London Ontario Family Photographer | Playful Beach Extended Family Session

Extended Family sessions tend to come with a list of important groupings and must-haves - after all, how often does everyone get together in coordinated outfits with the sole purpose of documenting family memories? We make it count and get every combination that is meaningful, including individual photos of the kiddos and mini family sessions for each individual unit in addition to the large family groupings. The challenge can sometimes be to find those playful, affectionate, candid moments throughout the session as we go down the list of must-have photos (it’s a bit more structured and regimented than an individual family session where we go with the flow more), but this family came to have fun. I absolutely LOVE the playful, hilarious photos we captured as they not only ran in the water together, but pushed each other in. It was a survival of the fittest situation, and it was so.much.fun. Let’s be honest, family sessions can be stressful (outfits, hair, getting there on time, kids arguing, weather uncertainty, all that pressure to get the photos you’ve been planning (and sometimes saving) for), but this session shows how amazing it can be when you let fun memories, too. Scroll to the end for the FUN! :)

London Ontario Wedding Photographer | Jennifer & Ryder's Grand Bend Engagement Session

I absolutely loved working with Jennifer and Ryder. Their engagement session fell on a gorgeous late Summer day. We started with a wooded trail walk and enjoyed the sun shining through the trees, and eventually headed to the beach for some sunset snuggles. If you’ve never enjoyed a wine bottle for two on a beach log at sunset, these two sure made it look like the perfect romantic date idea! What better way to end the night than with a sunset beach silhouette shot. Here are a few favourites from their Grand Bend engagement session!

London Ontario Family Photographer | Sunset Port Stanley Beach Family Session

I am so excited to share this beautiful sunset family session today. This shoot took place on a beautifully sunny, incredibly windy late Summer evening. There were actual wind warnings for the area, and the waves were unbelievably high. Nonetheless, after chatting about our options, we decided to go for it. And I am so glad we did. We mostly stayed away from the water’s edge to avoid the worst of the wind, and the beach was completely empty due to the weather conditions. The delicious golden hour light was to.die.for., and this gorgeous family put together the most beautiful outfits for their beach session. So many playful, snuggly candid moments. The whole shoot was a dream. Here are some favourites!

(P.S.: Johanna is a talented photographer herself - check her work out here!)

London Ontario Family Photographer | Port Stanley Beach Family Session

This was such a fun morning family session at Little Beach in Port Stanley. I don’t usually shoot at this beach because I tend to book evening sessions in Port Stanley, but Little Beach was perfect for that beautiful morning light. The beach tends to always bring out that candid playfulness I love to photograph, and this session was no exception. I hadn’t seen this sweet family since baby brother’s newborn lifestyle session, and it was so lovely to see them again. Here are some favourites from their fun beach session!

London Ontario Family Photographer | Saleme's Family Beach Session

So many of my favourite things collided for this fun family beach session. An empty beach? At golden hour? With a friend and her gorgeous family? And so many fun, candid moments to document? YES PLEASE. Saleme is such a beautiful person inside and out. She has assisted me with weddings here and there and is an amazing photographer herself (her brand/product styling photography is perfection). I really loved photographer her family and am sharing some favourites on the blog today!

London Ontario Family Photographer | Port Stanley Beach Minis

Booking opened up to my advance notice list for this year’s beach minis, which means it’s the perfect time to reminisce about last year! We had SO MUCH RAIN last year. I don’t think I’ve ever had to reschedule beach minis so many times. I studied the weather radar like a hawk and despite that, got caught in the rain multiple times. But despite all of the weather frustrations, these were some of my favourite beach sessions to date. Here are some highlights!

Best of 2018 Family Sessions | London Ontario Family Photographer

I wish you could have seen me putting this blog post together. First of all, it took a very long time. But most importantly, I smiled from ear to ear the entire time. So many beautiful families. So many favourites. So many. Some obvious ones that I previewed on social media and were stand-out favourites from the very beginning, and some that I had completely forgotten about, that for some reason didn’t really grab me during the editing process but made my heart sing during this yearly review.

As always, I feel the need to point out that my initial selection was so large it was ridiculous. In fact, one might argue that this selection is ridiculously lengthy. But I can only narrow them down so much, ya know? At the end of the day, whether a session appears in this compilation or not, I am so eternally grateful to each family that trusted me with capturing their memories - some for the first time in 2018, and some for the 8th time. It sounds so cliche, and we photographers like to throw around phrases like “I want to tell your story” and “capture your milestones” and “document your real life”… but it’s the truth. It’s why I do what I do.

Looking through all of these images made me so excited about the upcoming shooting season. For now though, I’m still reminiscing about the incredible year that was 2018. Here are some favourites!

London Ontario Family Photographer | Port Stanley Beach Minis

This year's beach minis are about to start booking, and as always it's about this time that I love to reminisce about the previous year's sessions. I'm so excited to share last years beach minis on the blog this evening! 

If you'd like to get on the advance notice list for the next round of minis (and all subsequent rounds), you can email me at sophie@rawfootagephotos.com, subject line "Advance Notice Minis". 

London Ontario Wedding Photographer | Jen & Blake's Goderich Winter Engagement Session

I love engagement sessions because the sky is the limit in terms of where and what. We could be out in the woods, downtown, by the water, doing your favourite activity, you name it. Jen and Blake's engagement session in Goderich awhile back was extra fun because it combined so many of my favourite location ideas - a rustic barn? Check! A charming cafe? Check! A beautiful bridge? Check! Photos on the beach? Check! It was freezing cold, but we didn't let that stop us from checking off all of the amazing locations that Jen and Bake had planned, and we had a blast capturing these two together before their big day. Here are some favourites from their Winter engagement session! What's your favourite location we used? Tell me in the comments! :) 

London Ontario Family Photographer | Darcy, Jessie & Max's Autumn Beach Session

I love this family. I say it every time I have the pleasure of photographing them, and every time I blog their sessions. They've been with me since my very early days as a photographer and lucky me, they keep coming back! This session is from 2016 - not my most recent session with them (I have a lot of blogging to do) - but one of the most memorable. We headed to the beach in Port Stanley on a chilly Fall day for something different. They played, laughed and snuggled, and I just tried to keep up - documenting all of those candid moments that I love so much. Here are some favourites from this playful lifestyle beach shoot.