Family Pictures: A Study in Harmony
It’s Family Photo Season, folks.
The truth is that the mad scramble to find outfits that coordinate AND fit everyone, insecurities over body image, finding a photographer, and finding a location, normally results in people avoiding the whole ordeal altogether.
However, I am a big believer in taking. the. darn. photo. Put the effort in, and make it happen - because you will never have THIS TIME back. Your baby will grow up, you’ll miss how cute they all were at that age, or your kids will want to see what Mom & Dad looked like as young parents someday - so put your best foot forward and make the family photo happen! Our first family photo, my husband took it on his hobby camera with a clicker, 3 weeks after we had our first born, on a local park bench. I AM SO GLAD WE TOOK THAT PHOTO. It is such a lovely tribute to that time in our lives, our little family just blossoming, and I am so grateful we pulled it together enough to take that photo. So, hat off to you folks, trying to make it happen! Lets get into the outfits of it all.
the key to family photo styling is ease & harmony.
Think about your family - everyone has their own unique personality, and all parts contribute to the whole. So visually allowing for some uniqueness in people’s outfits in the photos, communicates that beautiful dimensionality to your family. This also allows you the freedom to not have to buy or force everyone to be matchy-matchy! However, it does need to be cohesive - nothing is worse than that one family member in a band tee in the “white outfits” photo. By utilizing a “themed” approach to styling, you will be able to ensure that everyone feels unique but the overall image is a harmonious one.
Pick a theme and stick to it.
An outfit theme does not have to be elaborate, but there does have to be a through line that connects all of the different outfits. A theme can be something as simple as “denim” - pants, skirts, dresses, jackets, it doesn’t matter as long as it is denim, and everyone’s is wearing something denim. The denim coordination creates that visual connecting line across all the looks, no matter what else its worn with. If denim or texture is not your vibe, then think in terms of colors. You can choose 1 color and play with various shades of that color, or you can work within a coordinating color scheme. How to choose your theme? Usually you have something that inspires you and can become the basis of your theme, in my case, this year I was deeply inspired by my STAUD China Blue Toile Dress - theme chosen! In past years our setting inspired me - one year I knew I wanted to take our pictures at a local flower farm, so I themed our looks around the native flowers in season at the farm, which meant lots of rich autumn tones!
1 Color Theme:
As you can see in the photo above, this year I am going with the 1 Color Theme - French Blue, or better known as China Blue, being my key color. The great thing about a 1 color theme is that you can utilize colors all along the key color’s scale from white to black - so white, pale blue, pacific blue, china blue, dusty blue, and navy blue all fit within the “French Blue” theme. You can even play with these tones of light to dark to “highlight” someone specifically - for example, the whole family can be in shades of blue, but the baby is in white. This is a great way to subtly highlight someone specifically, maybe momma for a pregnancy announcement or baby’s first family picture etc. In the case of my family’s looks above, I like that my husbands & my looks are the closest matches in tone, while our boys colors are riffs off each of ours.
Coordinating Color Theme:
The difference between a 1 color theme & a coordinating color theme is that all the colors aren’t necessarily the same, but they work together along a concept theme. Think of the concept of “fall leaves” - you have deep yellow, rust red, orange, olive & sage greens etc - and all the colors make sense next to each other as they do in nature.
I love working with a concept theme, but even a simpler one like all pastels, or all jewel tones, will still give you a cohesiveness along a simple concept theme.
I hope this is a good guide for you to put together your families ensembles for your family pictures! I wish you all the best and I hope you end up with your favorite photos - please tag me on IG/FB, I’d love to see what you put together.
Below I’ve linked a few of the looks I am using for my family this year, or similar ensemble pieces that I would use.
