You’ve seen all the gorgeous, sweet photos on instagram with the newborn baby snuggled up on mom and dad’s bed or the whole family curled up on the couch. You love the idea of having photos of your family taken in the space where they spend a large portion of their time. But, you feel like your house is a total disaster and the photos will never be as beautiful as you’d like them to be. If you are thinking about getting lifestyle family photos taken but you’re worried about the messiness of your house…you shouldn’t… YOUR HOUSE DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT!!

We are not perfect people and we do not live a perfect life in picture perfect worlds.  I will never arrive to your house expecting it to look perfect. You have kids = you have toys on the floor. It doesn’t matter if you just finished cleaning your whole space, your kids will inevitably get a bunch of stuff out again. (At least that’s what happens in my domain, lol).  There are a couple of solutions to the messy house concern.

 1)   If you’re interested in documentary style photography, we can photograph your space just as it is with all the toys, books, and things. Sometimes this type of photo can be really fun in black and white too as it takes away all of the contrasting or distracting colors and pulls the focus to the faces of your loved ones, even if they are surround by a bunch of stuff.

2)   If you’re looking for that cleaner look with minimal distractions from the stuff, we can do a little rearranging. In general, if we are photographing in your home, we will select 2 or 3 spaces in which to photograph.  We can clear out any of the extra clutter in just those few spaces to give your photos a nice crisp look. I am typically shooting in one main direction within each space that we choose, so in general, we can move all of the distracting items to the opposite side of the room, behind me so that they are still easily accessible, but out of the shot.

Items that people often find distracting in final photos include tissue boxes, unruly stacks of paper, phone charging cables, toys that are multiple bright colors, and all the little random things that seem to accumulate on the side table. These are the things that we will shift out of the frame, tuck away, or move to another space.

Items that can enhance a photo by staying in the frame include decorative throw pillows, a blanket, quilt, or throw that coordinates with the space, framed family photos, bedside lamps, a small neat stack of books or magazines that normally live in the space, or any other neatly organized items that are typically part of your décor. Having “things” in your photos is not bad, it can make them feel more personal, more comfortable and make your space look more lived in and inviting. I encourage you to consider keeping the personal items that you love and that bring warmth and character to your space in order to keep your photos feeling like you and your family.

 If you’re not sure what will look or work best for your photos, I’m happy to help you figure out the best items or rearrange a few things to make your photos meet your vision. But, ultimately, I don’t want you to avoid having photos taken of your family just because you think your house is messy. This is a problem we can certainly work with.  =) In my opinion, it’s far more important to be in the photos than to have the picture look perfect. So, if life is messy right now, that’s okay, some day you may very well miss the mess. Today, let’s document it.

Updated April 14, 2024

© Eickhoff Photography