Family Photos Change over Time
There is a big trend right now on social media to show photos of yourself 10 years ago as we start 2026. This puts us back to 2016. How wildly different my life was at the beginning of 2016. I was working in Chicago, newly pregnant with our first child, and gearing up to move across the country and begin an entirely new phase of life. People will often ask what was the biggest transition in adding kids to our family and without a doubt the transition from 0 to 1 kids was the hardest for me. No matter how many friends I talked to, blogs or books I read, classes I took, could prepare me for my heart walking around outside of my body in that kid. His birth is what got me to dust off my camera and start documenting his life. As he grew, those photos changed (as they should. And as we added more kids to the mix, those photos changed. And as my kids grow up, the photos change again. But each of these changes celebrate their growth physically and our growth as a family. And I am beyond grateful that I have photos to remind me of each of these unique phases.
How it started....
How it's going.
Yearly Family Photos Tell a Bigger Story
I have chatted with y’all about how to make family photos an annual tradition, but why does it matter? Your family has a unique story to tell. My boys were born in Connecticut and our family’s story starts with days of playing in leaves and blizzards. As our family grew and we moved back to North Texas, that story shows many days spent at the baseball fields and pools. My kids can point to photos to show the locations of our story. They also can see themselves grow. They can remember that one child had a pacifier far longer than they should have and another could build the most impressive train layouts and another could dress like Elsa 7 days a week and still not be content. These yearly photos celebrate who they are in each moment in time and when put together they tell the story of our family and I will never regret having that story to tell over the years.
Consistency matters over Perfection
If I waited for my house to be clean, to fit in a pair of jeans from 10 years ago, or my kids to reliably be on their best behavior, we would never have a single photo. The beauty of family life is that it is really messy. Each of us is messy on our own but somehow when you put that all together it is beautiful, even in the chaos. Even if life is not “picture perfect” your picture will be perfect because you showed up. You show up every day and that should be celebrated!
Photos Change as Kids Change
Each phase of your family’s journey has its own joys and struggles. Each phase your kids enter will have the same. As a school photographer, I am very used to working with kids of all ages and stages. A lot of the same poses work as your family grows. I can guarantee that you will still be asked to hug your kid and they’ll still be asked to hug you, but as your kids grow, we’ll adapt the poses to make them feel comfortable and confident. My jokes may still be just as cringy as when they were young, but they might teach me some new ones, too.
Your story matters
When you commit to making family photos a yearly tradition, you will have photos to point back to as you tell your story. And that story is a beautiful one, even in the mess. Watching your family grow and change over the years is worth documenting. I am honored to help tell that story through photos. Whether we are taking your family photos local to Grapevine or across the DFW area, making family photos a yearly tradition will help tell your family’s story in a unique way that only you can.