Family Portrait Revival

Recently, I shared a conversation with a potential new client referencing family portraiture. The conversation was a pleasant one about the rise and fall of professional family photography. Without prodding the client began sharing her opinion in what she saw as a serious decline in the quality of family portraiture. It was boring, plain, technically inaccurate and didn't communicate a thought or a theme. I was quite astonished by her insight and was curious as to what she based her opinion on. I thought she was reading my mind or listening in on conversations I was having with other professional photographers. 

First, she stated the obvious absence of family portraits newer than 10 years old, except the occasion school photo. When she asked me what I thought of that, I stated the obvious reason must be all the cell phone cameras and social media that is accessible and that no one feels the need for formal portraits anymore. Since so many images are created daily or weekly then shared on social media almost immediately that it sort of meets the need of preserving a moment. Her reply was one of semi-agreement, she felt that was part of the issue but maybe it was deeper than that. I took that as my opening to get on my soapbox. I piped up about so many "artists" are out there now with a computerized camera shooting in an auto mode and giving work away for free or nearly nothing, creating a financial siphon in the market of family photographers. She half nodded and then shook her head in an "I don't think so" direction. In her contact with people and seeing what they display on their walls she sees hurried up individuals with a "get it done"mindset and a "that's good enough" mentality. I thought to myself "Wow this lady is definitely on to something". 

The funny thing is that I was seeing this early on in the digital years in the corporate world. So many companies thinking they could save money by buying a digital camera and having someone in house shoot image after horrible image until they just accepted the best of the bad images then used it to show off their company product or services. It took many of them 2-3 years to see the horrors of their decision once they learned those images cost them more in lost business than what they would have spent on dozens of professional photoshoots.

Her observation could be right on. Why wouldn't the same mentality of the business world creep into the family/personal world? People are people, right? The only difference is there aren't any matrixes measuring the effectiveness of the family photograph and the marketing value of the images as would be necessary in the corporate world. But kudos to this lady for seeing the difference. She added that the false-positive reinforcement of the social media world commenting on how that is the best photo ever leads people to believe they were captured just magnificently. I was once again amazed at her insight. I never drew that conclusion in its totality, however, I have muttered under my breath when I would see those social media comments while I'm observing horrendous images with poor lighting, distracting backgrounds, and no sense of emotion. The fun thing about this whole conversation is she hired me for a portrait of her child, now a young adult, to join the ranks of top-notch portraits on her walls. We discussed the session fee and she knew to ask about what she could expect for print pricing as well as turn around time for the proofs. She was very pleased with my replies to all the inquiries and we booked a date. 

Lastly, I brought up the question about style, or theme, in other words, what did she want the portrait to communicate. She began to tell me the accomplishments of her child and the initial thoughts she had. I could tell she had put a lot of thought into it. I agreed with a lot of what she thought would work, tossed in a few of my thoughts and ideas which she embraced as well. A few days later I arrived at her home and began setting up for the mood I thought would express her vision and lend to communicating the subject's life up until that moment. As I was setting up, I talked out loud to her about the mood and why I was setting up the lighting the way I was. She was excited and repeated numerous times how she could wait to see them. I also complimented her for the way she supplied "props" for the image. suttle nuances of the subjects past and present. I knew very early on this was going to a very successful portrait session.

Two days later, not long after the proofs were posted on my on-line gallery I received an e-mail stating "The proofs are great, so many good ones! Thank you! "I get excited when a client shares their thoughts like that.It's both comforting and it justifies the amount of mental prep and physical prep that goes into a portrait session like this.

I hope the world of family portraiture makes a come back. I enjoy doing it, and I think it's so worth the investment. Sure it is also how, or at least part of how I can earn my living, but I saw the writing on the wall many years ago and market mostly business to business. However, it is a welcome change of pace for me.