Full BTS Family Session: Picnic on The Beach

This is a full, mic’d-up behind-the-scenes look at how I approach a family session when the goal isn’t to create a perfectly posed gallery but to document a family exactly as they are in the season they’re in right now.

In this session, I’m working with:

• A 6-year-old big brother

• An almost 4-year-old middle sister

• A 16-month-old baby girl

• A family who wanted their session to feel like a normal evening together

• A beach setting that is meaningful to their family and part of their traditions

• A pizza picnic (something they genuinely do together as a family)

Mom’s biggest request was simple: she wanted the session to feel like another night in the season they’re currently living in. So instead of trying to make three kids cooperate for a series of perfectly posed images, I built the session around their actual personalities, relationships, movement, and connection. And with three young children, that meant everyone was doing something different at almost every moment! 😂

Some moments were calm. Some were chaotic. Some things worked beautifully. Some things completely fell apart. And that’s exactly what makes this session such a valuable BTS to watch!!

This BTS shows how I:

• Photograph multiple young children without constantly trying to get everyone looking at the camera

• Create structure while still allowing the session to feel spontaneous

• Use prompts and activities that feel natural rather than performative

• Let kids take the lead without giving up control of the session

• Create variety within one simple activity

• Know when to step in and direct — and when to get out of the way

• Turn chaotic, in-between moments into meaningful photographs

• Think about composition, layers, and depth while also managing a real family

• Build a gallery around the experience rather than a checklist of poses

• Keep the session moving when three kids have three completely different agendas

This video also includes:

• My thought process as the session unfolds

• Closed captioning throughout

• Voiceover narration when needed

• Visual examples of the images I’m creating

• The decisions I’m making in real time and why I’m making them

Because I was fully mic’d during this session, you’ll hear some of the actual conversation between me, the parents, and the kids. I also added voiceover throughout the BTS to give you the full picture of what I was seeing, thinking, and intentionally doing in each part of the session.

And Mom's reaction afterward said it all:

• “Your editing is just gorgeous and how you capture a chaotic moment and make it into this, such a talent and gift. Your work is gorgeous!! Thank you!! So obsessed!”

• “So obsessed with these. The playfulness, the lighting and editing, it’s all just too good. Thank you thank you 😭😭 will be treasuring these forever.”

This resource is for photographers who want to stop feeling like they have to control every second of a family session in order to create beautiful images. If you want to learn how to create intentional, emotive galleries while letting families actually experience their session, this BTS will give you a front-row seat to exactly how I do it!