As a Gold Coast documentary photographer, some sessions are a celebration. This one was a goodbye, and I got to be the one holding the camera for it. This family was leaving Chicago for New York City. But I was so happy that before they packed up their life here, they wanted one more afternoon in the place where it all started. Their kids were born here. Their old apartment was here. And so was their nannie, who they insisted to include. She came along, with her partner, because over the years the two of them started becoming family. Btw I don’t charge extra to include the people you love.
You could feel it in how the kids moved toward them without hesitation, how the nannie’s partner got pulled into hugs like he’d always been part of the crew. That’s the kind of thing I can’t pose. I can only be ready for it, camera up, waiting for the moment two people who love your children the way you do lean in without being asked.
Working as a Gold Coast Documentary Photographer
We spent the afternoon on their terrace and then wandering the streets of the Gold Coast. Walked past the brick buildings and iron fences that will stay in their memory long after the moving boxes are gone. Their little one new to the family already so loved and already such a big part of the core and heart of this family. I watched and captured this family move through the day together. Unhurried and completely present with each other, was its own kind of quiet lesson. There was no performance in it. Just a family of four. Plus two people they consider family too, soaking up their last bit of Chicago before starting over somewhere new.
This is why I work as a Gold Coast documentary photographer instead of sticking to posed and stiff portraits. A family walking down a familiar street for the last time, a toddler leaning into the person who helped raise her. A father catching his son mid giggle. These are the moments that mean everything. The ones that actually tell the story of who this family is and where they came from, and now I get to be the one who kept it.
If your own family is going through a big change, whether that’s a move, a new baby, or just wanting to hold onto this season before it passes, I would love to help you capture it. You can read more about how I approach family sessions and see how documentary photography holds onto the small, real moments that matter most.
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