Your session is going to be chaos...and it's okay.

Your Kids Are Going to Melt Down and Your Dog Is Going to Lose Its Mind. Here's Why That's Completely Fine.

Let me paint you a picture.

You've been looking forward to your family session for weeks. You've picked the outfits, you've chosen the location, you've mentally prepared everyone involved. And then the morning of, your toddler decides that today is the day they are absolutely not cooperating with anything, your dog has apparently forgotten every single thing they've ever learned, and you show up to the session already apologizing before I've even taken a single photo.

I need you to stop apologizing. Right now. Before we even start.

The chaos is not a problem to be solved.

Here's something I genuinely believe after photographing a lot of real families in real moments: the messy parts are where the best photos live.

Not the perfectly arranged shot where everyone is looking at the camera and smiling at the same time — although listen, if that happens I'll absolutely take it. But the photos that make you feel something when you look at them ten years from now? Those are almost never the ones that went according to plan.

The meltdown that turned into a cuddle. The dog who photobombed every single serious moment. The kid who decided to sprint in the completely wrong direction right as I pressed the shutter. These are the moments that actually look like your family. And your family is the whole point.

Kids don't take direction. That's a feature, not a bug.

Children are genuinely the best documentary photography subjects in the world because they have absolutely no interest in performing for a camera. They're just going to do whatever they were going to do anyway — which means every single thing I catch is completely real.

I'm not going to try to wrangle your kids into poses. I'm going to follow them around and catch what's already happening. The way your toddler reaches for your hand without thinking about it. The face your kid makes right before they laugh. The quiet moment when they lean into you and the whole world gets a little smaller.

You can't direct any of that. You can only be present enough to catch it. That's my job.

Pets are family. Full stop.

I will never understand why people feel the need to apologize for their animals at a photo session. Your dog is a member of your family and deserves to be treated like one in your gallery.

Yes, they're going to sniff my camera bag for an extended period of time. Yes, they're going to get distracted by approximately seventeen different things during the session. Yes, there will be at least one photo where they are looking at literally anything other than the camera.

Those photos are going to be some of your favourites. I guarantee it.

I will get on the ground for your animal. I will make whatever ridiculous noise it takes to get their attention for half a second. I will wait as long as it takes for them to settle into the session. Because the photos of your dog looking up at you with that specific look that only you get to see — that's worth every second of the chaos that came before it.

What I actually need from you.

Not perfection. Not cooperation from everyone involved. Not a guarantee that the session is going to go smoothly.

The only thing I genuinely need is for everyone to be safe so I can focus on catching every minute of it. Beyond that, let it be whatever it's going to be. The unpredictable sessions are almost always the ones I walk away from most excited about.

A note for the parents who are already stressed about this.

You planned a session because you love your family and you want to remember this chapter of your life. That love is in every single photo regardless of whether anyone cooperated. It's in the way you hold your kid when they're losing it. It's in the look on your face when your dog does something ridiculous for the fourteenth time. It's in the moments in between all the chaos where everyone just exists together.

That's what I'm there to catch. The love that's already there. I just need to show up and pay attention.

Come as you are. Bring the chaos. I'll bring my camera.

Until next time :)

Michaela