Millthorpe Family Session with the Clarkes

Millthorpe, Wiradjuri Country

One perfect Autumn afternoon, I wandered over to Millthorpe in the Central West of New South Wales, to photograph Maddy, Matthew and their adorable little ones!

We spent over an hour walking through Maddy’s mother’s idyllic backyard, complete with gorgeous gardens, golden trees, ducks and geese.

These guys are laid back, intentional, silly and totally in love. They weren’t worried about perfect posing and just wanted their organic interactions captured.

This was the first session I actually just sat back and let a family do their thing with minimal direction and I loved it.

The results were honest and raw moments soaked in a beautiful sunset glow and I would choose these photographs over a staged, ‘everyone say cheese!’ photo any day of the week.

I’m all for getting that one nice shot of everyone looking at the camera, but it is not my focus and I’m never disappointed if we don’t get it.

Why? Because that’s not real life. You don’t spend your time with your family crouching together, smiling at one static spot (unless that’s your thing?). You are up, down, chasing, cuddling, loving, living and that’s what I’m here for.

The laughs, the tantrums, the playing, the imperfections make your family what it is and I don’t see the point in capturing anything other than that.