A Photo Homestory with a New Born and a Toddler –

It was a grey and and cold Novembers day I drove up to Mainz, a city close to Frankfurt in Germany, to meet a wonderful family. Marten and Johanna and her little ones Ben and Sophie…

Marten had enquired with me to see if I offer family photo sessions…yes, I do! (I just don’t show them often enough..sorry!). So we set up a phone call and I explained to them how I approach family photography: I am definitely not a photographer for posed and classic family portraits. I shoot family sessions like I photograph my weddings: My approach is journalistic and I treat every story I photograph with a documentary approach. I want to capture real moments, real emotions and deliver honest photos.
Thankfully, this was exactly what Marten and Johanna were after!

So back to this grey November day…I arrive in Mainz around lunchtime, take the elevator up to the family apartment and I am greeted with a lovely lunch. We sit down together, chat about this and that and get to know each other. I always like to start my family sessions in a relaxe way, so we can all get to know each other and especially the kids are way more relaxed when I don’t start taking photos right away. After all our tummies are filled with pasta and tomato sosse, I slowly start documenting what’s happening: Johanna looks after the kitchen, Marten changes Sophie’s nappy and Ben shows me all his toys!
Soon after we start putting on some warm clothes to go for a little exploring tour to a playground nearby and to get some fresh air and Ben is excited to take is bike with him =)
Back home it is time for some cookies! I guess this part of the afternoon was probably my most favourite part of meeting this amazing family as Ben was like a little master chef in the kitchen and it was so incredible sweet how he helped Johanna to bake the cookies. And when the whole family cuddled up on the couch to read some books to the kids, I slowly put on my jacked and waved good-bye to these lovely people…

Below you can find a little extract out of the documentary family photo series I got to shot on this afternoon…and I bet you want some cookies after you finished looking through it, don’t you?!

Family Photographer Mainz