It’s hard to believe that summer vacation is drawing to a close for many people here in Lake County pretty soon. I’m sure there are plenty of people who are not the biggest fans of this time of year and I can’t say I would blame you for that. I, on the other hand, kind of like this time of year because I’m eager for fall to come and to have some family portrait sessions during my favorite season of the year. Today I’m going to write a bit about picking a location for a family session because I once heard that it’s all about location, location, location. Granted I think that was meant to be in reference to real estate and not so much family portrait photography.
First of all when it comes to locations, I believe that your choice of location is not going to be the thing that will make or break your family’s session. For this reason I hope that you don’t put any unneeded pressure on yourself when making this decision. Also, I’m always willing to try my best in helping clients to find a location that works for them. Although, I’ll be the first to admit that while I may venture around Lake County from time to time, I feel like my knowledge is actually a little limited when it come to good locations. Plus, don’t worry about picking a location that I’m unfamiliar with because I enjoy the opportunity to have a session in a location that is new to me.
When it comes to choosing a location for family portraits, you will find that normally one of my first suggestions is local preserves or nature areas. I feel like these types of areas are better suited for family portraits than an urban setting. Plus, I feel like living in this area, we are very blessed that there are so many great preserves that are part of the Lake County Forest Preserve system. The forest preserves that I'm most familiar with are the ones that are within the closest vicinity to me such as Independence Grove, Greenbelt, Lyons Woods, and Lake Carina. However, I'm sure many of the other forest preserves that I'm not as familiar with would make for great locations for photos. In fact, a couple of the locations that I'm hoping to have a photo session or two in are Ryerson Woods and Captain Daniel Wright Woods.
My other recommendation for locations would be local parks. One of the best parts about having your session at a park is that is you can you reward younger children for good behavior by going to the playground that is conveniently located nearby on location. Here in Waukegan the most notable park for sessions is definitely Bowen Park. I’ve definitely had my fair share of photo sessions at Bowen and find that since there’s so much space there it certainly is a good location. Another park in Waukegan that I think makes for a good location for a session is Roosevelt Park.
Obviously this list is very far from being exhaustive when it comes to locations for a family session. And I just hope my suggestions have been helpful to you in picking a location for your family portrait session or at the very least sparked some ideas of your own for a cool location. Also keep in mind that finding the absolutely perfect location might not be as important as you think. At the end of the day, I would prefer my family sessions to be about the connection of your family and not have the location steal the show.