Remembering the home not the house

There is a strong connection to families and their homes. I say homes because I feel like “the house” just doesn’t do it justice.

Did you grow up in one home? Do your folks still live there?

Currently we are living in the home that Jeff, my husband, grew up in with the hope to purchase it as soon as we can. I don’t think Jeff can imagine living anywhere else. Jeff finds comfort in living here. Fun fact we live in his childhood bedroom. Jeff was born and grew up in this home he was only away from it for 13 years.

I was 12 when we moved into our family home. I have been gone from it for about a decade. Visiting and staying in my bedroom, which changed over my time away, feels weird but its also nice to sleep in that particular bed. It’s also nice thinking back to being a “lonely” teenage girl listening to Bryan Adams songs hoping for a best friend to marry and now I have him.

There is comfort and security and knowing when we have a home to come back to throughout our lives.

When we were asked by my cousin in law to do a special shoot for them in their childhood home that was selling I completely understood what they wanted.

This home was beautiful, blackberry bushes to snack from, hills to roll down, a pond for the doggie to cool down in, upstairs downstairs shenanigan opportunities, so much space, a place for grandchildren to be safe and run around. That was just what I felt never mind the wonderful view.

The time had come for this family to say goodbye to their family home. They wanted to get photographs of them all enjoying the space. A family home farewell.

We spoke about what this home meant to them. I was given a tour when I arrived. There were fun stories shared. Even though the furniture and possessions were removed the home still held the energy of those wonderful memories.

This session was from 2015.

Family home farewell photo sessions are perfect for when you are selling your family home. Everyone gathers together to say goodbye to the home and we do photographs in significant parts of the home or property.

Was there a limit on the amount of people I photographed?

No, I don’t really have a cap on how many people I photograph during a full family session. This was a family of four that had their own spouses or children.

How did this session work?

I made sure to have each family pick where they wanted to be for their individual family photographs. One picked by the maple tree, one picked by the stones. Grandma got a photograph with all the grandkids by the outdoor table near the pond.

Did we include the dog?

Of course, have you met me? I love dogs and I think they are great additions to any session. They are part of the family and while they don’t have to be in every photo they should be in most of them.

Are posed or candid photographs better?

Both are great! I love posed images, I get everyone setup, I have everyone look at me, look at each other, squeeze each other tight and look this way one more time. I think its best to get the traditional out of the way then move to candid. Candid is great, this session had the best candid opportunity.

How was this the best candid activity?

I am referring to the moment the old photographs came out. Everyone was sitting outside, I highly recommend that. Someone brought over the big box of old family photographs. The images ranged from Christmas days to teenage milestones. The family gathered round to look at the images, the small children’s were especially interested in seeing their mom and aunts and uncles at their age. The laughs and giggles were the best. All this memory stirring created the best expressions to photograph. It also created an opportunity to photograph some of these photographs so the family could all have access to these images and have high resolution copies. Some old photographs had interesting textures to them which added to the time of when they were printed. Check out more about this part of the session in an upcoming blog…

Should an activity be organized when having a farewell session?

Absolutely. It’s a planned activity yes but natural expressions come from it. Some examples of such an activity is playing a game like duck duck goose; looking through old photos as long as its hard copy (on a phone wont work); blowing bubbles; hide and seek; swimming; puddle jumping; panting, we would do this onto Plexiglas. We want to make sure its an activity that encourages opportunity’s to look up.

Was I willing to travel?

Absolutely, we have a small flat fee for travel depending on where the home is.

Is a farwell home photo session right for you?

Yes, its great to get a photo session when your selling your family home. I would even suggest planning the session before putting the home on the market if you would like your possessions in the home. Having the home empty is also a great options if you want room for the family to run around like what happened here. If the outside or view is what was most important to you, don’t worry about the home being filled.