Dallas Family Photographer Alternative: Nostalgic, Cinematic Family Films in Dallas and surrounding areas

Most moms who find me aren't searching for a family filmmaker. They are searching for a Dallas (or Fort Worth) family photographer.

They know they want to document their children. Maybe it's been a while since they updated the pictures in their home, or maybe they have realized that their phone is full of photos of their kids and hardly any of them together.

Photography is usually where the search begins because it is what we know. Then they see a family film.

They hear the little voices. They watch a toddler run across the room and into his mom’s arms. They see the way a baby settles against someone’s chest or the way siblings make each other laugh.

And suddenly, they realize there is another way to remember this season.

If you searched “Dallas family photographer,” you may actually want a family film

So what is a family film?

A family film is a professionally created video of your family as you are right now. Think of your wedding video and transfer that to a day in your life as a mom. Your wedding video is something you might go back to each year to enjoy the beautiful moments of a day that you can't quite fully remember. The way your mom helped you fix your dress, the way your husband looked at you that very first time he saw you when you walked down the aisle, or the way your daddy spun you around on the dance floor. Do you have your own videos on your phone from that day? I'm sure you do. If not you, then your friends do. But nothing can compare to the beauty of your wedding video and how it captured your day so perfectly.

If that day is worth preserving...how much more your life as it is now?

Your family film is not a slideshow of photographs, and it's not everyone looking at the camera and smiling for several minutes. It's made from the real moments that happen when your family is simply together.

Your children might play in their rooms, bake with you, read their favorite books or run around outside. You may hold your baby, help a toddler find a missing shoe or stop halfway through because someone needs a snack.

It doesn't need to go perfectly. Honestly, I don't want it to because that takes away from the authenticity of your family.

The little interruptions, the funny things your children say and the way everyone naturally moves around one another are usually what make the film feel most like your family. We are capturing your family as it is, in all its beautiful chaos.

How is it a family film different from family photography?

I love photography. A beautiful photograph can hold so much. But there are things a picture can't quite keep.

It can't let you hear your child’s voice. It can't show you the way they run, the way they mispronounce a word or the way their whole body moves when they laugh.

Film gives you the moment before and the moment after.

It lets you see how your baby settles into your arms. It preserves the noise in your kitchen, your husband’s voice from across the room and the way your children reach for you without thinking about it.

Photography and film are not competing with each other. They simply remember different things.

Some families want both. Other moms begin by looking for a candid family photographer and realize what they really want is to remember the sound and movement of this season too.

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"I have probably watched this 20 times since opening it last night.

 And I sob every time.

And find something I love even more.

The way you caught the subtle moments between us all

and all of the tender moments he and I shared.

You caught it all in the most intimate way possible.

I will treasure this for the rest of my life.

You are so insanely talented and cannot thank you enough."

- Jennifer

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But I already take so many videos on my phone

So do I. ha! My phone is full of little videos of my children doing completely ordinary things that I was suddenly afraid I would forget. Those videos matter. Please keep taking them.

But most of mine are scattered between screenshots, recipes and pictures I took because I needed to remember the size of something. I am also usually behind the phone, which means I am missing from the memory.

A family film gives you the chance to be in it.

You do not have to watch the moment through a screen or wonder whether you are capturing enough. You get to hold your children, talk to them and be part of your family while someone else notices the details.

Then those moments are brought together into one complete film instead of being left as hundreds of separate clips you may never find again. Not to mention your children will one day get to look back and see how mom held them, and how daddy threw them in the air so high and the love that they didn't even know surrounded them.

What does a family film session feel like?

Usually much more relaxed than parents expect.

Before the session, I learn about your family and the things you most want to remember. I want to know what your children are like, what they love and what your days together actually look like.

We may plan a few simple things to do, but there is no strict script.

I give gentle direction when it's helpful, but I'm not trying to turn your family into actors. I'm watching for what happens naturally between you. That might be your toddler climbing into your lap, your children getting silly together or your baby needing to be rocked for a while.

Your children don't need to be perfect. You don't need a spotless home and you don't need to know what to do in front of the camera. You only need to show up as your family.

WATCH A FAMILY FILM

Do we need a special occasion?

Not at all.

New babies, birthdays and Christmas traditions are beautiful reasons to create a family film. But you do not need a major milestone to decide your life is worth remembering. Sometimes the most meaningful film is simply a morning at home.

It's pancakes in the kitchen, books on the couch, toys on the floor and your children running through the rooms where they are growing up. Those details may not feel important yet because they are still part of your everyday life.

But one day, they won't be and that's what I'm trying to capture.

Is a family film right for us?

It may be if you keep thinking about the things a photograph can't quite capture and how quickly it's all passing you by.

The voice your child has right now.

The baby laugh you hear all day.

The way your children play together when they don't know you're watching.

The way they still fit in your arms.

You may have started your search looking for a Dallas family photographer because you knew you wanted to preserve this season. A family film simply gives you another way to do that. It lets you remember not only what your family looked like, but what it felt like to be together.

Family films in Dallas-Fort Worth

I create family films for families throughout Dallas, Fort Worth and the surrounding areas. My work is focused entirely on film. I care about the small sounds, movements and interactions that make your family different from every other family.

The goal is not to create a perfect version of your life. It's to preserve the real one.

Years from now, I don't think you will miss perfection. I think you'll miss the voice calling for you from the other room, the little feet running down the hallway and the child who always wanted to sit as close to you as possible.

The ordinary parts of life are often the parts that become precious later.

A family film gives you a way to return to them.

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