February 3, 2020
The Merril Family : Charlottesville, VA Spring Documentary Session
I practically cried on the way home from this session, The fullness of love between these siblings and the simple joys they all shared together in this little snippet of time – it was what documentary sessions are all about. Here’s what Dani (mom) had to say about their session:
“Our family found Firefly Photography years ago when our children were in preschool. Leah brought her skill and camera to the preschool and was able to capture the essence of those children like none other! Our daughter hates to be filmed and if she agrees to stand still, she will undoubtedly give the typical “cheese” face for the camera and move on.
Leah was able to giggle with our daughter, provided a safe space for her to be herself and let her own little light to shine. The expressions she captured were so priceless and my husband and I couldn’t believe that someone got those faces on film.
Once we decided to get family portraits done this year, I knew that Leah was the one who would pull out the special essence of our unique family’s experience. I loved how she took an inventory prior to the session, & got me to think about what I wanted out of this memory. With three little kids, we are basically homebodies on the weekend, cherishing that time together. We told Leah we wanted to play out our weekend routine and be authentic with our favorite times together, everything from making Saturday morning pancakes together, to playing legos on the floor, to snuggling with the family cat, to swinging on our porch swing.
Leah swept in, led us but then stepped back and let us be ourselves. She coached us but also let us lead once we knew what direction we wanted to head in. She was so incredibly easy to work with, the pictures are so beautiful, the emotion coming through them is real, and the kids keep asking when she’s coming back to play :)”
This family also chose a softcover book of their favorite images – the best way, in my opinion, to keep documentary-style sessions like this close and enjoy them regularly! Take a peak at how their keepsake turned out below :
