Who am I and Why Should You Listen To Anything I Have To Say?

My name is Alisha and I have been working predominantly photographing families in the Fort Worth area for 6 years now. I set out to capture 'candid' photos and encapsulate genuine emotions and somewhere along the road I started to notice something that I couldn't unsee.

I think we are past the point as a society where we consider meticulously posed photos as being the norm or 'traditional family photos' anymore. If you search 'Family Photo Session' on Instagram 90% of what you see would be what the average person would consider candid or unposed photos.

However, I don't think all 'unposed' images are created equal.

we've maybe all seen behind the scenes videos, or maybe you've even experienced this yourself, I know I have previously been guilty of this, where you have a cute family standing bunched together and then you hear the photographer say "ok now everyone look at each other and laugh, MORE LAUGHING, we're all happy and laughing" and at the end of the day I think this can produce an image that looks fine but feels empty... Let's fix this.

So If Not That Then What?

I have had to learn the balance between enough direction to keep things moving and prevent chaos from ensuing without feeling like I'm manufacturing images that don't actually reflect the authentic emotions that were taking place.or expecting you to show up already knowing what to do. That would be just as uncomfortable for everyone in a different way.

Im not just dropping you guys in a field, saying 'have fun', and hoping that something worth photographing happens, or expecting you to show up already knowing what to do. That would be just as uncomfortable for everyone in a different way.

What I try to do is be really intentional about how I interact with you how I direct a session.

I am usually giving at least vague direction on where to stand and then making minor adjustments based on what looks good and feels more natural. I may ask you to squeeze in, switch the baby to the other hip, pass that kid off to dad, etc. There is some level of structure there.

But instead of telling you what to perform, I'm giving you something to respond to.

With kids this might look like turning things into an interaction or invitation rather than an instruction. I'm asking questions, noticing what they're already doing and leaning into it. If the find a leaf this may look like "oh did you find a leaf? Can I see? Do you think sister would like the leaf? what if you tickled her nose with it that would be really silly... Dad kind of looks like he wants you to tickle his nose with it, doesn't he? That's so silly. Do you you want to help mom look for her own leaf?" and there's a lot going on here that I am looking to get but the interactions are genuine.

With couples it's a little different. I might put you in a position that feels close and intentional. I might ask you to look at each other and stay just like that while I move around you guys getting different shots. Then I let it sit, and how people respond to this after the first few seconds of awkwardness tends to vary on the couple, but their reactions are always unique to them. Sometimes I have couples who can't stop smiling at each other, sometimes I have couples who begin to laugh because they can't stand to sit in the awkward stillness of the moment for that long, sometimes I have couples who you can visibly see falling deeper in love. It's all beautiful and it's all REAL.

I'm guiding you enough that everything doesn't fall apart visually but not so much that we don't leave space for anything real to happen. Right in that middle area is where we get the images look beautiful and feel meaningful.