You booked a family photo session in Amsterdam. Now what actually happens when we meet?

You don't need to arrive knowing how to pose, and your children don't need to arrive ready to perform for the camera. They can be curious, shy, excited, tired, interested in a passing boat, or completely unimpressed by the idea of taking photographs. That is all part of photographing a family.

My job is to manage the photography, the light and the city around you. Your job is much simpler: enjoy Amsterdam together, connect with your family and let the experience happen.

We start a few steps from our first photograph

For family sessions, I deliberately choose a meeting point very close to where I want to start photographing. I don't want the first part of our time together to be spent walking children from a meeting point to the actual location.

When you arrive, I introduce myself to everyone. Whenever possible, I already know everyone's names. With small children, I come down to their eye level, introduce myself and start talking to them too. We don't need to immediately point a camera at them.

Those first few minutes give children time to understand who I am and why I'm there. I talk with the parents about what we're going to do, but I want the children to hear that conversation too. We might talk about games we're going to play, what we're going to see, or what is going to happen next. At the same time, I'm observing.

Is your child immediately interested in me? Do they want to show me a toy? Are they shy? Do they want to play? Do they need more distance? Are they tired? Are they curious about what's happening around us? Within those first five minutes, I usually have a very good idea of how I'm going to photograph your family.

The important photographs happen first

Before every family session, I ask which combinations are important to you. I try to photograph that baseline during approximately the first ten minutes, and that is intentional.

If a child becomes tired later, decides they have finished with photographs, gets fascinated by a swan or simply wants to run around Amsterdam, I already know we have the essential combinations. Then we can relax.

As we continue walking, I can repeat those combinations in different places, with different light and with everyone increasingly comfortable. Around the middle of the session, I mentally check what we already have and ask if there is another combination or photograph the family particularly wants. We still have time.

I direct family photo sessions a lot

There is sometimes an assumption that natural photographs happen because a photographer gives no direction. That isn't how I work. Photography can absolutely capture reality, but when we have a limited amount of time together, good direction helps us use that time well.

I will tell you where to stand, where to walk, what direction to face, and sometimes what to do together. I might give you a game to play with the children or an action to repeat. In one location, we might photograph two or three different sequences before moving on. That doesn't mean every expression or interaction is staged.

The direction creates the situation. What happens between you is real.

Your child laughs differently with you than with anyone else. The way they reach for you is theirs. The way siblings interact belongs to them. Those are the things I'm waiting for once I've put everyone in the right place.

And between the directed photographs are completely documentary moments: walking together, talking, looking at something in the city or moving from one place to another. For me, a complete family gallery needs all three: direction, play, and candid moments.

It might feel awkward. That's completely fine.

I hear some version of “We're not good at photos” very often. You don't need to be. Some of the things I ask you to do might even feel slightly awkward while you're doing them. That doesn't mean they look awkward through my camera.

There is a moment where you have to stop analysing what your hands are doing, whether you're standing correctly or whether your child is looking at me. Pass through that awkwardness. I'll tell you when something needs changing. You don't need to monitor yourselves while I'm photographing.

Children don't need to behave for the camera

Children are usually not the people who need the most direction during a family session. Parents are. Parents understandably start worrying when a child doesn't look at the camera, runs away, makes a strange face, or suddenly decides they don't want to participate.

Then something happens: instead of interacting with the family, the parent starts watching the child. Their head goes down. They reach for them. They start asking them to smile or come back. And now I have two people who aren't participating instead of one. If your child needs a moment, let them have it.

Sometimes I'll photograph from farther away. Sometimes we'll start playing. Sometimes I'll concentrate on someone else. Sometimes the best thing we can do with a child who doesn't want to participate is simply stop making their participation the centre of everyone's attention.

Children often come back to the action by themselves because suddenly something interesting is happening without them. There are seconds when everything comes together. I know how to look for those seconds.

Amsterdam is our location, so we walk

I don't bring families to one beautiful background and make 30 photographs in front of it. Amsterdam isn't a backdrop. It's a city to discover; then, we walk.

If we're photographing around the Canal Belt, you might see the streets changing as we move towards the centre. We'll find narrow houses, bridges, canals, boats and small details along the way. Sometimes the children become interested in something I hadn't planned at all. That becomes part of the session.

During a recent family session, I pointed out swans behind a boat and suddenly the children were fascinated by the swans. That's Amsterdam giving us the next part of the experience. With children, I treat much of the walk as a game of discovery. That is far more interesting than asking them to look at my camera for an hour.

Light comes first

Before every session, I check the route. Usually I arrive on my bike around ten minutes before our meeting time and cycle through the area again. Sometimes I've already checked it the day before, but Amsterdam changes quickly enough that I still want to know what is happening right now. I check the route, construction, anything unusual in the streets and, most importantly, the light. Light comes first.

If the sun is strong, I already know where we can work in shadow, where I can place the sun behind you and which direction we should walk. Then I combine that light with the backgrounds I want.

Crowds worry me much less. I know how people move through the areas where I photograph, which angles work and which lens will give me the background I need. I can photograph between people moving through a scene rather than asking everyone around us to stop.

That is important because Amsterdam is a living city. People live here, work here, cycle to work and walk through the same beautiful streets we're using for photographs. We don't need to stop the city to photograph your family in it.

The streets are for everyone

This is one of the first things I explain to families, particularly children. Amsterdam gives us enormous freedom to enjoy its public spaces, but those spaces belong to everyone.

If someone needs to walk through our photograph, we let them pass. If a bicycle needs the road, the bicycle has the road. I photograph quickly between those moments rather than asking other people to wait for us. There is another rule I use with children: nobody crosses the street without me. Even the parents wait.

When children see the adults following the same rule, they usually follow it too. I also tend to choose less hectic areas when photographing families with small children. Amsterdam has very busy cycling routes, and knowing which streets to use is part of managing a family session here safely.

You shouldn't need to think about any of that while we're photographing. I will.

Bring as little as possible

The moments between our planned photographs are part of the gallery too. That's why I recommend bringing as little as possible. If you have a stroller, wonderful. It becomes our storage space. Jackets, snacks, and other essentials can go there while we're photographing. If you don't have a stroller, ideally everything fits into one bag.

We can't leave belongings unattended on Amsterdam streets, and every time we need to collect several bags, put jackets back on, carry something to another location, and put everything down again, we interrupt the rhythm of the session. When your hands are free, I can keep photographing while we walk.

Those in-between photographs are often some of the most natural ones in the gallery.

And yes, I try to photograph the parents alone

Family photography understandably becomes very focused on the children. But you are part of the family too. When the children are comfortable enough to give us a moment, I like to make a few photographs of the parents together.

For many couples, the last time they were professionally photographed without their children was their engagement session or even their wedding. If the children are very small and don't want to leave your arms, we don't force it. But whenever the opportunity is there, I like to take it.

A little Amsterdam rain doesn't end the session

Rain is part of photographing in Amsterdam. If a brief shower arrives, we adapt. Sometimes standing underneath a doorway or close to a building for a few minutes is enough. If the rain becomes heavier, we'll find proper cover and wait for the block to pass.

Amsterdam rain often comes in periods rather than continuing at exactly the same intensity for an entire hour. I deliberately avoid scheduling sessions too tightly together, so a short weather interruption doesn't necessarily mean we've lost that part of the experience. We work with the city we have that day.

Thirty minutes and sixty minutes don't feel the same with children

A 30-minute family session can absolutely work. Sometimes parents know their children well enough to know that a shorter experience is the right decision. But there is a trade-off. Children often need part of the session simply to get used to being photographed. In a 30-minute session, it isn't unusual for the second half to be much stronger than the first, and sometimes they're becoming completely comfortable just as we're reaching the end.

With more time, we have room for that transition. We can secure the important photographs early and then stop thinking so much about photographs. We walk, play, discover the city, repeat combinations in different places and allow more of the unplanned moments to happen.

More time isn't simply about receiving more photographs. This is one of the reasons my family sessions now start at 45 minutes rather than 30: those extra 15 minutes can completely change the rhythm of a session with children.

The extra time changes how much time the family has to forget that this is a photo session.

Your children can simply be your children

A successful family photo session doesn't require an hour of perfect behaviour. A child can run away from a photograph. They can refuse to look at me. They can become fascinated by a boat. They can need a snack. They can decide that a game is much more interesting than whatever photograph I had planned next. We adapt.

What makes a much bigger difference is whether the adults can stay present with them. Photography in Amsterdam is also a form of sightseeing. You're discovering a city together, noticing things that are different from home, walking beside the canals and spending time as a family. Let that be the experience.

Your job is to be with your family. Managing everything around that is mine.

Until the next time in Amsterdam,

Joanna

Your Vacation Photographer in Amsterdam