What "storytelling" actually means in a family session (vs. posed and pretty)

Kim Hildebrand · 2026-07-13T18:08:20.996Z

When I first started, nobody warned me that one of my client's favorite recent family photos I took would be of her son crying. Every family session has The Moment — not the one where everyone's smiling at the camera, but the one where your toddler is losing it over the wrong color cup and your partner is doing that face. That's the photo mom will actually cry over in ten years. Not because it's pretty, necessarily. But because it's true. What's the "real" moment from a family photo (yours or a client's) that means more to you than the posed one? Drop it below — I might feature a few in a blog post series (read my recent one talking about this here: https://www.kimhildebrand.com/what-a-storytelling-family-photo-session-actually-looks-like/ Have a great week!

What "storytelling" actually means in a family session (vs. posed and pretty)

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