You Don’t Need a Field at Sunset to Have Gorgeous Family Photos

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a field at sunset.

I have photographed plenty of them. I will photograph plenty more of them. Give me good light, some tall grass and a family willing to hang out with me for an hour and we're probably going to make some really good shit.

But somewhere along the way, “family photos” became synonymous with standing in a field at golden hour.

You know exactly what I'm talking about.

Tall grass. Sun behind everybody. Neutral outfits. Maybe a blanket. Everybody walking toward the camera holding hands.

Again: cute.

But it is absolutely not your only option.

And if you've been scrolling through photographers trying to figure out what you want your own photos to look like, I actually think there's a better question than, “Where should we take them?”

Where would be fun to photograph?

Those are two very different questions.

A Pretty Location Isn't Always an Interesting Location

When people send me location inspiration, it's usually the big picture they're looking at.

A giant open field. A beautiful overlook. A huge row of trees. Something that immediately looks impressive when you're standing there.

I'm looking at completely different shit.

I'm looking at the tiny orange flowers growing next to the sidewalk.

I'm looking at whether I can shoot through the plant in front of me.

I'm looking at the weird little pocket underneath a tree where the light is doing something really good.

I'm looking at a walkway and wondering what happens if I put you there instead of directly in front of the flowers.

I'm looking at the gazebo that you probably walked past without thinking twice.

Basically, you see a garden.

I see about twelve different places to take your picture.

And that's exactly what happened during this mother-daughter session.

We weren't standing in some massive field waiting for the sun to hit exactly right. We wandered. We played with flowers. We found pockets of good light. We sat down. We moved again. I shot through things. I changed angles.

At one point, somebody was upside down.

Which, frankly, is usually when I know things are going well.

Your Entire Gallery Doesn't Need to Look the Same

This is one of the biggest reasons I love locations with a little more going on.

I don't want to deliver 60 versions of the same photograph.

Same field. Same background. Same light. Slightly different arrangement of humans.

That's not a gallery. That's basically a very expensive flipbook.

Give me flowers, trees, pathways, architecture, open sky, shade and some random foliage I can put directly in front of my camera, though?

Now we have options.

This session went from bright flowers and rich greens to a little wooden gazebo to an almost forest-looking pocket underneath the trees. Same people. Same outfits. Same session.

Completely different photographs.

That's one of the things I look for when helping clients choose family photo locations around Peoria and Central Illinois. I don't necessarily need a place that's impressive from the parking lot.

I want somewhere I can work.

I Will Happily Put a Plant in Front of My Camera

There is a photo from this session where mom is sitting down holding her daughter across her lap while she's laughing upside down.

It's already a ridiculously cute interaction.

But there's also this soft, hazy blur wrapping around them.

That wasn't Photoshop.

That was me intentionally shooting through something in the foreground.

Which probably looks slightly questionable when you're watching me do it.

I do things like this constantly during sessions. I'll crouch behind something, shoot between branches, get ridiculously low to the ground or move two feet to the side because I noticed one tiny patch of light.

Those decisions are part of why location matters to me differently than it might matter to you.

I'm not only photographing what's behind you.

I'm using what's around you.

Flowers can become foreground. A pathway can create depth. Branches can frame you. Shade can completely change the mood of an image. Even something that's technically “in the way” can end up being exactly what makes the photograph interesting.

So if I get suspiciously excited about some random plant during your session, just let me have this.

There is a plan.

Probably.

You Also Don't Need Golden Hour

This might be the slightly controversial part.

Golden hour is beautiful.

It's also not a requirement for good photography.

I think sometimes people hear photographers talk about golden hour so much that they start believing anything outside of that tiny window before sunset is automatically going to look bad.

It isn't.

Good light exists all day. You just have to know where to find it and what to do with it.

Open shade can be gorgeous. Light filtering through trees can be gorgeous. An overcast sky can be ridiculously useful. Even stronger sunlight can work when it's used intentionally instead of trying to pretend it isn't there.

The light underneath the trees in this gallery is completely different from the light around the flowers. That's a good thing.

I don't necessarily want everything perfectly even.

Sometimes contrast is what makes an image interesting.

This also gives us more flexibility when we're planning your session. Families have nap schedules, dinner schedules, sports, work, toddlers who turn into tiny feral creatures at approximately 7:12 p.m. and babies who could not care less what time sunset is.

If golden hour works for everybody? Amazing.

If it doesn't?

We aren't doomed.

Your Kids Definitely Don't Care About the Location

This might be the most important argument against obsessing over finding the “perfect” family photo location.

Your three-year-old does not care.

She is not standing there thinking:

God, I really wish my mother had chosen a more editorial landscape.

She wants to smell the flower.

She wants you to pick her up.

She wants to investigate whatever is on the ground.

She wants to make you laugh.

She may decide she would rather be upside down.

That's what I'm paying attention to.

The location should give us room for those things to happen. It should add to your photographs without becoming the entire point of them.

That's why I love places with things for kids to actually interact with.

A flower isn't just a background.

Now we have something to smell.

A pathway isn't just pretty.

Now we have somewhere to wander.

A bench isn't just somewhere to pose.

Now your kid can climb onto your lap.

And suddenly I don't have to spend an hour saying, “Okay, everybody look at me.”

Thank God.

Central Illinois Has More Variety Than People Give It Credit For

I think we accidentally put Central Illinois photography into a very small box.

Field.

Prairie grass.

Maybe a lake.

Repeat.

Meanwhile, there are gardens, wooded trails, downtown streets, architecture, wildflowers, greenhouses, studios, little pockets of trees and places that don't necessarily look spectacular until you know which direction to point a camera.

Peoria, Pekin, Morton, Washington, Dunlap, Metamora and the surrounding Central Illinois area all have options depending on what you want your session to look like.

And I don't think every family needs the same one.

If you're drawn to clean and simple, let's find that.

If you want something green and wild, we can do that.

If you want color everywhere, let's find flowers.

If your Pinterest board looks more editorial and less “family photos,” that tells me something too.

Location should be part of the personality of the session, not a box we check because that's where everybody takes pictures.

“But I Don't Know Where
I Want to Go.”

Good.

Seriously.

You don't have to.

Choosing a photographer does not require you to arrive with a fully developed creative direction, three possible locations, coordinated wardrobe palettes and a 47-image Pinterest board.

That's part of my job.

You can tell me what you're drawn to.

You can send me two pictures.

You can say, “I want something with flowers.”

You can tell me you hate fields.

You can tell me you have absolutely no idea and want me to choose.

All of those are useful information.

I'd rather know what you like than have you try to figure out the logistics yourself.

Because sometimes the location you're imagining isn't actually the location that will photograph the way you're imagining it.

That's where knowing Central Illinois, understanding light and having photographed a whole lot of different humans in a whole lot of different places comes in handy.

What Actually Makes a Good Family Photo Location?

It's not necessarily the prettiest place.

For me, a really good location usually gives us options.

I want depth. Texture. Interesting light. Somewhere to move. Different backgrounds within a reasonable walking distance. Things I can use creatively.

If we're photographing little kids, I also care about whether the location makes sense for them.

A beautiful place that requires a toddler to stand still beside a cliff is perhaps not our strongest creative decision.

A garden where she can wander, smell flowers, sit with mom and explore?

Now we're talking.

Accessibility matters. The age of your kids matters. The season matters. Your outfits matter. The kind of photographs you're drawn to matters.

That's why I don't really believe in naming one “best family photo location in Peoria.”

The best one is the one that makes sense for the people I'm photographing.

Your Photos Shouldn't Depend on a Pretty Background Doing All the Work

This is probably the bigger point underneath all of this.

A gorgeous location can absolutely add something to photographs.

But it shouldn't have to save them.

If we took away the flowers from this mother-daughter session, I'd still want the little girl laughing while her mom kisses her cheek.

I'd still want the way she's holding onto her mom.

I'd still want her upside down laughing.

I'd still want the flower being passed back and forth between them.

I'd still want the quiet portrait underneath the trees.

The location made those photographs richer.

It didn't create what mattered in them.

And I think that's the sweet spot.

Give me somewhere interesting enough to play with, then let the people become the reason the photograph works.

So No, We Don't Have to Go Stand in a Field

Unless you want to.

Then I know some really good fields.

But if you've been looking at family photos and thinking you want something a little different, tell me that.

We can use a garden.

We can find trees.

We can wander around downtown.

We can stay inside.

We can chase color.

We can find architecture.

We can choose somewhere you've never seen another family photograph taken before.

Or we can take a place you've walked past a hundred times and photograph it in a way you haven't seen yet.

That's considerably more interesting to me than checking “family photos” off the yearly to-do list and recreating the same picture everybody else has.

Central Illinois has plenty to work with.

You just need someone who's looking for it.