MULTI-GENERATIONAL PORTRAITS IN AUSTIN, TEXAS
A Generation Portrait is not a group photo. I photograph each family member separately, in profile, against a plain backdrop, then combine those silhouettes into a single black and white artwork with the generations layered one behind the next. Grandparents, parents, children, sometimes great-grandparents. What you end up with is a piece that shows the shape of a family and how a jaw or a nose or a brow travels down through it. Sittings are $99 per person and I offer a limited number of these each season.
Let me be the storyteller of your legacy and preserve your family's narrative.
These legacy portraits honor the past, capture the present, and ensure that the essence of your family endures in the future. Typically includes grandparents, parents, children, and sometimes great-grandparents or great-grandchildren.
I only offer a limited amount of these genuine family heirlooms per season. It’s been a passion project of mine (that I really wish I had done with my grandparents!) that has grown into something I feel could become an invaluable part of everyone’s family and family history.
I started making these because I never did one with my own grandparents. That's the whole origin story. Every family I photograph has someone in the frame who won't be there in ten years, and the ones who book tend to be the ones who've already learned that lesson the hard way. I'd rather you didn't have to.
HOW IT WORKS
THE SESSION FEE
The session fee is simple. It reserves your Generation Portrait session and me as your photographer. Each person being photographed will pay a $99 session fee.
It pays for my time and talent only.
The session fee does not include any digital files or products.
RECEIVE GALLERY
After your session, everyone will receive an online proofing gallery where you will view all of your unedited silhouettes. Each person will select their favorite silhouette they’d like me to fully edit and use in the final combined portrait. Please don't panic...nothing has been done to these photos! You will simply look at the faces and select the ones you'd like me to edit.
Three weeks after everyone has made their selections and I have worked my editing magic, you will receive a final online gallery where you will view your beautifully retouched silhouettes and the final Generation Portrait work of art of everyone together.
PICK YOUR PACKAGE
At this point, you will decide what collection best suits your needs and budget.
My clients love my fine art prints as they ate beautiful, hand-crafted prints done by some of the most reputable professional photography print labs in the world. Most prints are designed to last for 100 years or more. However, I also understand that sometimes you just want the digital files. You can purchase the digitals via a collection after you've viewed your images.
Collection prices start at $300 and are custom built for you. Only one person needs to buy a collection for the entire group.
Let's Talk Numbers…
Two parts. Each person photographed pays a $99 sitting fee, which covers my time. Then one collection is purchased for the whole group, starting at $300, and only one person needs to buy it.
So a family of four, say a grandmother, her daughter and two grandchildren, would be $396 in sitting fees plus a collection from $300. Families often split the sitting fees and one person gifts the artwork, which is a common way to handle it when this is a Christmas or an anniversary present.
✺ Frequently Asked Questions ✺
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A dark, solid colored top for everyone. Skip prints and logos, since anything busy competes with the profile and pulls the eye away from the silhouette.
I'd leave jewelry off too. Earrings mostly disappear behind the next person's silhouette once the layers are combined, and necklaces tend to distract more than they add. The exception is something meaningful. If your mother always wears a particular locket, or there's a piece that's been passed down, wear it. That belongs in the picture.
One thing worth doing the night before: run a lint roller over everything. These are photographed at high resolution and every fleck and stray hair shows against a dark top.
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Each sitting is on average 5-10 minutes long.
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For the purposes of this session, no.
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There's no hard limit, but there is a practical one, and it's worth understanding before you start counting relatives.
Every silhouette has to fit within the same frame, so the more people you add, the smaller each profile becomes. At eight to ten people, which is where most families land, each face is still large enough to read clearly. Push past ten and the heads start shrinking to the point where you're looking at more empty space than silhouette, and the individual profiles stop being recognizable.
If your family is larger than that, you have options. Some families split into two portraits, one for each side. Others focus on a single line of descent, so grandmother, mother and daughter rather than everyone under the roof. Tell me who you're hoping to include and I'll tell you honestly what it will look like at that size.
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In your own home, which is usually the easiest option when you're coordinating three or four generations. I bring everything with me: backdrop, lighting, and seating for whoever needs it. All I need is a room with enough space to set up, and I'll find it when I arrive.
Doing it at home also means grandparents aren't navigating a parking garage and small children aren't being wrangled somewhere unfamiliar, which tends to make the whole afternoon go better.
If you'd rather use a studio, we can absolutely do that. You'd cover the studio rental, which runs around $100 an hour.
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The ideal is everyone together on the same day. Not for scheduling reasons, but for technical ones. When I photograph all the silhouettes in one sitting, the lighting is identical across every profile, and that consistency is what makes the finished portrait read as one unified piece rather than a collage of separate photos.
That said, families are scattered, and I'd rather work around a cousin in Chicago than have you skip the portrait altogether. If someone needs to be photographed on a different day, we can make that happen. An additional $75 fee applies for each extra shoot day, since it means resetting and matching the lighting a second time.
So if your brother's family is flying in for Thanksgiving and your mother is here year round, we can build around that. Tell me who's where and we'll find the version that works.
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There's no set age. What matters is that your child can hold their head up on their own, without an adult supporting it. Because these are silhouettes, the profile has to be clean, and a hand steadying a chin ends up in the frame.
For most babies that's somewhere around four to six months, but you'll know better than I will. If your little one can sit up and look to the side unassisted, we're fine.
If you're unsure, email me before you book. I'd rather talk it through than have you pay a sitting fee for a profile we can't use.
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Yes, always. Every image I deliver is retouched by hand, one at a time. I edit skin, take out blemishes and bug bites, and fix the wardrobe things nobody noticed until later, a twisted collar or a strap that slipped.
Nothing gets batch processed. That's the part that takes me the longest and it's the reason the portraits look the way they do.
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Yes. Digitals come as part of a collection, which you choose after you've seen your finished gallery. That way you're deciding based on the actual portrait rather than guessing ahead of time. Collections start at $300, and only one person needs to purchase one for the whole group.
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The $99 sitting fee is non refundable, per person. When I hold your date I turn away other bookings for it, so that fee covers the time either way.
But rescheduling is a different thing from cancelling. If someone gets sick or injured or a conflict comes up, just let me know at least 24 hours before your session and the fee moves with you to the new date. No penalty, no drama. Life happens, and I'd rather move a session than photograph a family that's had a rough morning.
The same goes in the other direction. If I'm ill, or there's an emergency or a death in my family, or the weather makes it impossible, I'll reschedule. I'll tell you as soon as I know and get you back on the calendar at the earliest date I have.
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Three weeks from the day everyone has made their selections. Once each person has chosen the silhouette they want used, I retouch every profile individually and then build the combined portrait, which is the part that takes the time.
Worth knowing that the clock starts when the last person selects, not when the session happens. If you're working toward a Christmas or an anniversary deadline, gently chase whichever relative is slowest to reply.
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Yes. I photograph Generation Portraits throughout Central Texas and I'm glad to come to you. Mileage is charged for anything beyond 20 miles of the 78759 zip code.
If you're further out and want a quote before committing, send me your address and I'll tell you exactly what the travel would run.
READY TO BOOK YOUR GENERATION PORTRAIT?
Get yourself on the calendar by clicking the link below.
Where I Photograph Generation Portraits
These happen in your home, which means the location tends to be wherever the family already gathers. Usually that's a grandmother's living room, and usually it's the house everyone has been coming to for thirty years. I've set up in front of a lot of fireplaces that have hosted a lot of Christmases.
I photograph across Austin and Central Texas, including Tarrytown, Westlake, Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Leander, Pflugerville, Liberty Hill, Lakeway, Bee Cave and Dripping Springs. Mileage applies beyond 20 miles of the 78759 zip code, and I'm glad to quote it before you book.
If your family is spread out and gathers here for a holiday or a milestone, that's often the natural moment to do this. Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks book up early for exactly that reason, so reach out well ahead if you're planning around a visit.