A beautiful Maryland extended family photography session with grandparents, cousins, siblings, and multiple generations together. See why family legacy photos are worth making time for.

Extended Family Photos: Brittany’s Family Session

There’s something really special about photographing a family over and over again through the years. I’ve had the joy of photographing Brittany’s husband’s side of the family since the very beginning, and watching their family grow has honestly been one of my favorite parts of being their photographer.

So this time around, I got to meet a whole new side of the crew, Brittany’s extended family! And we brought everyone together. Cousins, siblings, grandparents, and all the generations in between.

When Everyone Finally Gets Together

Let’s be real…getting an entire extended family together in one place is no small feat. Between work schedules, school, sports, kids, travel, and just life in general, finding a day when everyone can actually make it happen can feel like a miracle. Which is exactly why I adore extended family sessions so much. Because when everyone finally shows up, we get to preserve it.

Not just the perfectly posed group photo (although yes, we absolutely got those!), but the little things happening around it, too. The grandparents with their grandchildren. Cousins laughing together. Siblings standing side by side. The people who have known each other their whole lives simply being together. Those are the photographs that become more meaningful as the years go by.

More Than Just a Family Picture

One of my favorite things about family photography is knowing that the photographs we create aren’t just for right now. They’re for the grandparents who will treasure having everyone together. They’re for the parents who want to remember how little their kids were. They’re for the cousins who may grow up and live in completely different places someday. They’re for the future generations who will look back and see the people who came before them.

That’s the beauty of an extended family photography session. You’re documenting a piece of your family’s story that you can never recreate once the moment has passed. And after photographing Brittany’s husband Alex’s family for so many years, it was especially sweet to now have the opportunity to photograph her side, too.

A New Family Tradition?

We had such a good time together, and I truly hope this becomes a new tradition for Brittany’s family. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned after years of photographing families, it’s that time moves way too quickly. The babies grow. The kids get taller. The grandparents get older. And suddenly everyone looks back and realizes just how much has changed.

So if you’ve been talking about getting the whole family together for years but haven’t actually made it happen yet…Take this as your sign.

Pick a date. Get everyone on the calendar. Bring the grandparents, the cousins, the siblings, the babies, the teenagers, the whole wonderfully chaotic crew. I’ll take care of the rest. Because getting everyone together is the hard part.

Having those moments documented is the gift.