What Storytelling Portraits Really Mean for Families and Seniors in Wisconsin
"Storytelling portraits."
It's right there in my business name, Stories Framed Photography, so let me actually tell you what I mean by it. Because it's not a buzzword I picked because it sounded pretty.
Here's the wrong answer first. Storytelling portraits are NOT a fancy way of saying "I'll take some nice pictures of you." Plenty of people can take a nice picture. Point a good camera at good light and you'll get something perfectly fine.
“Fine” is never the goal.
A storytelling portrait is the one that makes someone who loves you stop walking past it. The photo that catches the exact tilt of your kid's head, the laugh your husband only does when he forgets the camera's there, the way your high school senior holds his guitar like it's part of his arm. It's personality, caught and kept. It’s the season of life you're standing in right now, before it becomes the season you used to be in.
Real relationships. Real expressions. The specific people you actually are, not a posed version of someone you'd never recognize.
I started this business in 2012 for an extremely selfish reason, by the way. My kids were growing up too fast and I wanted proof they were once small. I couldn't freeze them in a bottle (believe me, I tried). So I photographed them instead. That's still the engine under everything I do for my clients. I'm not making generic images of generic families. I'm making the one photo your people will fight over someday.
For my seniors, storytelling means we don't shoot a backdrop - or a park - and call it a day. We bring the stuff. The sport, the instrument, the dog, the car, the favorite hoodie. There's a whole person there. (And maybe there are no extra props - that’s ok too. Everyone is different.)
For my families, storytelling means I'm watching for the in-between. The scoop, the whisper, the eye-roll, the laughter. Those aren't outtakes. Those are the photos.
If you've been wanting photos that feel like heart and personality and a real sense of who your people are...not stiff, not generic, not the same thing everyone else has...that's exactly what I'm here for.
Let's tell the story of this season, while you're still in it.
Or, as I like to say…. Quick, before they grow up.
