Why Annual Family Photos Matter So Much | Chicago Photographer

You’re scrolling your phone late at night, looking at baby photos. Wishing that for one minute you could hold that cute, baby chubby version of them just one more time. As a Chicago photographer, this is exactly the reason I won’t stop talking about annual family photos. 

Because even if Christmas cards never get mailed or it takes you a year to hang the photos on your wall: having documentation of each stage is something I’ve never seen even one parent regret. 

Annual family photos give you a chance to slow down for a minute and actually notice how much has changed. It gives you a visual diary of all the many, many changes that happen in early life. 

The chubby little hands. The favorite sneakers. The way your toddler still wants to be carried everywhere. The belly laughs that happen when Dad swings them way too high.

These are the things that will feel so surreal to miss later in life. Being a parent means you get really good at sitting with things feeling bittersweet. 

I have found that yearly family sessions have a way of honoring that feeling and easing the transitions from milestone to milestone.

But please don’t mistake my passion for annual family photos to mean a stiff, posed JC-Penney-esque portrait from the 80s. 

I love a beautiful family portrait, but I also want the photos to feel like you. That’s why documentary photography is something I have specialized in as a photographer. 

For this sweet family, we spent time outside walking, playing, and letting their little one be exactly who he is. Nothing was overly complicated. I mean, this is just the park they go to all the time! And that’s why it just worked, ya know?

And that’s really the goal. Find somewhere you love to go, and document this season of life in the real places you REALLY go. That way, when you look back on the photos in 10 years, you’re not just seeing a snapshot of your family: you’re seeing a snapshot of your life! 

Here’s a few ideas of places we could go! 

• Your favorite coffee shop
• The local playground 
• A library! 
• The grocery store 
• Baking cookies at home 
• Your backyard swing set or running through the sprinklers!

Annual family photos should capture this season of life. 

Your family is going to change so much over the years. Maybe next year your baby is walking. The year after that, they’ve lost their first tooth. Eventually, they’re too big to be picked up and swung around. (Don’t blink! They’ll be in kindergarten!) 

That’s why I love documenting families in a way that feels connected to their actual lives.

And that might mean meeting at your favorite park. Or it might mean inviting me into your home.

Ten or twenty years from now, you probably won’t care whether everyone’s outfit was perfectly coordinated. You’ll care that you can still see your baby’s tiny toes. The belly laughs that you can basically hear when you look at the image. 

That’s the absolute magic of annual family photos.

They aren’t just pictures of what your family looked like that year. They’re little time capsules of who you were together!! And someday, I think you’ll be really glad you have them.

BTW: If you’re wondering how to style your family for photos, I have a blog post about that too! Click here to read!