What Happens When You Photograph the Same Family for Years

Watching families evolve through my camera lens

I've been photographing some of the same families in Naperville and Chicago for nearly a decade now.

Not because they need constant updates to their family photos. But because they understand something important: documentation of growth matters.

When you photograph a family once, you capture a moment. When you photograph them repeatedly over years, you capture their story.

The Difference Between Moments and Stories

A single family session gives you beautiful images from that specific day. That age. That stage.

Multiple sessions over years create something bigger: a visual timeline showing how everyone grew and changed.

I can pull up sessions from the same family spanning eight, nine, ten years. And what I see isn't just kids getting taller.

It's personalities developing. Family dynamics shifting. Relationships evolving. Parents growing into different versions of themselves.

The three-year-old who hid behind mom in early sessions now stands front and center at eleven. The exhausted new parents from year one look confident and settled by year eight. Siblings who needed to be positioned by adults now naturally arrange themselves.

This evolution is what makes repeat family photography so valuable.

What I Notice That Families Might Not

When you live with people every day, change happens so gradually you don't always register it.

But when I photograph a family every two or three years, the differences are stark.

Physical growth is obvious. Kids who were carried now tower over their parents. Toddlers become teenagers.

Personality development shows in images. The way kids hold themselves. Their expressions. How they interact with siblings. Confidence emerges. Independence develops.

Family dynamics are visible. Early sessions often show parents orchestrating everything. Later sessions show kids taking initiative, making choices, showing agency.

Parenting stages shift. The hands-on physicality of parenting young children gives way to different kinds of connection with older kids. You can see that in how families position themselves and interact.

These patterns become clear when you have years of documentation to compare.

Why Families Keep Coming Back

The families who book with me repeatedly aren't doing it just to update their wall portraits.

They're creating family archives. Visual proof of growth. Documentation their kids will value years from now.

Some families book every 18-24 months when kids are young and changing rapidly. Others book every 2-3 years as kids get older. The frequency matters less than the consistency.

What they all have in common: they don't wait for special occasions. They book because another stage has passed and they want to document where the family is now before it changes again.

This Is Why I Do This Work

Watching families grow over years through my camera is one of the most meaningful aspects of my work as a photographer.

I've seen babies become teenagers. Exhausted new parents become confident, experienced ones. Families of three become families of five. Only children gain siblings. Kids leave home and come back as adults.

Being trusted to document these evolutions, to create these visual archives, matters to me deeply.

Your family is changing right now. Gradually, so you might not notice day to day. But definitively.

The version of your family that exists today won't exist the same way two years from now.

Regular documentation captures that change. Creates proof of growth. Builds the visual story your family deserves to have.

Let's Continue Your Story (Or Start It)

Whether this would be your first session or your fifth, I'd love to photograph your family.

For families I've worked with before: let's capture where everyone is now. How much has changed. This next chapter.

For families booking their first session: let's start your visual archive. Begin documenting your story while there's still time to capture every stage ahead.

On location or at Studio25 Naperville. Your choice. What matters is showing up, documenting growth, and creating the complete family story you'll value for years.

Contact Emily Cummings Photography for family sessions in Naperville and Chicago. Let's capture your family's evolution.