The Erickson’s Extended Family Session (by Josh & Kelley)

Kelley Johnson (1/2 of the Radiant Photography associate photographer team) coming at cha again! This time I want to share a recent family session that Josh and I had the pleasure to shoot. Now, we’ve all seen, and likely been a part of, family photography sessions that include parents and their kiddos, but what about extended family sessions?

Josh and I had taken photos of Phil, Laurel, and their sweet son Case before… (how adorable are they?!)

But this time they decided that they wanted to get the extended family in on the fun! I have to give them some mad props, because this was a great idea. There are so many plus sides to extended family sessions.

First off, you STILL get the small family session feel.

However, you also get to take those huge group photos that are rarely captured. (Besides those infamous, “Everyone hurry up and pretend to smile! I just set the timer… I think I set the timer… Is the red light fl *FLASH*…” moments.)

And how often is it that you stop to take sibling photos once all of your siblings have grown up?

(These two clearly have a really great brother and sister relationship. Watching them made me wish I had a brother!)

Or snap a shot with your mom, even though you’ve got your own kids now?

 Or capture those cute chubby, baby cousin moments?

(Case LOVES to give hugs.  And he’s SO good at it!)

Laurel’s brother’s family lives out in California, while Laurel’s family is sill in Arizona, so these whole family moments don’t happen quite as often as they would like. Still, looking at this close knit family, you would think they get together for family dinners every weekend!

Believe it or not, even with this HUGE group of family members to coordinate and move around, not one single fight broke out during the whole session. No joke! It seems that these guys really know the importance of having fun quality time with family. Which brings me to my last reason for extended family sessions being so wonderful…

They’re a BLAST for the WHOLE family!

( Follow Radiant Photography on Facebook to keep up with Josh and Kelley’s future work! See their full portfolio of portrait sessions here.)