# How Often Should You Have Family Portraits Taken?
**How often should you have family portraits taken?** For most families, a professional family portrait session every **1–2 years** is a great starting point. But there are also certain seasons of life when it makes sense to schedule portraits more often.
Your children are changing every year. Their faces change, their personalities develop, and the relationships between family members evolve. While you may take hundreds of pictures on your phone, professional family portraits give you something different: intentional photographs that preserve **who your family is during a particular chapter of your life.**
At Portraits by David, I believe family photography is about more than simply updating the picture on your Christmas card. It is about creating photographs your family will still value years from now.
## So, How Often Should You Schedule Family Portraits?
There isn't one perfect answer for every family. Your ideal schedule depends on the ages of your children, major family milestones, and how important printed family artwork is to you.
Here are some helpful guidelines.
### Every Year: A Great Choice for Families With Young Children
If you have young children, an **annual family portrait session** can be especially meaningful.
Children change incredibly quickly during these years. A three-year-old looks dramatically different from a four-year-old, and their personalities can change just as much.
Annual portraits allow you to document those changes while creating a visual record of your family's story.
You don't necessarily need to completely reinvent your session every year. Your family may enjoy a beautiful outdoor session one year and a relaxed studio portrait session the next.
The important thing is having photographs that show **your family as it actually is during that season of life.**
### Every Two Years: A Practical Option for Growing Families
For many families, professional portraits every **two years** provide a good balance between documenting changes and managing the family schedule.
This can work particularly well when children are school-aged and aren't changing quite as dramatically from year to year.
You can also alternate the type of session.
For example:
* Year one: Outdoor family portraits
* Year two: Studio family portraits
* Year three: Outdoor family portraits
* Year four: Studio portraits
This gives your family a variety of images while continuing to document the years.
## Don't Wait for a Milestone
One of the biggest mistakes families make is thinking they need a special reason to have portraits taken.
You don't.
You don't have to wait for a birthday, anniversary, graduation, Christmas, or another major event.
Sometimes the most meaningful photographs are the ones that simply document **your family right now.**
Your son won't always be missing those front teeth.
Your daughter won't always have that particular laugh.
Your children won't always fit together on your lap.
And your family won't always look exactly like it does today.
That's worth photographing.
## Certain Life Stages Deserve Their Own Portrait Session
Even if your family normally schedules portraits every couple of years, certain milestones are worth documenting separately.
Consider scheduling a professional portrait session when:
### Your Family Welcomes a New Baby
A new baby changes everything.
Newborn portraits can preserve those tiny details that disappear surprisingly quickly—the little fingers, sleepy expressions, and the way older siblings interact with their new brother or sister.
### Your Children Reach a New Stage
Elementary school, middle school, and the teenage years can bring huge changes in personality and appearance.
A portrait session can capture more than what your children look like. It can capture **who they are becoming.**
### Your Children Are Graduating
Senior portraits are an important milestone, but families sometimes forget to photograph the family together during this transition.
Before your child leaves for college, begins a career, or starts the next chapter of life, consider creating a family portrait documenting this moment.
### Your Family Has Grown or Changed
Blended families, new relationships, new pets, grandparents joining the family, or other changes can all be good reasons to schedule a portrait session.
Your family story doesn't have to fit a traditional timeline.
## What About Christmas and Holiday Portraits?
Holiday portraits are a wonderful tradition, but you don't have to make every family portrait session a Christmas session.
In fact, separating your annual family portraits from holiday photographs can give you more flexibility.
A spring or summer family session might allow your family to spend time together outdoors in a beautiful setting. A fall session can provide gorgeous seasonal colors. A studio session can create a timeless look that isn't tied to a particular season.
Think about what you want the photographs to say about your family.
**Do you want a holiday card—or do you want a portrait that belongs on your wall for decades?**
Sometimes you can have both.
## Studio or Outdoor Family Portraits?
The best setting depends on your family and the look you want.
**Studio family portraits** offer a controlled environment with consistent lighting, a timeless appearance, and fewer distractions. They can be especially beautiful when you want a more polished, classic portrait for your home.
**Outdoor family portraits** provide natural surroundings, more room for movement, and a relaxed environment. They can be wonderful for families who want photographs that feel connected to the outdoors and the place where they live.
Neither is automatically better.
The right choice is the one that fits your family's personality and the type of artwork you want hanging in your home.
## Don't Forget the Generations
Family portraits don't have to include only parents and children.
Consider photographing multiple generations together.
Grandparents with grandchildren can create some of the most meaningful photographs a family will ever own.
If your children are growing up near their grandparents, don't wait until a major milestone to photograph those relationships.
**Those photographs may become some of the most treasured images your family owns.**
## How Many Family Photos Do You Really Need?
You probably don't need thousands.
One of the benefits of professional family photography is creating a smaller collection of meaningful images rather than simply adding hundreds of files to your phone.
A great family portrait session might result in:
* A beautiful family portrait
* Individual portraits of the children
* A photograph of the parents together
* Natural interactions between family members
* Grandparent and grandchild photographs
* A few personality-filled images
* Artwork designed specifically for your home
The goal isn't simply to have more pictures.
**The goal is to have the right pictures.**
## When Was the Last Time You Were in the Family Photograph?
There's another reason to schedule professional family portraits regularly.
Parents are often the people taking all the pictures.
That means you may have thousands of photographs of your children—but very few photographs of **you together as a family.**
Years from now, your children won't care whether you thought you looked perfect that day.
They will want photographs of you.
They will want to see how young you were.
They will want to remember what your family looked like when they were little.
Don't remove yourself from your family's history because you don't feel "photo ready."
You are part of the story.
## A Simple Family Portrait Schedule
If you're looking for an easy guideline, consider this:
**Young children:** Professional family portraits every year.
**School-aged children:** Every 1–2 years.
**Teenagers:** Every 1–2 years, with additional portraits for major milestones.
**Major milestones:** Schedule a session whenever something important changes in your family.
**Extended family:** Consider scheduling a larger generational portrait session every few years—or whenever everyone is together.
And remember, these are guidelines, not rules.
If you look at your children today and realize, *"I wish I had photographs like this from the last few years,"* that's probably a good indication that it's time.
# Your Family Will Never Be Exactly This Age Again
The reason to have family portraits taken isn't because you're supposed to update them every year.
It's because **your family is changing.**
The little boy who wants to be carried won't always want to be carried.
The daughter who laughs at everything won't always laugh quite the same way.
The siblings who currently share a bedroom may eventually live in different cities.
And the family that gathers around your kitchen table today will eventually look different.
Photography gives you a way to hold onto these moments.
At **Portraits by David**, I create family portraits for families who want more than digital files sitting on a phone. My goal is to create meaningful photographs that can become **wall portraits, framed artwork, albums, and family heirlooms**—photographs you can enjoy every day and eventually pass down.
If you're looking for a **family photographer in Taylorsville, Shelbyville, Louisville, or the surrounding Kentucky communities**, I'd love to help you create photographs that tell your family's story.
**Don't wait for your family to look different before you realize how much you wanted to remember them exactly as they are today.**
[**Explore Family Portraits With Portraits by David →**]
