Your Family Photos Are Just Beautiful Wrapping Paper

 Getting family photos taken is like saving only the wrapping paper from your favorite gift. The paper might be beautiful, carefully chosen, expertly creased, and topped with the perfect bow. But years later, when you try to remember what was inside, you realize the actual gift wasn’t preserved.

While I cherish creating beautiful “wrapping paper” for families through my photography, the real gift is who you are right now: the everyday chaos and quiet, the unique personalities and quirks, the wins and losses, the dreams and inside jokes that make your family special. The gift is your family's story at this exact moment.

Your photos will show you what everyone looked like, but you’re preserving only the surface of this chapter in your family’s life without capturing what's inside the package.

Unwrapping Your Family’s Story

We’ve just created beautiful wrapping paper together—photos that perfectly package this moment in time. Now comes the truly important part: documenting the essence of each family member, those precious details that make your family uniquely yours.

Every family has its unique way of being wrapped. Your daily rhythms and routines create the pages of your family life, written with special traditions and celebrations. How you spend time together, those inside jokes that only your family understands, and even the challenges you face all contribute to your family’s unique story.

What lies beneath the surface goes even deeper. There are the dreams you share as a family, the stories passed down through generations, and the countless ways you support each other. You plan adventures together, learn life’s lessons side by side, and create memories that will last a lifetime.

Each family member brings their own gifts to this beautiful package. Parents, think about the unexpected delights you’ve discovered in your children this year, those small gestures that make your heart feel full, and the new skills or interests that have emerged. Consider what makes each child uniquely themselves right now and what qualities you hope they never lose as they grow.

Children have their own stories to tell—about what makes them proud, fascinates them, brings them joy, and makes them feel brave. Siblings share special bonds, too, creating a world of shared adventures, inside jokes, and uniquely theirs ways of supporting each other.

The seemingly small details are actually precious treasures worth preserving: current ages and stages, favorite foods and games, daily routines and rituals, special places, beloved toys, recent milestones, current challenges, and dreams for the future. These details paint the full picture of who your family is right now.

Years from now, when you look at these photos—this beautiful wrapping paper—you’ll want to remember what was inside each package. You’ll want to recall not just how young everyone looked but who they were at their core: what made them laugh, what they dreamed about, what challenged them, what they overcame, and what brought them joy.

Preserving the Whole Gift

While I’m passionate about creating beautiful “wrapping paper” for families through photography, I’d be honored to help you preserve what’s inside the package, too. Through interviews, video documentation, or written narratives, we can capture the complete gift of who your family is right now—a treasure that will become more precious each year.

Let’s discuss capturing your family’s complete story. Together, we’ll ensure that the essence of your family—the laughter, dreams, challenges, and love—is preserved for generations to come.