the hernandez family | arizona family photographer

this session opened my eyes to the value (once again) of photographing your family through every season of life.I'm going to be transparent here for a second...

family sessions don't come naturally for me.

there, I admitted it.the idea of herding a small group of people and placing high expectations on the shorter members of the familyto instantaneously be happy/cute/adorable/charming/etc, never-mind the work that it took to even get there from the taller members of the family to coordinate outfits, perfect many heads of hair, make sure make-up applications are flawless, rushing to get out the door to the said session...and did I mention that you're all "supposed to" be happy, darnit. ;)yeah, that type of hype and expectation for the perfect family session is hard to get on board with and it very rarely ever "just happens"...it takes work.it takes sweat.it takes candy bribes.it takes shaking your booty like a mad-woman to get the slightest smile from the above mentioned short family members. :)because try as you might want...it's very difficult for beautiful family sessions to just "happen".that being said,I've found that with the majority of my clients,amidst the work/sweat/bribes/booty shaking...something beautiful takes place in front of my lens once they let go trying to make their session happen...once they breathe a sigh of relief at finally arriving to their session and hand over the reigns to me,once they take a step back and see the beauty that I so desperately want to capture for them...once they give over the control of their expectations and just trust me to present them in a pleasing light.as a photographer, I don't like the "cheese" moments.I don't like the forced smiles...or matching shirts...but that's another post for another day... ;)I want to see families being actual families.yes, your two year old is going to act that way at a session...it just happens...be patient...I don't mind.no, your husband isn't going to magically like having his photograph made...it's okay, I'm a dork and will make him feel less like one. :)and you, yes you wife, you're beautiful.  and I'm going to remind you of that through my lens...you don't tell yourself often enough.the bonus of letting me make your photographs is that I'm a mom and wife...not just a photographer.when I see your little ones eyes and sweet lashes, I remember my little ones.when I see their little grubby fingers, I remember my little ones.their fluffy baby curls that resemble newborn chick hair, my kids had hair like that.the shy sideways looks when I force you to look at your spouse that then explodes into real laughter,I want you to remember you love your spouse in a photograph.as a mom and wife, I want to give you beautiful images to look back on and smile and remember the details of your precious family.thank you for trusting me with your families memories.these are the first of hopefully many with the hernandez family.thank you, nate + danielle :)