Fall at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House
Last month I photographed eight families at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores. The grounds are a beautiful place to photograph a family: bright open lawn for running, dappled light crossing over old trees by a lagoon, the lake showing off in the background. I’m still going back through the frames, because the best ones are rarely the ones I expected.
A mini session is short, and I’ve come to appreciate that. I loved being able to let each family’s individual pace decide where we land – everyone had their own version of what fifteen minutes together looked like. The pace can be action-packed and great for young children with limited endurance for photo experiences. I give you small things to do (walking together, carrying someone, or whispering something ridiculous to each other) and photograph what unfolds.
The frames I care about most tend to live in the unplanned and candid details: a hand on a back, a baby gripping a lapel like it owes her money, the look two parents trade over their kid’s head. I want to create photographs that feel like your family, the kind you’d feel proud to display or hold in a book twenty years from now.
Minis are a small window. If you’re drawn to this kind of work and want more time to let it unfold, a full session gives us space for kids to warm up and for a more complete story of this stage of your family’s life. I photograph families, newborns, and maternity sessions across Grosse Pointe and Metro Detroit with a candid, documentary, editorial eye. If you’d like to talk about what you want to remember, holler at me.
