Michelle is a loyal client of ours, and we were delighted to support her recently on a different type of shoot - one that was about capturing the extended family in the frame together. We caught up with her to find out why getting extended family together was so important...
Tell us about your family! How many of you are there?
I am a working mum with a young family. We love to spend time as a family outdoors and live on a small property in Samford, just out of Brisbane. We have loads of pets and love to travel! Life is busy with 3 young primary school kids so we like to relax with a board game whenever we can, and of course travel whenever we can too.
What do you love about your shoot location? Why did you pick this location?
I was looking for a great experience that we could do with my family that was close to home for most of us. We are only an hour from the Sunshine Coast so this was a day trip for us purely for the Travelshoot. We love the beach at Noosa and thought it would be a nice day out and great backdrop for our photos.
Why did you decide to arrange another family photoshoot? To bump up your family album? To mark a special occasion? Or maybe just to make sure you have some photos of you all together?
We loved the experience last time and really wanted to do this with my extended family, not just immediate family. At Christmas we were looking through all our family photos and realised that it was usually one of us girls who wasn't part of the photo - there were none of all of us together! I decided specifically Travelshoot because we wanted to make a day of it and not just hang out in a staged room. I love the natural side of Travelshoot.
Why is capturing family moments together important to you?
We are a close family and as the kids grow and the grandparents get older it has become important to me to capture memories of us all together. Our wall at home is full of these and I absolutely love to look at these and reminisce.
Talk us through your Travelshoot experience and how it all went down! Did everyone have fun?
We met Leah in Noosa and straight away she connected with the family. We decided to do the more traditional posed photos first then go down to the beach and just have some fun. We had the 2 hour shoot as there were 14 of us, which was a great amount of time. We also had people ranging from 4 years old to 85 years old! And no one got bored! The kids had a blast playing on the rocks, in the sand and in the ocean! Even the oldies had some fun splashing in the water!
What would be your advice to a family thinking about booking a shoot?
The best photos we have are the natural ones caught in the moment of just mucking around. I would definitely suggest if there are kids involved then make it somewhere they can play so they don't get bored. The beach was perfect for this. We also chose to have a family lunch together first so we could chat about our plan and all get on the same page.
What’s your favourite shot from both of your Travelshoots? Why do you love it?
Oh just one? There are so many great shots! Beautiful scenery with so much joy!
