If you’ve ever worried that your kids won’t sit still, smile on cue, or behave “perfectly” during family photos, you’re not alone. As a family photographer, I hear this all the time — but here’s the truth: you don’t need perfectly posed or perfectly behaved children to capture beautiful family pictures. Some of the most genuine, joy-filled moments happen when kids are just being themselves. In this post, I’ll share real examples from family sessions where things didn’t go as planned, yet the final photos still turned out authentic, heartwarming, and frame-worthy.

But first, let me share one of my family photo experiences . . .

We got our family photos done a couple months ago and it was a bit of a comedy. I had been telling my kids all week that it was a shorter session and please behave and don't make weird faces. It all went smoothly until the end when my youngest had to go number two, my two oldest were chasing each other around while the photographer was taking photos of just me, and my middle child rolled his ankle and said, "I heard a crack!" Thankfully it ended up being just a sprain and it was at the end of the session, but I just had to laugh at the absurdity. So needless to say, things go wrong to the best of us!

I thought it would be fun to give real life examples of what went “wrong” in my client’s sessions and show you how they made zero to little impact on how their gallery turned out.

Let me be clear though, these are everyday examples but they’re also the worst I could think of through all my sessions to date which is literally a couple hundred. These stories don’t include all the little things like babies crying, kids being cold, kids not being happy, kids not listening to a T (never bothers me), 3 year old meltdowns, having to take a break because of hurt feelings/needing a snack/having to go pee/wanting to climb a rock etc., etc., etc. All those things are just part of having kids and having a family and I don’t expect for them to just magically disappear because I have my camera out. And to be honest, one of the saddest things I see is parents telling kids to stop doing something that’s cute and fun because it’s not exactly what I told them to do. The prompts and the games are a tool to get your family interacting in ways that are natural to you-THAT is the end goal, not perfect listening.

Ok ok, off my soap box now and on to client stories!

1.The C Family

We started the session and everything was going great. Their youngest guy had a little cough but it totally wasn’t a big deal. He got excited while we were walking to another photo spot, started running around, and ended up coughing so bad he threw up. No joke. He was upset for a bit after that, but we rolled with it and he eventually perked back up enough to do some photos. You never would’ve been able to tell anything happened.

Family with three boys and dog hugging with fall leaves behind them

Black and white image of family kneeling and hugging their dog

Family with three boys holding hands and walking together

Family with three boys sitting, youngest son reach for dad's face

From below of family with three boys standing close together as youngest boy reaches for the sky

2. The M Family

We were doing a motherhood session with her four kids. Her husband was out of town and couldn’t be there to help out, so it was just mom trying to manage 4 kids under 8 that just wanted to run around and play and do their own thing. They did not want to take photos, and they did not like any of the suggestions I made even though a lot of them were games. Mom was absolutely amazing, handled it with grace, was soft but also firm so it didn’t derail the whole session, and we leaned into the wild crazy play. I ended up getting some of my favorite photos from this session because the kids were allowed to be kids.

Mom sitting in grass with two kids in lap and one hugging her from behind

Mom laying in grass holding her son while her daughter holding a stuffed animal walks away

Mom holding baby and walking with her three other kids in a field with trees

Mom reaching for daughters face as her two sons come up from behind

Detail of mom reaching for toddler girl with a blue dress and pink bow in her hair

3. The R Family

We were so excited to do this session on the banks of a lake with all the cattails and sand. But what was ideal for us was a pain for her youngest daughter-she just could not handle the sand getting in her shoes! She also didn’t like the feel of walking barefoot on the sand, so mom had to stop and clean out the sand from her shoes periodically through the whole session. While it slowed us down the teeniest bit at times, it didn’t stop the whole session and I even got some fun close-ups of mom helping with an everyday thing.

Mom and dad with one daughter in dad's lap while the other laughs behind mom's shoulder

Mom sitting with two daughters all laughing as she tickles them

Family with two girls walking on sandy shore with sun setting behind them

Detail of Mom carrying her little girl with her daughter's hands holding on to her

4. The H Family

We were in the most gorgeous setting with perfect lighting. We were in our second spot of the night and I don’t even remember how it happened, but suddenly their oldest daughter had a bloody nose. Thankfully it stopped fairly quickly, but she did get a bit on her dress that we were able to hide or edit out.

Family with four kids, parents watch as oldest two tickle each other

Family with four kids all sitting and laughing together

Parents lean over to kiss while three kids watch

Family holding hands and walking downhill in Columbia River Gorge

Family sitting together and snuggling in Columbia River Gorge

5. The K Family

Time to throw it back! This is one of my very first session when I was starting out by offering free sessions to people at my husband’s work. Grandma took a chance on me (thank you!) and had her daughter and her family come as well. It was a combo of one of the daughters having so much energy and wanting to run around the whole time, a toddler that had his own agenda, and a baby that would cry every time I took out my camera. I could see dad getting more and more frustrated, so I just reassured him that his kids were doing great and we were just going to go with the flow and do what we could. That de-stressed the whole situation, got dad on board to just play with his kids, and we ended up getting some fun photos. As a newbie photographer, this one was hard to handle! Thankfully, I knew what I was there to do-capture, not alter. (P.S.-Don’t judge too bad! Like I said, this was one of my first sessions!)

Family with four kids and grandma standing together and smiling in green grass on college campus

Family all standing together and hugging

Family sitting in grass while mom holds baby and dad holds toddler

Dad running around and chasing two kids in green grass

Grandma sitting in grass with teenage grandson and little granddaughter

Dad leaning into and hugging his little boy

6. The W Family

Again, another case of a photographer’s dream being a kid’s nightmare. That gorgeous tall grass? Yeah, oldest daughter HATED it. Wanted to be carried through it, didn’t want to have anything to do with it. We were able to find a patch with slightly shorter grass, didn’t make a big deal out of it, and even got her running through it in a couple shots.

Family with three young daughters sitting and hugging

Family with three young daughters walking through green field with tall grass

Little girl laughing at camera as parents try to catch her

Mom and dad leaning in to each other as daughters sit on their laps

Two little girls run through tall grass in a mountain meadow with trees in the background

7. The S Family

This was their first family photo session as a family of three so I really wanted to get it right. Unfortunately we had to schedule for November and it ended up being a cold and windy day. Their poor little guy just was NOT having it. He hated the wind, was super cold, and we couldn’t get in very many photos before he was unhappy again. We called it quits and started walking back to the parking lot when he calmed down. We decided to try again for a bit and I’m so glad we did because we got some really cute moments. I was so impressed with how cool they kept, especially considering it was their first kid. I would NOT have been as cool and level-headed if that had happened with my first!

Mom holds baby, dad is behind mom, baby looks at camera

Dad holds mom's hair back as she and her baby share a laugh

Dad holds baby as they smile at each other

Baby being held by both parents as they look and smile at him

Baby reaching for dad's hair as they play together

8. The W Family

This sweet family is one of my favorites and I’ve had the privilege of doing multiple sessions with them. We had just started the session, and I asked big sis to run to mom or dad. I didn’t think anything of it, but where she was running was a bit uneven and she totally tripped and faceplanted. I still feel so bad thinking about it! She was obviously hurt and sad for a minute so I let her have a moment while I took photos of Dad and baby brother. She was able to calm down and we finished the session strong.

Parents hold their son and daughter in between them as they look at each other

Dad puts forehead against baby's cheek as he smiles at the camera

Family of four sitting on blanket, parents look on as older sister kisses baby brother on the cheek

Mom sitting in green grass as she holds both her kids

Now I know what you’re thinking, none of these seem very extreme right? But because getting family photos done in and of itself is stressful, when something like this happens it can feel like a HUGE deal. So let me give you a piece of advice-want to know the biggest secret to having things go smoothly during a session? Parents keeping their cool. And I get it! You want photos to go well, you’ve done a lot to get here and don’t want it to be a waste of time and money, you want your kids to be happy so you can get photos of their smiles. So when things go wrong it can be soooo hard to keep your cool. But just remember-this is just a moment. And if things don’t go exactly to plan, we roll with it!

Now, I do actually have some tips and advice of ways to prepare your kids to have the best possible session ever, so stay tuned for that!