Whether you’re a first-time parent or a seasoned pro, you might wonder: how often should you get family photos?
I have the inside scoop on how often most of my clients schedule family photos, so let’s dive in.
What’s ‘typical’ for family photos? There’s no one-size-fits-all answer.
It’s really personalized, to be honest. But I’m going to share what most people do, including the majority of my clients.
Baby’s First Year: From two to five photo shoots
In the first year, your baby changes faster than you can say “blowout,” so it’s common to take photos multiple times in that first year.
Many photographers offer “milestone packages,” which is a set of photos at regular intervals in baby’s first year: 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and the big 1-year cake smash.
Milestone photo sessions usually include only the baby, and some photographers do creative backdrops and props. (I’m not keen on photographing babies without their families, so milestones aren’t my jam.) This is a little simpler than family photo shoots since you don’t have to dress the entire family for photos—just the baby.
Five sessions in a year? That’s a lot! I found three to be the sweet spot: newborn, six months, and one year.
TBH, five photo shoots in a year was too much for me.
Instead, I did THREE with my kiddos: newborn photos, 6 months, and 1 year.
I recommend the same cadence to my clients, too. Newborn photos, followed by a family session (with extra attention on their squishy wittle baby) at six months, and a family session at 1 year, with time set aside to smash some cake.
One of my FAVORITE cake smash sessions was in my client’s home over the winter, and ended with Baby taking a bath in the kitchen sink. Oh-so-cute!
There’s no ‘right’ way to do this—just what works for your family.
You can even do something different with Kid #2 than you did with Kid #1. Totally fine.
Years 2-5 (toddler to Preschool): Once a year
Up to age five, your kiddos are changing so fast that annual family photos are the best way to capture their rapidly changing faces and mannerisms.
Capture what you’ll miss—like those adorable squishy thighs! Pick an outfit that shows them off. (I mean come on, LOOK AT THOSE SQUISHY LEGS on that cute baby up there!!!)
Ages 6-10 (Kinder to Grade 4): Once a year or every other year
At these ages, the changes slow down a bit, compared to the toddler years especially.
You can back down to every other year if you want to reduce what you’re spending on photos.
But if a professional Christmas card photo is important to you, or you just like having your walls updated each year, then stick with annual photos.
You won’t regret having TOO MANY photos, but you can definitely regret not having enough.
Truly, there are no rules. You’re the boss, and if you want annual photos, by George, you should get ’em.
If you’re fine with every other year, then that’ll work just peachy.
Ages 11-17 (Grade 5-11): Once a year
This stage—at least, the beginning of it—is when changes start to happen rapidly again. Girls will start to mature earlier than boys, but no matter what sex of kiddo you have, they’re going to start changing seemingly overnight.
I suggest annual photo shoots when your kiddos are changing quickly, like they are at the beginning of this stage.
Here’s the tricky part: this is when many kiddos will become resistant to being photographed.
You’ve got to tailor this to your children, honestly. If you have an ultra-reluctant kiddo and you’re not up for the fight, stick with every other year.
If you’ve got an eager kiddo who loves the spotlight, do annual photos.
How you handle photos should be less about “what everyone else is doing” and more about what’s right for your family.
Grade 11-12: Senior photos!
If your photographer allows it, combine senior and family photos—one session, one set of outfits, done!
You’re already arranging outfits for one kid, why not just get everything done in one fell swoop?
I give my senior clients the option to get a quick family photo during their senior’s session. Then I grab a quick individual photo of any siblings.
Then the family photo gets updated and everyone else has a new photo when the senior does. Yay for an updated living room wall!
Boom, done!
Here’s a snapshot from one of my senior galleries: The full-family photo, sibling photo, and then we continued on with senior-only photos in the same location. Easy peasy!
Age 18 to 25-ish: Every three years
So you’ve graduated your last high school senior, and your kiddos are off at college, but that doesn’t mean family photos should come to screeching halt.
This is the stage when photos tend to disappear altogether, but I promise, you can still make this happen.
To get photos done when your children have gone off to college or are pursuing their own careers, you’ll need to think a little bit outside the box.
The family pictured above has two kids in their twenties, both living away from home. We scheduled their session for the week between Christmas and New Years and took photos in their living room.
Adults (25+) and extended family photos: Every five years
When your children start having children of their own, scheduling can get even more complicated, but pleeeeeease don’t let photos go by the wayside completely.
It’ll be tricky, but if you let everyone know how important it is to you, they’ll make it work because they love you.
(I won’t judge if you pull out a little bit of “just do it for your mother” guilt. I’m not above it.)
Every five years is a good cadence for extended family photos, especially as our parents age.
Try to think of an event when you’ll already be together, and schedule photos for then.
Even if it means doing photos indoors at the holidays, it’s FINE! The photos don’t need to be magazine cover-worthy. What matters is who’s in them.
My family gets together once a year for the Iowa State Fair, so we did photos on the State Fairgrounds in 2019, right in front of the Giant Slide:
(Note the kid in the front, in the black polo {Kellan}, and the boy in the white tee and black skinny jeans {Samuel}.)
The next time we did photos, five years later, we all looked REALLY different:
The kids are basically completely different humans.
Kellan is third from the left, and taller than everyone. Samuel is just right of the middle, in the gray jeans and the blue/green button-down.
We were 16 strong in that first photo. In the second, we were a group of 15.
My dad died in 2022, between the two photos.
I know it sucks to think about, but our parents aren’t going to be around forever. It’ll be worth the hassle, I promise.
What I do: Photos for my own family
We started with annual photos. When my kids turned 8 and 10, we switched to every other year, and have stuck with that ever since.
(On the ‘off years,’ our Christmas card just features iPhone photos. If it’s good enough for a pro photographer, it’ll work for you, I promise!)
But I’ll remind you one more time, there are no rules.
Okay, I lied. There’s one rule: TAKE THE DANG PHOTOS.
Two people I photographed this past November passed away within weeks of their photos. Their families cherish those final images.
You’ll never regret having too many photos—but you might regret not having enough.
If you’re motivated to book family photos, let’s goooooo!
Fill out my contact form and reserve your spot on my schedule.
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