“I cannot adequately express to you how FABULOUS our family portrait is! Thanks for the experience and for producing this treasure of a lifetime.”
~Jay Staub
How do you capture a large family of 22 in a family portrait that’s different? Is it even possible? When Jay and Lynn Staub first reached out to me to create a family portrait that was different, their biggest question was, “can you even fit our large family of 22 in a portrait?” Of course, I hadn’t ever created a family portrait with this many people in it before but I confidently said, “Yes! It’ll be a fun challenge and your portrait will turn out great!”
I admittedly left the Staub’s Discovery Session feeling a lot overwhelmed by what I had just gotten myself in to.
One of the biggest problems with creating family portraits for super big families is having enough real estate for each of the family characters.
Portrait real estate simply means space for each of the family characters to occupy.
This becomes especially challenging when the home and pool are important portrait features like it was here in the Staub’s family portrait. Not to mention the space taken up by the garden.
Here’s a before and after so you can see what I saw when I first started this portrait process.
Now, you might be wondering how I can go from a rather empty bland looking scene like in the before image to a crazy family portrait with 22 distrinctly different personalities, and the simple answer is…
I don’t know.
Once I’ve had the opportunity to talk with the family and learn more about them and what they’d like to see in a family portrait, the story comes to life in my mind.
It’s really hard to explain and amazes me even to this day.
The highlight of this portrait experience, for the Staub family, and for myself, is the BIG Reveal.
Imagine, investing your time and money into a family portrait that’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before and you don’t get to see it until it’s printed, framed, and installed on your wall.
Not only were Jay and Lynn a bit anxious leading up to their reveal but I’m always nervous too.
The BIG Reveal went great, everyone laughed at each other, and the kids had a blast searching for all the little hidden items throughout their family portrait.
In fact, a few days later I recieved this email from Jay…
“I cannot adequately express to you how FABULOUS our “Family Portrait” is!! From the first day we met to discuss our family, to the presentation of the storyboard, to all the photo sessions….what a memorable experience. All of us enjoyed the experience and while admittedly a bit anxious leading up to the reveal, the end result could not be better!! Thanks for the experience and for producing this treasure of a lifetime.”
This is why creating these type of family portrait is so much better than just doing a regular boring portrait like everyone else does.
Wow that’s an amazing feat and of course you knocked it out of the park! I love the reveal you did and what a fun memory for the kids!
Thanks so much Daniel. Really appreciate your feedback.