These photo and film sessions are without a doubt the best way to capture these moments. I love photographs, but they just can’t tell the story like a video.

Justin and Christa are in the boss-baby stage of life: their schedule, their needs, and their wants have to fit into the hectic neediness of raising young children. With a 3 year old and an 8 month old and two demanding careers, the family time is what you make it.

It was our combined birthday party. I think I was turning 10 or 11, so my sister was turning 8 or 9. Dad borrowed the video camera from his friend for a week or two. There were 10 of us running around our backyard. We were showing off for the camera. Knock-knock jokes. Cartwheels. Dad did a goofy stop-motion of all of us disappearing and then reappearing. It was fun, and I probably remember it because there is video evidence. Otherwise, I don’t really have a memory from that party that’s not attached to the footage.

A special kind of magic happens when you have a real moment mixed with sweetness captured on film.

Like many of you, I place a high value on sentimentality, but also on realism. A little tantrum here, a “blooper” there… adding just a drop or two of reality into your film grounds it and takes away the lie that “my family isn’t perfect so I can participate in a session like this”.