As I am preparing for my upcoming workshop Through Your Eyes,  I will share a couple of tips on posing families today. Graduation time is also often time to reunite with family members who live long distance, it’s a great occasion to consider a big family portrait. What a precious photograph to look at year after year, grandma, sons and nephews all together. It’s a bit more formal then my usual style but turned to be fun once my models got more relaxed and started playing with each other.

Once the kids started to goof around with each other, the energy changed and the seriousness was gone, everyone looked relaxed and had a good time. In these candid poses, the heads of my subjects are close, the hands and arms entertained. When posing, and in candids, I think hands play a major role, they can express so much.. unity, love, care. I always tell my subject to entertain their hands, show the love!

Grandma was the focal point of our shoot, she flew all the way from China! We used a chair to make her feel comfortable, and this way also helpful to pose everyone around her, some standing, some leaning or kneeling on her side.

When posing couples, I like heads to be as close as possible and posing the subject a bit more on the side of my frame, makes it more interesting to me, gives the shot more energy.

Let’s not forget the goofy shots, you do it for fun but sometimes they are just irresistible!

But in the end, it’s all about the ladies…