When thinking of back to school photos, I like to think of what our family does leading up to the first day of school to know what is important to photograph. We actually have a family tradition that started before my life as a mom, back when I was a high school math teacher. As you might imagine, the weekend before the first day of school was usually stressful for me trying to get ready for my new set of students. While you might think 'But, you had all summer to get ready!', in reality I didn't know what I was teaching until the week before school started which meant prep work was relatively minimal. Don't get me started. Anyhow, the point is, Brad and I would go out to eat the night before the first day of school so that way I could relax and have an hour of peace before the craziness continued. Thus, a tradition of dinner before the first day of school began and we continued this with the boys when they started pre-school.
Last year took in addition to our traditional dinner (which I didn't photograph because, you know, I can't photograph every minute of the day!), we had a morning treat of cupcakes at The Flour Shop Bakery in Highland Village the Sunday of the boys' last weekend of summer. Then the morning of John's first day of kindergarten I was sure to capture a little of him getting ready for school, a couple posed shots outside to document how handsome he is, and then a few shots of him at the school for the first time as a student. I did the same for the first day of Matthew's pre-k. All of these memories are important to me as they truly show what it is means to go back to school in our family.
What traditions does your family have when you are ending the summer, or going back to school? Don't think that this only applies to families with young children. Surely families with college-aged kids have family traditions or some sort of send-off for before the fall semester starts. What would you photograph that best represents your family?
Jen Faith Brown is a family photographer specializing in storytelling family photography session, either in home or on location. Jen is married with three young sons who keep her quite busy and give her abundant practice in photographing always-moving children! Jen is now booking 2015 sessions in Flower Mound, Southlake, Highland Village, Lewisville, Coppell, Frisco, and surround DFW areas. Please visit www.jenfaithbrownphotography.com for pricing and to view sample galleries.
