The Schneider Extended Family

This was a fun extended family session for the Schneider family to celebrate the recent retirement of Nana and Papa. Nana worked as a nurse in hospice care and Papa worked as a chef for the same hospice care. Although Papa hasn’t completely settled into retirement and still has a foot in the door of the workforce, their family wanted to gift them a photography session to celebrate. And what a celebration it was!

The whole family arrived wearing a beautiful variety of shades of blue and bright smiles. They told me that this was one of the rare occasions that the entire extended family could get together at a single time. Nana and Papa travelled from Idaho with their youngest daughter several days prior to the session. Their son and his family arrived from Billings earlier in the day. They all met at their oldest daughter and her family’s house here in Belgrade for the day with plans to head home again after the photo session.

Their family was so much fun! They were so energetic and willing to go with the flow. We opted to complete a short walk to an open field inside the Erwin Bridge Fishing Access site. There were enough trees to create some beautiful diffused light mixed with the tall flowing grasses. And, despite the current drought, the grasses were still a lush green which is the perfect setting for summer photos!

Getting a group photo and photos involving the littlest grandchild O were the big priorities at the beginning of the session. As an evening session, we wanted to make sure we got photos with O before it got too far past bedtime. But that wasn’t necessary! He was so cheerful the whole time and was so happy to be with his family, especially his older cousins L and C. They played together and held hands walking up and down the trails in between photos. Cousins L and C are such amazing young people! Not only were they sweet and gentle with their young cousin, but they were so polite. We talked about their after school activities including their involvement with American Ninja Warrior. So cool and unique! I forgot to ask them to give me some pro tips; maybe one day I’ll see them on TV!

This family had wonderful natural laughs and they knew exactly how to fit together without significant direction from me. They were focused on having a good time and making some fun memories together. I regularly heard funny inside jokes and happy chatter amongst themselves which had everyone smiling and giggling. They almost had me falling off my stool laughing during the first group photo after their perfect response to one of my favorite prompts.

I really enjoyed working with this family for their extended family session. They were all so supportive of each other and were genuinely kind people. They were happy to celebrate Nana and Papa’s retirement and are even more excited to celebrate a wedding this fall! I am so happy for all of them and I know they will have lots to commemorate at their next family gathering!