4 Memories every family wants to remember
I film a lot of families in MANY seasons of life. But at the end of it all, what are the 4 MOST important memories families want to remember?
1. Those first few weeks with your newborn.
This time is the MOST fleeting. Mom and Dad are tired and the job of having a newborn is heavy. Lots of diapers and feedings and trying to figure out how to soothe this new little person. It's a blur and a whirlwind. Trying to remember those first weeks is really hard. You mainly remember the exhaustion and diaper explosions. So, how can we do what we can to remember? We can film it. We can slow down and do as little as possible and try to soak it up. We can take a lot of photos, too.
2. Baking Together.
SO many of my clients bake with their children. If you don't do this as a family, please don't think you need to! But for the families who do, its a favorite memory! They love the messes and giggles and the mishaps. But what they love most, is the time spent together, making food together. It's their heritage and part of their family culture.
3. Dance Parties
Living in Nashville, I see so many music oriented families. So, naturally dance parties are apart of many family cultures here! and they make amazing photos and video. They love wanting to relive their dance parties together, seeing the joys and uninhibited forms of themselves. I LOVE capturing families singing and dancing together. It's the most candid joy I see in my client sessions.
4. The Sound of their laugh.
This is the most meaningful of all. My mother passed away in 2007 and I have zero video or audio of her. What I would not GIVE to relive her laugh. Mimicking her laugh does not do it justice and I would be SO happy to see my boys experience her loud cackle. At every family film, I aim to capture as much audio and laughter as possible.
Franklin, Tennessee Family Photographer | How do I get authentic family photos?
Over the years, photography has been slowly moving away from posed family photography... But in replace of that, it has moved to "lifestyle" family photography. Lifestyle can be done indoors or outside, but it is another form of staged work. While the outcome can be beautiful AND meaningful... Is it capturing the family as they really are? From my experience with many photographers ... No.
What Lifestyle Photography Misses out on...
Lifestyle photography is another form of cookie cutter photography. Most photographers have a shot list. They follow that list for every family. (Hey, I'm not bashing it, I used to do it!)
But what I realized when I found family films was that a shot list misses out on capturing REAL MEMORIES.
Maybe not every family snuggles in their master bedroom? So why do we do this in every in home lifestyle photo session? I know most family certainly dont snuggle on a quilt in a field.... so why do we do this every fall for family photography sessions? What does a quilt in a field have to do with your family memories? Nothing...
Your life is absolutely beautiful. Even if you have weight to lose or your home needs remodeled. And if you are waiting on those things to be perfect, you will miss out on all of these beautiful moments in the meantime.
I get to know my families.
Me and my clients get to know each other. I want to know what your favorite moments are RIGHT NOW. I want to know what crazy things are happening every day that may even drive you crazy but you know you will miss (hello, stepping on legos!)
I want to know how you met your spouse and what your favorite memories were when you were kids! I want to know all of the weird parts, the messy parts and the best parts. Because to me, its all absolutely amazing. The story is beautiful.
When you choose a lifestyle session rather than a documentary session (unposed, real life)... You are actually ignoring memories. I remember when my first documentary session happened in my home and the photos came back. A photo of my son laying on his belly, on a bench, reaching behind him putting on his shoe made me cry... Why? Because I almost lost that moment by choosing perfect photography sessions over real life. (and for the record, when he acts silly putting his shoes on in the weirdest way, it does drive me crazy! But the kids will grow up and learn to properly put their shoes on, so I try to soak up the moments anyway!)
There are moments you may not even see.
Inevitably, there will be some really fascinating in between moments on your session. I see these tiny fleeting moments that you might not even see because you are busy living your life.
That's why you hire me. So that I can capture those for you and you can revisit them for years to come. Whether you hire me for documentary photos or a family film and photo session, Im going to spend a lot of time with you. Don't worry, the sessions are easy. Dads LOVE sessions with me, they say it's the easiest session ever, because I do not force posing or inauthenticity. If a child is uncomfortable, you can trust that I am going to give them time to warm up. I know how to back off and wait. and it has never failed. It helps that I have two degrees in child education and psychology. I never force children. That is the #1 way to ruin an authentic family session.
If you want to try this type of family session, please ... let's chat! I would love to talk it over with you.
Nashville Newborn Photographer | The Danila Family Film
The Danila Family is OBSESSED with their new baby girl. We had such a beautiful day in Nashville, TN the day we filmed their family for the 2nd time, because the first time, it was too cloudy and we had to reshoot parts. It happens. I would have rescheduled but timing is of the essence with newborns, so I attempted anyway. But it all worked out for the best. Daddy is from Romania, so his accent and olive colored skin made the shoot unique.
I love this film. It is by far my best newborn family film to date. My favorite parts are mom and dad talking to their baby girl, as well as when she is lying on the bed, making precious noises. I hope they can remember her noises and facial expressions and her sweet cry.
If you are interested in something very different from the standard cookie cutter session, let's chat!
The Danila Family | October 2022 from Jennie Pyfferoen on Vimeo.
Nashville Family Photographer | The Howard Family Film
The Howard Family, My Annual Tampa Bay, Florida client... I love Sadiee and her family immensely! We always book her shoot in early October, aiming to miss hurricanes. This year, we were not so lucky. The FIRST hurricane arrived the weekend of our shoot, or actually shortly before. This really made all of October a doozy. I have to move clients from another weekend so I could head down to Florida... lesson learned, from now on we will have 2 weekends booked in case of hurricanes. Between last year and this year, Sadiee had a NEW baby! She now has 3 children, 1 girl and 2 boys. She has home birthed her children and was dreading having another 8 lb baby... but instead gave birth to a WHOPPING 12 LB baby boy! She says he's basically a toddler. Her film last year can be seen here!It was truly special spending time filming and photographing her family this year. It is fun to escape Nashville for a bit and hit up some beaches while we are down there. A few weeks before her film, her son scraped up his face really badly and 2 nights before their film, their daughter had a fever. So it goes without saying, we were SO grateful this film went off without a hitch, given how many things tried to stop it from happening!Sadiee sell BEAUTIFUL breastmilk jewelry. They are SO amazing and just so lovely!!! She is super talented. See her work on her instagram and her website.
Howard Family | October 2022 from Jennie Pyfferoen on Vimeo.
Franklin, Tennessee Family Photographer | Down on the Farm with The Davidson Family
I had the most beautiful experiencing, filming The Davidson Family one beautiful morning in July. Rain threatened to reschedule our film, but we decided to give it ago. By the time I arrived, the rain was clear and it was a beautiful sunny - and humid - morning. This precious family has had a rough year, being in the hospital a few times, for weeks at time with their baby boy, Mac. The very first date we had set for their film was in March, but it was rescheduled due to hospitalization. When I did get to finally film their family, they had only been back together for a few weeks. With two other children, who are quite young, that was hard on their Family.
It was an honor to film and photograph their family and tell the story of how Jesus is the center of their family. We began the film with communion. I loved when I began to edit this film, how quickly the first clip (2 clips on top of one another) came together, highlighting their family home and farm as well as their family image and lighting the candle for communion. They had the most amazing audio throughout their film, starting with Andy reading the bible for communion, then Brittany praying and then singing. Their audio made this film what it is.
I also wanted to highlight the love their older children have for baby Mac. It was so evident that the children sense more deeply that he is special and loved so much. I was able to hold Mac, which after following Brittany's IG for a year now, was something I had looked forward to. Let me tell you, this baby has the most special soul. You can feel it. I cannot wait to see what he grows into! What God has planned for him!
I hope you enjoy their beautiful family film and their photographs. I cannot wait to film them again next year!
Contact me here for your own film!
Franklin, TN Family Photographer | A Day with the lush boys
I spent the afternoon recently on The Lush family farm/land. It isn't really a farm - except they do have chickens. They recently purchased 86 acres just outside of Franklin in Mcewen, Tennessee. They have been Full Time Rv-ers for the past year. Its been amazing to watch their journey - and Im so envious of their ability to RV for a whole year. They plan to build a home on their new land in the coming year, but are living in the RV in the meantime.
Malary wanted to capture her 4 boys' brotherhood and life together right now - in the country - being boys. Chasing animal life, feeding chickens, playing in creeks, getting dirty. Right up my ALLEY! I love capturing nature and kids being kids.
This family is my oldest client. I first photographed Malary's bump YEARS ago - probably 10-11 years ago. and I have captured every bump, newborn, baby milestone, and family photography session since. When I began making family films, we did a newborn family film and a family film of them when they moved out of their home a year ago, to capture their time in that special place.
Franklin, TN Family Photographer | Saturday Mornings with The Kessenger's
When you are reading to your small child, the importance of these memories may not hit you until they are older and more independent, reading all on their own. Then it hits you hard, where you feel equally proud and nostalgic as they read those precious words that they spent months learning to read. During those younger years, time seems to move more slowly.... But then in the middle of elementary school, time picks up and goes at warp speed. As parents of older children, we came to understand this the hard way. As your family film maker and photographer, I want to freeze as much of this for you so later, you'll have the ability to fully immerse into your memories.
By the time they turn 10, you start to be fully aware of how it seems like daily, they become increasingly independent. One thing many don't realize about this age... is that for many its the last time they will look like a child... they are about to go through puberty and rapidly turn into a child who looks like an adult. It's shocking and awesome at the same time. I am so glad we have family films before my oldest son, Atticus, went through puberty at age 11. He is now 12 and 5'7" and looks like a man doing parkour in my home. He acts like a 12 year old but looks 15.
Spending a Saturday morning with The Kessenger family at their franklin, TN home was filled with warmth and joy. Watching them play out in their backyard, play Guess who and read all snuggled up.... It fills me with this joy that is indescribable. Listening to their laughter brings tears to my eyes.
If you love this film and want one of your own.... contact me.
Franklin, Tennessee Family Photographer | 2021 Family Film Gratitude
Mid 2017, my world was turned on its head when I found family films and had my family filmed for the first time by Courtney Holmes out of Sydney Australia. That year, I dove into films and made small videos during my normal sessions. In 2018 & 2019, I was still learning but was booking a handful of family films a year, but had not learned quite yet how to articulate what I was offering. Then 2020/covid hit which put my business on pause. It took about halfway through 2021 for things to start to shift into a normal pattern and I was off! 2022 is now nearly booked and its only March! So given the long journey, that was wonderful and emotional and slow.... My gratitude has grown tenfold and I had to create this show reel with clips from every film in 2021 to share how grateful I am for the job I have - the soul filling amazing job I have, that I feel truly called to do with my life.
Thank you doesn’t begin to cover the gratitude I have for every single client I had in 2021. I just don’t even have the words to convey. I remember early summer chatting with a friend saying I’d be happy if I had 6 family films by years’ end. It was mid 2021 and things were just picking up steam from the pandemic. I blew far past that number. I also began filming births. What an amazing year. I’m so pumped for my 2022 films (so many are already booked - another dream come true??❤️❤️).
Below are some of my favorite images from 2021. I cannot wait to see what I create in 2022!
