it wasn’t the photos online that we looked at and cried and smiled over, it was all the printed photographs. They were the ones we held in our shaking hands and stared at in disbelief. Those smiling photos of him were the ones that pulled on our heartstrings. A couple of months after he passed, a very old friend kindly sent me a card to say how sorry she was for my loss. Inside that card was a selection of photos from my brother’s graduation. He was happy and handsome in those pictures, and I sobbed my heart out as I slowly looked through them. I was sad for what I had lost, but also so very grateful to have received those priceless photographs.

To this day, one of my most treasured items is a photograph of my brother and I, taken during St Patrick’s Day celebrations in New York. We are happy and carefree and he has his arm around me. Every evening I light a candle in front of this photograph. The photo honors his memory and makes me feel like he is still around :)

And what about you? Do you print your photographs? Do you make photo books out of all those digial files taking up space on your phone/hardrive? Do you gift actual printed photographs to grandparents/aunts/uncles/siblings, etc? Do you have family photos on your walls? Do you have a photo album of your baby’s first year? Do you have physical family photo albums your children can flick through once they’re old enough to appreciate them?

Do you feel that because we live in a digital age that you only need digital files? When you’re old and feeling sentimental and want to remember all those good times, how do you even know those digital images will survive? Would you not rather have all those special memories in print? To me, having a photograph in print means actually owning it. It is real. It is a physical version of that image, one that cannot be lost to a digital incident or accident.

Printed photographs are priceless.

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 ;)