When was the last time you had a photo with your parents?

My mum’s 82. I nearly didn’t have this photo.

My kids and I drove down to Mittagong for Mother’s Day to have lunch with my Mum and the whole family.

That includes my brother & sister, their kids and now my great niece and nephews.

It was one of those days where everyone’s talking over each other and nobody wants to leave.

I took a photo of Mum with her three great-grandchildren and my nephew. She’s 82. It hit me afterwards that if I hadn’t grabbed my camera at that moment, it wouldn’t exist.

That photo is the reason I’m writing this.

The photo most families overlook

I photograph families every week. Mum, Dad, kids, dogs. And I love it.

But there’s one photo I think most families are missing, and it’s the one with the grandparents.

We always think there’ll be more time. Next Christmas. Next birthday. Next time they visit.

And then one day the kids are grown and your parents are older and you realise you don’t have a single proper photo of everyone together.

Not a blurry one from across the table at a restaurant. Not a group shot where half the faces are cut off. A real one. One that shows the way your mum holds your child’s hand, or the way your dad looks at them when he thinks nobody’s watching.

Your parents won’t be here forever. I know that’s not a comfortable thing to say, but it’s true. And the photo of them with your children, or your grandchildren, is the one your family will treasure more than any other.

It doesn’t matter if your dad says he hates having his photo taken. It doesn’t matter if your mum says she’s not dressed up enough. Get the photo. You will never regret having it.

This is my mum. She’s 82, and these are three of her great-grandchildren & one of her grandsons.

Levi’s five, Laila’s two and the baby Mahmoud is just three weeks old.

Laila is her only great-granddaughter and my Mum is enamoured with her.

You can see it in this photo. The two of them are just looking at each other and it says everything.

I took this on Mother’s Day and I’m so glad I did. This is the photo that will matter in twenty years. Not the one of the food. Not the one of the view. This one.

Bring the whole family in

If you’ve been thinking about getting the extended family together for a session, I’d love to help you make it happen.

Grandparents, grown-up kids, grandchildren, the dog.

I’ve been doing this for 23 years and I know how to make it relaxed and easy, even with a big group.

Get in touch or call me on 0421 577 579 and let’s get your family in the studio together.

Cheers

Kate x

From one mum to another

Call your mum. Not a text. An actual phone call. It doesn’t matter if you spoke to her last week. Call her again. One day you won’t be able to and you’ll wish you had.

Planning a session like this?

Can grandparents join a family session?

Yes, and it’s one of my favourite sessions to photograph. Grandparents, grown-up kids, grandchildren and the dog are all welcome.

How big a group can you photograph?

My Gordon studio is 175sqm with three big arch windows, so there’s plenty of room for the whole family. I can fit a group of up to 25 people in the studio.

Is the studio easy for older grandparents to get to?

My studio is upstairs but there are railings for grandparents to hold on to. There's a landing halfway up the stairs so they can come up slowly.

See more families in my Family Portraits gallery, or book your session here.

My story | Family photographer, Gordon Sydney

The über photography story

Hi, I'm Kate.

I'm a mum of three. Felix, Max and Millie. And for more than twenty years I've been photographing families on Sydney's North Shore.

über photography started in 2004. Chris, my husband at the time, had loved photography since the day we met, and I'd grown up in a family business, so the idea of running one from home while the kids were little really appealed to me. We'd both had corporate careers we enjoyed, but we wanted a different lifestyle and more time together as a family. The boys were five and three and I was pregnant with Millie. So we jumped.

The name came from Chris's German background. We had it well before Uber cars existed, just so you know. I wanted something simple and easy to remember, and über happens to mean the best of the best, so it stuck.

We started with a couple of friends' weddings and then it took off. For five years we photographed fifty weddings a year, in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Noosa, Fiji and Bali. Being trusted with someone's wedding day is a big thing and I never took it lightly.

I'd trained as a primary teacher, so when my brides started having babies and asking me to photograph their families, I said yes straight away. That was the moment it clicked for me. Telling the story of a family as it grows and changes is the thing I'm meant to do.

By 2009 all my kids were at school and something had to give. Weddings meant losing a full day every weekend. I was missing sport, missing the ordinary weekend stuff, missing them. So I stopped photographing weddings and went all in on families.

Then on 8 August 2011, everything changed.

Where I'm at now

I photograph families on my own now, from a 175sqm studio at Gordon with three big arch windows and a lot of light. It feels more like a home than a studio, which is deliberate. People relax faster in a room that feels like a room.

Around 2,500 families later, I still do this the same way. No stiff posing. No pretending your toddler is going to behave. Kids being kids, parents in the frame instead of behind the camera, and the dog up on the couch with everyone else, because the dog is family too.

Millie, the baby I was pregnant with when this all started, now works with me on the admin and social media. Lollie, my miniature dachshund, supervises. Some of the families I photographed in those first few years are still coming back, only now their babies are taller than me.

If getting family photos done has been on your list for a while, I'd love to hear from you.

Kate x

If you want the practical rundown on family photography in Sydney, pricing, process and all, I've put it in one place.

CHECK OUT OUR MODERN STUDIO SESSIONS

These are our most popular family sessions. These in our beautiful light filled space, with our simple props of our bed, fireplace and chairs

What to Wear for Studio Family Photos

What to wear for family photos is the thing most mums get stuck on, usually at 10pm the night before. Outfits change how the photos feel more than almost anything else you can control, so they're worth ten minutes of proper thought. Here's how I'd approach it, after 23 years of doing this and roughly 2,500 families through my studio in Gordon.

Start With Mum, Then Build Around Her

Pick your outfit first. Everyone else coordinates around you.

I say this to every mum who asks, and the reason is simple. You're the one most likely to feel awkward in front of a camera, and if you're not comfortable in what you're wearing, it shows in every single frame. Your kids will be fine. Your husband will be fine. You're the one I want to get right.

So choose something you already own and already love. Something you've worn before and know you look good in. Not the thing you bought last week that you're not quite sure about, and not the thing that only works if you stand a certain way. You'll be sitting on the floor, holding a toddler, leaning into your husband, laughing at something one of your kids has said. Comfortable matters more than clever.

If you're between two options, go with the one that's softer and has a bit of movement in it. Stiff, structured fabric photographs stiff. Fabric that moves reads as relaxed, which is what you want.

I've had mums turn up with three outfits in a bag because they couldn't decide. Nine times out of ten we go with the one she's worn before and already knows she feels good in.

Takeaway: choose yours first, build everyone else around it.

Think of the Whole Family as One Outfit

Coordinated, not matching. There's a big difference.

Matching outfits, everyone in white shirts and jeans, means everyone blends into everyone else. You lose the individual people. What you actually want is a family that clearly belongs together but where each person still looks like themselves.

The test I use is this. If every item of clothing you've chosen was somehow on one person, would that outfit work? If the answer is yes, you've got it. If it's a mess, something needs to change.

In practice that means picking two or three colours plus a neutral, then varying the tone within them. One person in a deeper shade, another in a lighter one. Let one person wear a pattern if they want to, then keep everyone else fairly plain so the pattern doesn't have to compete.

Texture is your friend, especially in the studio. Knits, linen, denim, corduroy. They give the images depth without adding visual noise. A chunky jumper does more for a photo than a busy print does.

Have a look through my family portrait gallery and you'll see the same principle in most of them. Nobody matches. Everybody goes together.

Takeaway: if it would work as one outfit, it'll work as a family.

Four Colour Palettes That Work in the Studio

My studio light is controlled, which means colours behave predictably. These four are the ones I come back to.

Blues and greys. Endlessly versatile and easy to shop for from what's already in the wardrobe. Mix the shades rather than using one flat blue across everyone, and throw in one small hit of a different colour if you want some lift.

Neutrals. Creams, oatmeal, tan, soft white, warm beige. This palette gives a very natural, calm feel and it's lovely if you want to put the little girls in something floral. It also ages well, which matters if the photos are going on the wall for the next fifteen years.

Black and grey. Black is flattering and a lot of parents feel more confident in it, so I'd never tell you to avoid it. It works particularly well in the studio where I can control the light and keep the shapes separate. Add grey and white for the kids so you're not looking at one solid block of dark.

Your own palette. Pick any three or four colours you actually like and coordinate around them. Cohesive without being matchy. Nobody standing out more than anyone else.

Takeaway: pick a palette before you pick the clothes.

Blues and greys

What to Skip

A short list, because there really aren't many rules.

Big logos and slogans. A small logo on a pocket is fine. What I mean is the brand name running right across the chest, or the slogan T-shirt. Your eye goes straight to the writing instead of the faces, and in ten years the logo will date the photo more than anything else in it.

Loud character prints. Your five-year-old loves that dinosaur shirt. I understand. But a big cartoon print pulls focus off your child's face, which is the whole reason you're here.

Anything brand new and untested. New clothes are stiff, sometimes itchy, and nobody knows yet whether they're comfortable. A child tugging at a scratchy collar for an hour is not a good look for anyone.

Too many competing patterns. One pattern in a group is interesting. Four patterns is busy.

Very bright single colours in large amounts. Strong fluoro or saturated brights can throw colour up onto skin under studio lighting. Fine in small doses, tricky as a whole outfit.

Takeaway: anything that pulls attention away from faces is the thing to change.

The Practical Bits Nobody Thinks About

Lay everything out two or three days before, not the night before. This is the single thing that reduces stress most and it costs you nothing. You'll spot the missing button, the stain or the pair of trousers that no longer fit while there's still time to do something about it.

Bare feet are my default in the studio. It means shoes are one less thing to organise, and bare feet look softer and more natural than socks or school shoes.

Bring a spare top for yourself if you're torn. It takes two minutes to change and you'll feel better knowing there's an option.

Hair the way you normally wear it, not a style you've never tried before. And take the hair ties off your wrists, they turn up in more photos than you'd think.

If your dog is coming, and dogs are genuinely welcome here, give them a brush beforehand and swap a bulky harness for a plain collar or nothing at all. They photograph better without a lead across the frame.

One last thing. All of the above is for studio sessions. If you're booked for an outdoor session, the advice shifts a fair bit, mostly around layers, footwear and the fact that you'll be sitting on grass.

Takeaway: sort it early and the day itself becomes easy.

And If You're Still Not Sure

Whether you've got a newborn, three kids under ten or teenagers who need bribing to be there, the same approach works. Get the outfits decided early, then turn up and let me handle the rest. Nobody has ever failed a family session on clothing.

I photograph families at every stage. If you've been thinking about booking a session, now is the time. You can see what's included and what families usually spend on my pricing page, or just send me a message and tell me what you're thinking.

Kate x

What if my kids won't sit still?

Here's the final copy with everything applied:

What if my kids won't sit still?

As a mum of three, I totally get that mums are nervous about how the kids are going to behave during their family's session.

Do you have the kind of kids that don't sit still even for a minute?

Do you try to go out for a meal and they last about 5 minutes at the table and then they're wanting to race around the restaurant and check everything out? You never seem to be able to get that relaxing meal at the restaurant. You watch the other family sitting around with the kids at the table behaving normally and dream of having kids that will sit still.

When I see these kinds of kids arrive at a session I can clearly see the look on mum's face. She's nervous that the kids aren't going to behave and listen to what they're asked to do.

Here are my tips as a mum and photographer about the best way to prepare:

Firstly, explain to them what's going to actually happen at a session

Have a chat to the kids a few weeks before your session about what's going to happen.

Explain that the photographer is going to take some pictures of you as a family and then the kids together and then the kids by themselves.

Set some expectations of what you expect of your kids.

Explain to them that they need to listen to what the photographer asks them to do.

Reassure them that if they listen and do what they are asked then the session will be quick and easy.

Make sure you ask the photographer how long the session is going to take and then explain that to your kids.

My sessions never go for more than about 45 minutes. Young kids have short concentration spans and I would never expect them to be sitting still and concentrating for that whole time.

Reassure them that it will be fun.

Let them pick their own outfits

As a mum I dream of having those perfectly coordinated photos with everyone sitting in white, with hair perfectly brushed, shiny white teeth and kids looking like perfect angels.

The reality is with energetic kids, if you saw a photo of your kids like this it wouldn't look like your kids.

I've had issues with my kids not liking labels on clothes, not liking certain colours, only wanting to wear one kind of look.

When they're not keen on getting photos done, and then we try to dress them up for the perfect look is most often when the fighting starts.

So my advice is pick out a bunch of their favourite clothes, lie them on the bed to check which ones roughly coordinate best with each other. Most blues work well together, or grey can work well with blue. Throw in a splash of colour and it will still work.

Give your kids 2 to 3 options each. Then let them pick which one they want to wear. You'll end up with happy kids who feel comfortable in what they're wearing.

When you get to the session

Be guided by what your photographer tells you.

I start our sessions by explaining to the family exactly what's going to happen. That way mum knows what to expect and the kids know what to expect.

I find quite often it's dad who's the most nervous, worried about having to smile and be told what to do. He has often been dragged along as well.

The important thing as a mum is just to relax.

An experienced photographer is used to dealing with kids that don't sit still. I have lots of tricks that will help the process go smoothly.

If you get stressed your kids know you're stressed.

Relax and enjoy your session.

Watch your kids interacting with each other. Watch them interacting with the photographer.

A photo session is about capturing your kids at this age. Enjoy those moments as the session unfolds. Enjoy those little quirks that make your kids who they are. Let me engage with your kids and capture their individual personalities.

Most importantly don't tell them to smile. Kids often have that awful fake smile, especially between the ages of 5 and 10. As a photographer I have lots of tricks to get them to laugh.

If you're still weighing up which Sydney family photographer is right for you, here's what actually matters when you're deciding.

What actually matters when you're deciding on