How Often Should You Take Family Photos?

Thoughts from a Raleigh family photographer who’s watched a lot of kids grow up

Time doesn’t announce when it’s changing your family.

There isn’t a morning when you wake up and suddenly realize your child’s face looks older. You don’t necessarily notice the day the last little bit of baby disappears from their cheeks, or when your oldest somehow becomes almost as tall as you are.

It happens while you’re making dinner and driving to swim practice and helping with homework.

Which is probably why one of the questions families wonder is: How often should we actually have family photos taken?

And my answer might be a little surprising for someone whose job is taking family photos: you don’t necessarily need professional family photos every year.

But I also wouldn’t let “nothing has really changed” be the reason you skip them.

How often should you update your family photos?

Babies change dramatically in their first twelve months, so we actually photograph them every few months. Once they’re a little older, many families choose to create an annual record as their children grow.

For other families, every year might feel like too much. Maybe every other year feels right. Maybe you tend to schedule photos around bigger transitions, like a new baby, a milestone birthday, senior year, or another season you especially want to remember.

There isn’t a correct interval.

The part I’d pay more attention to is how long it’s been since you last made a photograph of your whole family that really feels like you.

Not the school pictures. Not the phone snapshot where someone is missing because they’re the one taking it. Not the obligatory Christmas-card photo where everyone tolerated each other for exactly eight seconds. 😅

A photograph where you’re all actually there.

“But nothing has really changed since our last family photos.”

This one gets me.

Because usually? A lot has changed. It just happened too slowly for you to see it.

These three sisters are a perfect example.

I first photographed them six years ago, and then again last fall, and putting the photographs next to each other stopped me in my tracks.

Obviously, they’ve grown. But look at the way they are with each other.

Six years later, there’s something wonderfully familiar there—the way they lean toward each other, laugh together, and fall naturally into being sisters.

That’s one of the things photos give us that our memories aren’t always very good at holding onto. We don’t just get to remember what everyone looked like. We get little clues about who they were together.

Do you need family photos every year?

No. There. A family photographer said it! 😂

But I do think there’s something valuable about creating a record of your family with some regularity – whatever “regularly” means for you.

Because six years sounds like a long time when I write it here.

Living it doesn’t feel that way.

It’s six falls. Six birthdays. A whole bunch of school mornings and vacations and practices and dinners and ordinary Tuesdays.

And then you put two photographs next to each other.

Oh. There it is.

So, how long is too long between family photos?

I don’t think there’s a magic number.

Instead, I’d ask yourself this:

If another year passes and we don’t do them, will I wish we had?

Sometimes the answer really is no. That’s okay.

But if you’ve been saying, “Maybe next year” for the last two or three years, that might be your answer too.

Time is going to keep on trucking either way. We don’t get much say in that part.

But photography lets us put up a pretty good fight.

Maybe this is your year.

If you’ve been thinking about updating your family photos – or realizing it’s been a little longer than you meant for it to be – I’d love to photograph this version of your family.

I offer relaxed, connection-filled family sessions seasonally in Wake Forest and throughout the Raleigh area. You can learn more about family sessions here, or get in touch when you’re ready.