Holt Family | Flagstaff Family Session
The Holts are a beautiful, local Flagstaff family that I got the opportunity to shoot with back in late August. I had crossed paths with Heather a few times, as she’s a makeup artist in the wedding industry, and she reached out asking if I could do a family photo session for them! As soon as we had a shoot on the books, I knew I had to take them to Buffalo Park to catch the tail end of the gorgeous wildflower bloom we get when summer turns to autumn here in Flagstaff! This locations is one of my favorites when the client want the quintessential Flagstaff feels: scenic mountain views, gorgeous wildflowers, a sky that goes on forever, and pine trees as far as the eye can see. The colors of the blooms and the foliage are especially vibrant all the way up until the end of August into early September, so I knew it would provide a great backdrop for these family portraits. I was super excited to finally meet the family behind the businesswoman that I know Heather to be, and I loved seeing how close they are as a family unit. Not only are they just an extremely picturesque and photogenic family to begin with but they're also a bunch of sweet-hearted goofballs deep down, which made shooting with them an absolute blast!
There were plenty of things I loved about the way that Heather handled family photos, and one of them was that she let the kids pick their own outfits! I admired the way she allowed her children to really be able to wholeheartedly express themselves, and I think how confident and true-to-themselves the kids felt was totally reflected in the photos we took!
On top of that, Heather didn’t make any effort (in the best way possible) to reign her kids in during the shoot. She really let them be themselves and enjoy running, playing, and hanging out in a gorgeous wildflower field with their siblings, and I think that the joyful, carefree energy is super evident in the final results. Being able to see the kids being themselves also helped me to learn what each of their personalities was like, and gave me a lot of fun ideas for photos that could accurately portray them as people! They were total goofballs the whole time and were definitely feeding off each others’ energy, and we got plenty of great shots of them playing, picking flowers, and really showing off their great sibling dynamic. Something that’s awesome about family photo sessions, especially if you have kids on the younger side, is that it’s a great way to be able to capture and reflect on the kids they were and their special personalities at that moment in time.
A moment that stood out to me as really fun and unique from this particular shoot was one that happened during a lull while we were getting ready to take the next set of photos. The kids started picking petals off the wildflowers all around us, and typically I wouldn’t be down to hurt nature for the benefit of a photoshoot but considering the fact that the end of wildflower season was approaching and many of the flowers were already on their way out, I decided to go with it! I told them to pick as many petals as they could and collect them in their hands so we could do some fun shots of them throwing them in the air. The kids were totally game and we did a few rounds of this, then took some sillier photos of them making funny faces as their parents kissed. We also took some sweet photos of the family walking together and holding hands among the wildflowers.
After the silly photos, we got some group shots. Something that’s really important to me in family sessions is making sure that everyone involved is having fun, and that everyone gets their time to shine. Highlighting all the special relationships that form within a family is also something I love to do, and I made sure to get plenty of shots like the parents together, the sisters, the brothers, and the three girls and three boys! Finally, we did some individual portraits of the kids. This was another moment where I was able to see the kids’ personalities on full display, and now that they were comfortable around me and knew I was down with the antics and them being themselves we were able to get some great photos where the kids were really able to shine!
This session was really great in terms of being able to highlight not only a local Flagstaff family, but a family that is made up entirely of sweet, fun-loving people! The Holts did an amazing job of being open to any suggestions or ideas I had for photos. The whole family was great at balancing the more serious, posed shots with playing and having fun, and really allowed themselves to get comfortable and be open so we could get those shining, genuine photos we were looking for!
