Real Life Sessions
Family photos for people who think
they don't like family photos.
I get it. You want family photos you will love.
But the idea of even booking & planning a photo session is overwhelming.
Getting your family organized & out the door to anywhere feels impossible.
Everyone else seems to have perfect outfits or props and sets, & you don't know where to start.
You feel like there is no way your kids will all look at the camera and smile, let alone stand still long enough to pose, & while we're at it, you or your partner aren't the biggest fans of having your picture taken.
IMAGINE IF YOU COULD ENJOY THE PROCESS
OF GETTING FAMILY PHOTOS
(and love the results!)
Most of us grew up with negative experiences taking family photos
(Sears or Walmart photo studio, anyone?)
We expect it to be stressful.
Photography has changed since we were kids, and social media can make us feel like we need to style and curate ourselves. We feel pressure to only show people the "perfect" pictures, and we definitely don't
talk enough about all the work that goes into getting those perfect shots.
THAT'S WHY I CREATED REAL LIFE FAMILY PHOTO SESSIONS.
These documentary style photo sessions take away
all the stress that can come with family photos.
Instead, you get a child centred, relaxed experience that
requires no planning or preparation.
You'll receive beautiful images that tell your family's story with no
pressure to prepare, plan, or look or act in ways that you normally wouldn't.
Imagine yourself 20 years from now. Your house is quiet. You miss the chaos, the snuggles, and all the other little things about life with kids.
When you look through your family photos, do you want to only be reminded of how it looked? What if you could be reminded of how it FELT?
What if your photos could bring you right back to that time and help you to remember all those little things you miss?
No more following trends and worrying if you have the right look. (No stressing over the perfect outfits!)
No more bribing your kids (or your partner) to play along for candid shots that aren't actually candid.
No more dragging your family to a location or pushing your kids to stay up so you can be photographed at sunset.
No more posed or staged photos that don't actually feel like your family. Instead, you have pictures that bring you right back to how things felt at that time - all the little details and memories that fade no matter how hard you try to remember.
YOUR REAL LIFE AS A FAMILY IS A STORY THAT IS WORTHY OF BEING TOLD & REMEMBERED.
IT DOESN'T NEED TO BE DRESSED UP, CURATED, OR STYLED.
Meet Jordan.
I have been a professional photographer for almost 20 years, and I love capturing real moments for families. I am on a mission to help people embrace their full story in their family photographs and capture all of it instead of just the "perfect." The bits that you worry are too messy, chaotic, boring, or crazy are exactly what you will miss when they are gone and that is what I want to photograph for you.
Before photography I spent many years working in recreation with kids of all ages, including many kiddos with special needs. These experiences have given me a unique understanding of child development that I bring with me to every session. I am also a parent of two tweens, so I have been where you are. The photos that I take in my Real Life sessions are the images I wish I had taken more of when my own kids were small, so it makes me incredibly happy every time a family trusts me to capture them.
Named as one of the Top 10 Documentary Family Photographers in Canada for 2022 by This is Reportage Family
Listed in Fearless Family Photographer's Top 100 of 2022
Two time Documentary Family Award Winner
Named as the Best Family Documentary Photographer of 2023 by Click and Company
I will be with you every step of the way on this journey.
Real Life Photo Sessions follow a process designed to help you feel seen and be celebrated for everything that makes your family unique.
1. LET'S [UN]PLAN
Real life sessions are intended to be unscripted, but that can be overwhelming at first. I always schedule a pre session call so that you can feel reassured that your session is going to be awesome. I'll ask about your family, your favourite things, and I will answer any questions you have. You can feel reassured that I have all the info I need to ensure our session is awesome.
2. YOUR SESSION!
It's time to take some photos! Because we've already chatted about your family, I can start making everyone feel comfortable the moment I walk in the door. You can simply be yourselves with no stress or pressure and trust that I am going to capture all the little things that you love about your family.
3. YOUR PHOTOS!
After the session, you can leave the work to me! Trust that I'll choose the best images from our time together & create a gallery that really captures how your family feels in this moment. Within a week, you'll get a slideshow preview that you can enjoy while you wait for me to work my editing magic. Once your photos are ready, you'll get a link to a private gallery where you'll see all the incredible moments I captured. I can take even more stress off you by designing a custom album to preserve these memories, or we can work together to order you professional prints from my lab.
Current you will love how fun and low stress this process is. You'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.
Future you will not be able to stop going back to these photos again and again. You cannot know just how much you'll miss something until your kids outgrow it.
Words from past clients who are just like you!
"Jordan is an absolutely incredible photographer. We had never done documentary style photos before and - with a very active one-year-old and a mischievous puppy - we were nervous about how things would go. But as soon as Jordan walked through our front door, all of our concerns melted away. She was warm, relaxed and amazing with our son - we were put at ease immediately. If you’ve never had a chance to do a Real Life photo session, Jordan is the perfect person for the job. She clearly loves what she does and her calm positivity makes the session fly by; we nearly forgot she was even there! Jordan captured beautiful family moments with such authenticity and joy and we are so grateful that we will have these memories for years to come." - Grant, Miguel and Jasper
"As a family who spends a lot of time in public or on a stage - we're used to posing for a camera - but we don't always capture our day-to-day moments...the parts of our lives that have the most impact. We were nervous about what it would be like to have Jordan come to our home - what we should wear, if we should smile the whole time. The experience was SO wonderful. After about 20 minutes of feeling awkward, or rather - intentional - everything else just felt like a sweet visit with a friend who also happened to be a stealthy photographer. We had fun, We laughed. We were in our imperfect home - and we were ALL in the pictures together. It's a gift to see your life through someone else's lens. It's a gift to have pictures and memories from this day - that wasn't special for any specific reason...but now is a memory in and of itself. I definitely look forward to capturing more of the simple parts of our life as we grow as a family, and having a photographer like Jordan who can travel along on that journey will be a wonderful gift. I look forward to a time when we can schedule another session." -Jill Staveley
I am in! How do we do this?
You can work with me in one of two ways:
SLICE OF LIFE MINI SESSIONS (LIMITED AVAILABILITY)
These one hour sessions are $400 and will allow you to choose one favourite family activity or routine to document.
Because longer Real Life sessions truly allow this style of photography to shine, mini sessions are offered twice a year - 25 sessions are opened in the winter, and another 25 in the summer. Please send me an email to see if you can grab a spot or if you need to be added to the waiting list!
REAL LIFE SESSIONS
These sessions are "day in the life" style and will capture all the little things you love about your family. Choose a half day (4 hours) for $900 or a full day (10 hours) for $1600.
I only take on 4 families per month for Real Life sessions in order to really focus on getting to know you and deliver the best service possible. I would love to chat more to see if a Real Life session is perfect for you and your family!
Every session includes the following:
- Pre session call to allow me to get to know you and your family, and to answer all your questions.
- A relaxed and fun photo session
- A slideshow preview
- A private gallery for you to view and download your images
- Option to order professional quality prints and albums
You probably have some questions...
"This is a cool idea, but our daily life feels boring. What will we photograph?"
I promise your daily lives are not boring.
Your family life is packed with so many moments that may seem like nothing now, but you will miss them when your kids are grown. I love capturing that for people and it's one of the main reasons I do this. If you are still worried, then there is nothing wrong with planning a few fun activities for your session - cooking a meal, craft time, playing outside.....whatever you love!. We will capture those moments along with the in between.
"My children are weird. Possibly feral."
I hope your kids are weird.
Seriously. First - all kids are weird. One day you'll miss the weird and you will be so happy to have pictures that capture the unique ways that yours are weird. Second, kids being totally themselves is my favourite thing ever, and one of the biggest reasons why I do what I do. If your kids are weird in front of my camera, it means they feel safe, and that's a huge compliment. Why wouldn't I want that?
"I feel nervous about you coming to our house to photograph us. What if you see our mess?"
The stuff you are afraid to capture now is what you will someday miss the most.
Read that sentence again. I'll wait.
Listen, it's understandable to feel a bit nervous about an in home photo session. Life with kids is messy, and even if you just finished a huge cleaning session, it doesn't take long for that work to be undone. But that is the reality of where your family is at, and it's worth documenting. I promise that when you look at your images, you will not be focused on how your house looks, because you will be too busy falling in love with the little tiny moments we capture during our time together. Your kids will only see how absolutely loved they are when they look back at the photos. And you can trust that the love and connection are what I want to photograph - that's what my priority is and that focus will come through in your images.
"What if my kid has a meltdown?"
Meltdowns happen. They are totally normal.
I truly believe that there is no such thing as bad when it comes to kid's behaviour. Kids can behave in ways that are challenging or stressful to us as parents, and yes, there is a chance that some of that might happen during our time. Because Real Life sessions are extremely child centred and low stress, most kids relax quickly once we get started and they realize that they aren't expected to perform or follow directions. If your kiddo does have some tough moments, we can give them a breather or whatever else they need in the moment. I don't shy away from capturing this part of your day because it's just as worthy of documenting as the funny, silly and cuddly moments. Those challenges are the foundation of your loving relationship with your kids. Helping them to navigate a sibling argument is helping them to build their life skills. Responding with empathy to their meltdown teaches them that you’ll love them no matter what. Rolling with it and joining when your kid can't stop making fart noises is teaching them that you’ll always try to connect with them. If moments like that aren't worth capturing, I don't know what is.
Words from past clients who are just like you!
Jordan joined us for a Real Life photo session the morning of our eldest daughter's 5th birthday. Our goal was to have Jordan capture our everyday life, including our family fun and regular chaos. When Jordan arrived she seamlessly slipped into our routine with little interruption to our morning groove. There was no pressure to "perform", we ate, we danced, we got ready for our morning and she managed to capture our beautiful family dynamic. The kids (and dog) had fun showing Jordan all of their favorite things. The girls played and painted themselves with nail polish, we had a family dance party and a great visit to the park all while Jordan interacted and documented the hilarity that is a 2 and 5-year-old just living life in the comfort of their home. Jordan captured real moments, the beautiful ones that rarely get captured so perfectly. When Jordan shared our family video with us I cried. She found the perfect pictures and music to piece together our morning. Jordan not only captured beautiful images of our morning she captured the heart and comfort of our little unique family.
Jordan's documentary approach was so relaxing, an experience we had never had before with family photography. There was no pressure, we just did our thing and she did hers. Our smiles, laughter, and more serious moments were all real. We highly recommend her and look forward to future documentary sessions with her in the future. Jordan's ability to capture family magic is a true gift. - Tobey Gullick-Scott
"Thank you SO much for coming to spend the morning with us and our sweet little family (critters included). Jordan, I truly can't put to words your talent, and how much these photos mean to us. You've captured the magic between the chaos of our life with 2 toddlers. I'll cherish them always." -Amanda Kelly
I would love to tell your family's story.
Slice of Life Mini Session
-1 hour, focused on one activity or family tradition
-limited availability - only 25 sessions up for grabs in the winter and again in the summer
-25 images
$400
Real Life Sessions
-"Day in the Life" style - we'll have time for multiple activities and everyday moments
-choose a half or full day option
-only 4 spots per month
-minimum of 125 images
starting at $900
Don't miss a thing.
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Let’s do this.
Send me a quick hello and I will reach out to chat!
I'm always happy to talk with people about what a Real Life session could look like for you and your family.
Jordan Lyall | Copyright 2024