This day-in-the-life-of session is by Antonina Mamzenko Photography. Starting on a Sunday morning, Antonina followed this family of four to the museum and was able to capture a snapshot of this family’s life. I love these sessions because you can always get a feel for what the family is like on a more personal level.

From Antonina Mamzenko: I wanted to do a “day in life” family photography session for a very long time, and when I met Mandy I knew her family would be absolutely perfect for it. Luckily for me, she shared my vision of unposed, natural photographs of her family going about their daily routine, so one Sunday morning I arrived at their house to document their life just as it unfolded. None of these photographs were posed by me – but I made sure I captured every moment of the day!

I definitely learned a lot during this shoot, and here are a few tips for those wanting to document a full day in a life of a family:

1. Meet the family beforehand. Instead of a telephone consultation, arrange to meet everyone a week or two before the session. For this kind of a photoshoot it is very important that the whole family – especially children – don’t see you as a stranger but someone they’d seen (and played with!) before. There won’t really be any time for the kids to warm up to you on the day, so do it beforehand. It will also help you to see whether a family will be natural in front of the camera or whether they might need a bit of direction from you – and if they do, discuss all the things they might want to consider doing on the day of the shoot.

2. Create a plan. Yes, it’s supposed to be natural and unposed but – just like when photographing a wedding – it is only achievable with good planning. Decide what your special activity would be (a picnic in the park, a visit to a museum, a trip to a seaside) and have a backup plan in case it rains.

3. Ask the parents what they want. Do they want you to mainly concentrate on the kids? Or maybe they want some images of just them two? Maybe they want to squeeze in a more posed portrait of them all – if you don’t ask, they might be disappointed!

4. Think about the end product. If you are planning on doing an album, try to visualise the spreads beforehand and make sure you have enough images to cover all important parts of the day to tell the whole story. If you’re doing a collage canvas, frame your prints so there’s enough room for cropping any images. If you’re doing a slideshow, ask the family what their favourite tune is!

5. And finally, relax, step back and have fun!

// Photography by Antonina Mamzenko // Follow Antonina Mamzenko on Facebook // Follow Antonina Mamzenko on Twitter //