Photographing Families: Designing Custom Portraits with Character & Style

Traditional portrait photographers, for centuries, have relied upon lighting and posing conventions that were largely based on the aesthetic ideals set forth by Master painters and sculptors. The results of their rigid approach to depicting the family resulted in a cookie-cutter look to portraiture. The subjects were beautifully lit, stiffly posed, and, well, proper. The resulting image presented a likeness of each family member but did not speak to the inner lives of the subjects.

Today, po...