What is lifestyle photography anyways?

Lifestyle photography has grown in popularity in recent times, mostly because people are becoming more drawn to the relaxed and natural approach of this trending style.

Gone are the days when we all lined up in front of a backdrop, wearing matching clothes, stiffly huddled together with uncomfortably forced smiles. I can just imagine how draining it would be to work as a photographer at a shopping center—jumping up and down, trying to make toddlers look at the camera, and editing photo after boring photo.

For me, the most fun you can get out of a photo is looking back at old memories years—even decades—after they’ve been taken. Have you ever looked at a photo of yourself as a child and found yourself noticing everything in the background? Mum smoking a cigarette, a bottle of XXXX in its original packaging, the wallpaper, the retro mugs, and those poofy haircuts? I LOVE that stuff. Maybe your family photographs won’t include you puffing on a ciggy or slamming back a beer… but you get what I mean. Times have changed drastically since then. It’s the closest thing we have to time travel, and I’m so glad to have those images to remember all the little things.

What will our children’s lives look like in the future? Wouldn’t they want to remember what life was like before the world got taken over by robots? A more simple time?

That’s why I love taking unposed, natural, and candid photos at home. I want to be almost invisible—following people around like I’m a wildlife photographer. But instead of capturing lions chasing prey, I’m catching toddlers running around the house, playing games, eating snacks, and cuddling on the floor. That’s real life. That’s the stuff you want to remember—the way they play and laugh, their little hands, kisses, and tickles.

Lifestyle photography is a way of documenting real life. I like to do it in a way that feels almost cinematic. I capture the space, the faces, the close-ups, the things, the actions, the feelings, and the fun.