Chicago Family Photographer |This is life… and it’s beautiful

Oh how I love this family, they are kind, and creative and gorgeous and spirited and so much more…. there really is just something special about their littles personalities that I just fall in love with all over again when I see them.  I’ve been photographing them since I moved to Chicago and it is such a huge gift to follow along with them and how they grow over the years and I get to know them better a little more each session.

During my shoots I always talk to mom and dad beforehand to make sure I capture what they are looking for in their images (or at least try my best to).  Serious, funny, looking at the camera, candid etc.  Even if it’s not important to mom an dad I aim to get at least one… “looking at the camera… Christmas card… everyone is happy shot.”  But, with little ones it can sometimes be tricky.  I really love this session because we captured that shot but this gallery as a whole told a story of what these kiddos and their lives as a family look like right now.  The crazy, the sweet, the innocent, the pouty and just the pure adorable joy.

I’m not a mother, but for as long as I’ve been photographing kids I know how stressful this process can be for parents.  The time, investment, and just crossing fingers and toes that the weather and everyone’s attitudes hold up for an hour…. this is enough to put mom or dad over the edge!!  What I’m trying to say is, regardless how the shoot goes, know that I do my best to capture gorgeous images of your children right now, in this moment, in this terrible two stage, in this cheesy smile stage, in this I just-want-to-be-held-by-mom stage or whatever stage.  And maybe you thought your kiddos were wild, but really to me this is your life now and it is so so so beautiful.

From mom:

“Inevitably, every family picture day someone gets sick, it rains and/or someone’s outfit gets ruined. Despite frizzy hair, grass-stained knees, runny noses and temper tantrums Darcy somehow manages to capture our family perfectly. We start the day hoping for one decent picture and end up with dozens of amazing pictures! Instead of trying to reign in our kids, Darcy embraces the chaos and ends up taking my all-time favorite pictures. She captures the kids’ personalities perfectly and I know that I will look back on those pictures and remember how fun, goofy, crazy, naughty and amazing my kids were at certain ages. Darcy is an fantastic person and photographer and I couldn’t be happier with her and her photographs. Darcy truly is the best!!”