Alright, so I decided we needed some proper winter family photos this year. The holidays were coming up, and I just got this idea that pictures in the snow would look really nice, you know? Something different from the usual studio stuff.
Getting the Ball Rolling
First off, I had to convince everyone else. My wife was game, but the kids… well, the promise of hot chocolate afterward helped. Then came the planning. Where to go? I didn’t want anything complicated. We picked that little park nearby, the one with the nice evergreen trees that look great with snow on them. Easy parking, not too far to walk.
Next up: outfits. This was trickier than I thought. You want to look nice, but you also absolutely need to be warm. We dug through closets. Tried to find colors that looked okay together – some reds, greens, dark blues. Nothing too fancy, just warm sweaters, hats, scarves, gloves. Layers were key, I kept telling everyone. Turns out, coordinating winter gear for four people is harder than it sounds.
The Big Day – Prep and Go Time
The morning we picked looked promising – fresh snow, a bit of sun peeking through. Getting everyone ready felt like a military operation. Making sure boots were on the right feet, zippers zipped, hats pulled down. I packed a bag with essentials:
- A big thermos of hot chocolate (the bribe!)
- Extra gloves (someone always loses one)
- Some tissues (cold weather means runny noses)
- My camera, obviously. Checked the battery was charged!
- A blanket to sit on for a couple of shots, though mostly we planned to stand.
We bundled into the car. Already felt like I’d run a marathon.
Out in the Cold – The Actual Shoot
We got to the park. It looked pretty, gotta admit. But man, it was cold. Like, the kind of cold that bites your cheeks the second you step outside. We found our spot near the trees. I started snapping pictures pretty quick, trying to keep things moving before the complaining started.
The first ten minutes? Pretty good. Smiles, some genuine laughter. Then reality hit. Little fingers got cold inside mittens. Noses turned red. The youngest started asking “Are we done yet?” about every 30 seconds. My wife was trying her best to keep spirits up, I was trying to work fast with the camera, adjusting settings with freezing fingers.
We tried a few different poses – standing together, kids throwing a little snow (carefully!), sitting on that blanket for like, two minutes tops before butts got too cold. It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. There were definitely some forced smiles in there, maybe a few tears held back. We probably spent only about 20-25 minutes actually taking photos before calling it quits. The hot chocolate back at the car was a lifesaver.
Looking Back at the Results
Later that evening, I loaded the photos onto my computer. Scrolling through them, yeah, some were blurry, some had weird faces, some just showed how cold we really were. But hidden in there were a few gems. Shots where everyone was actually looking, maybe even smiling naturally for a split second. The snowy background looked great.
Were they perfect? Nah. Far from it. But they captured that afternoon. Freezing cold, slightly chaotic, but definitely us. It was an effort, for sure. But seeing those couple of good shots, the ones that really show our family in that winter scene… yeah, it felt worth it. It was a real experience, not just posed smiles under warm lights. And we definitely earned that hot chocolate.
