The Dawes Family - Family Session at Hollybank

The Dawes family came down to Hollybank for their family session, making the trip from near Savage River — which is no small drive. It was also Kathleen and Christopher’s 13th wedding anniversary, so it felt like a pretty special way to spend the day.

This was a bigger session than most, with six kids and a lot of different relationships to capture, but it had such a relaxed, fun energy to it. The kind where there’s always something happening, but it never feels stressful.

Meet the Family:

Kathleen and Christopher are mum and dad to six beautiful kids — Tyler (13), Maddie (12), Audrey (10), Samuel (7), Payton (5), and Evelyn (3).

There’s a big age range in there, and what really stood out was how much they genuinely enjoy each other. The kids were constantly wanting photos together, mixing and matching who they stood with, and just playing naturally in between everything we were doing.

The Session Story:

We photographed this session out at Hollybank, which is one of my favourite spots for larger families. There’s plenty of space for kids to move around, and it gives us room to work without everything feeling too structured.

With a family this size, the focus naturally shifts a little. Instead of lots of different locations or styling variations, it becomes about making sure I capture all the important connections — each child individually, each child with mum and dad, sibling groupings, and the full family together.

The session ran for about an hour and 45 minutes, which is longer than usual, but it never felt dragged out. It just took the time it needed.

Payton found it the hardest at the beginning. She’d recently lost her two front teeth and was feeling really self-conscious, so she stayed close to mum and didn’t want to be photographed at all for the first part of the session. We didn’t rush it. We just let her take her time.

Eventually she warmed up, and by the end she was smiling confidently — those big toothless grins that are so fleeting at this age.

There were a few moments where different kids took turns not wanting to be involved, and then wanting to be involved in everything. It all balanced out, and we finished with games, running races, and a lot of laughter.

Favourite Images:

Some of my favourite moments from this session were the ones that felt completely unforced.

The kids choosing to be photographed together, the mix of personalities across the sibling groupings, and especially the shift in Payton from holding back to fully stepping into it.

The running race image of the whole family is one that really captures the feel of the session — a bit chaotic, a lot of fun, and everyone right in it together.

Artwork Choice:

When Kathleen and Christopher came in for their viewing appointment, it became clear pretty quickly that they didn’t want to narrow this down too much.

They chose a 12-piece canvas collection that allowed each of the kids to be represented individually, while still telling the story of the whole family.

The collection included six 9x9” canvases — one of each child — along with four 10x14” canvases of the kids together, mum and dad, mum with the girls, and dad with the boys. They also selected a 14x20” canvas of the family mid-race, and a larger 20x30” canvas of everyone sitting together under the trees as their main piece.

We adjusted the original design slightly to give them that larger feature image, which really anchors the whole collection.

They also chose to include all of their digital images alongside their printed artwork, which means they have everything preserved, while still having something meaningful on their walls at home.

The last time this family had photos taken was when Payton was a newborn — and even then, mum and dad weren’t in the images.

So this felt like a really important update. Not just because of how much the kids have grown, but because everyone is in it this time.

Big family sessions can feel like a lot, and sometimes that’s the reason people put them off. But they don’t need to be perfect to be worth it.

If it’s been a while since you’ve had family photos taken, you’re welcome to reach out. I’ll walk you through the whole process and help you figure out what will work best for your family.