Capturing your family throughout the generations: The beauty of extended family photos |Toronto family photographer

A while back, a good friend asked if I'd trek up to her parents' farm to do an extended family photo shoot. The veil of COVID had begun to lift and families were able to see one another again. Like many of us, she was thankful that her parents had escaped the virus unharmed, but also became very aware of how differently that could have turned out. "I'd like to take these photos while I still have them both, and while they still have our family home. I have memories in every corner of that place."

Extended family photos may be some of the most meaningful, valuable images you can capture. Nothing fills grandparents' hearts more than their grandkids (sorry, parents, but you know it's true). Capturing them with their grandchildren is possibly the best gift you could give them, coming in second only to the grandkids themselves.

But those photos are also a gift to their grandchildren. For those of us who lose our grandparents when we are children, photos of our time with them quickly become a cherished possession. I have a photo of myself and two of my siblings with my great grandmother. I am three years old in the photo, too young to really remember that time of my life, and the photo has become my only memory of her. In her wrinkled, smiling face I see so much happiness to simply be there, surrounded by her great-grands. I carry it around in my memory now, grateful for the person who took it.

One of my favourite photos of my mother was taken when my younger son was three years old. She is chasing him down a cottage road, surrounded by autumn colour. Four years after that photo was taken, she started losing her ability to walk, let alone run. This image reminds me and my kids of how vital and fun she was before she became sick. And I want them to see how very much she loved playing with them.

I always say that you don't need a special occasion to do family photos. The little moments that make up our big lives are reason enough. And the special people who make those moments so full of love and meaning aren't just under our roof; they may be in the home in which we grew up, or in a retirement community somewhere else. Wherever they are, including them in a family photo shoot isn't only a gift to them, it's a gift to you as well. You won't just be creating photos, you'll be creating memories that will be shared and cherished for generations to come.