A huge family reunion | Color Choices for each individual family | Alamogordo, New Mexico | Family Photography by Karina Schuh Photography

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked if I would take family photos for a family reunion, taking place here in Alamogordo, New Mexico. I did not get many information about the family and tried to make a plan for this session.

I got this exciting job and now had to figured out where we are doing the session with so many people. I was very nervous that everything would work out. When I arrived at the location a few people were there but it did not look like a big family. They were still waiting for the rest of the family to arrive at the location. The sky started to cover with dark clouds, the sun was gone, and it looked like rain.

I quickly decided to set up my lights and adjust my camera that we can start right away taking the photos when everybody has arrived. My equipment was set up and I wanted to check the power of my flash output when I noticed that both of my sd-cards were at home in my computer as I had another session in the morning of the same day. My husband was my last chance to get it on time. I quickly called him and fortunately, he was home because it was on the weekend. I became so nervous that it would start to rain before we can even start taking the first photo. The rest of the family arrived and everybody of course had to exchange hugs and welcomes. 35 people needed to be posed and organized. I looked at them and what I saw was that each individual family was dressed in the same colors. From white, over yellow, orange, grey, black, white to blue. That was absolutely amazing to see. I just love the colors. What an amazing family. When I started to pose the families for the group pictures, my husband arrived with my sd-cards, yeah. I was so busy and even forgot about the rain that did not start. I was in my element and I have to say that I love this experience to manage to organize such a big group of people. I felt secure and did my job.

During the time I am working as a professional photographer, I often went through situations where you have to jump over your own shadow, situations where you felt uncomfortable but managed them very well and my customers were happy with my work. Huge groups of people are not that scary to me anymore. I know how to handle the situation, especially by knowing my camera and lights very well. Each situation is different and you have to get it right, there is no retry later. These people came from Canada, El Paso, Las Cruces, and Alamogordo for this family reunion. That does not happen that often that they see each other.

I loved every moment, the kids had a great time by running around, the adults had a lot of thing to talk about and I took photos of each individual family. The individual families dressed in the same colors, wow, that was even better organized than a regular family session. As you can see how mixed up this very last photo of the kids together is, you see why I always suggest wearing the same color range.

Everything worked out great and it did not start to rain. We had a great time!

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