Florida Tech Botanical Gardens Extended Family Session | Melbourne Family Photographer

April 16, 2026 • Leave a Comment

The best shots happen
in between.

A morning session, four little cousins, one very special gift, and a bubble that stopped time for just a second.

This session was a gift. Not a gift card, not a hint dropped into a birthday wish list — an actual, intentional gift for a daughter who looked at her family and thought: I need to capture this. All of us, together, right now. That kind of intention sets the tone for everything that follows, and this morning at the Botanical Gardens at Florida Tech was no exception.

Ten people. Two grandparents, a son and his wife with their baby girl and toddler boy, and the daughter — the one who made this happen — with her husband and their little girl and boy. Two families, one set of grandparents, and four cousins who collectively contained more energy than the morning light filtering through those beautiful gardens.

Extended family sessions with young kids

When you have a family group like this, you are not in control. And the sooner everyone accepts that, the better the photos get. Kids at these ages are not going to hold still, look at the camera, and smile on command for long stretches. They're not supposed to. We're going to play games and interact so that I can capture everyone's personalities and making it fun means smiles too! This family knew there would likely be some chaos and they were ready to embrace it. Honestly, that's the best attitude to have because then the pressure is off and no one is tempted to scold the kids (which never ends well).

The Bubble

We hit a point in the session where the kids needed a break. So we did what you do — pulled out the bubbles.

I kept clicking, take photos of the kids chasing the bubbles and having a great time. When I loaded the photos onto my computer to edit, I found this gem. A bubble perfectly hovered over the toddler's eye, but where you can still see his eye clearly through it.

That image didn't happen because I planned it. It happened because we slowed down. Because the kids were given a few minutes to just be kids, and I stayed ready. Some of the best photos from any session live in those in-between moments — the pauses, the breaks, the seconds when nobody is thinking about the camera anymore.

A Mix of Posed and Playful

Family sessions, even extended family sessions, are always going to be a mix of posed/semi-posed and interactive/playful. Sometimes we still want that "everyone is looking at the camera" photo but some of the best moments, like the bubble image above, happen when everyone is relaxed and themselves, whether playing a game or interacting with each other. Those genuine moments of connection, that's where it's really at. Those are the photos you will savor in the years to come, the ones that bring you back to the moment where you can feel the emotions portrayed in the photograph.

I love making sure to get the adults together without the kiddos if possible too. We still love our parents and want photos with them as we get older, not just when we're younger. I'll probably do something weird or say something goofy to get everyone to smile authentically or laugh a little (so be prepared haha!). In order to get a group shot with all of the adults in this session, I had to get a little creative because there was a baby who couldn't be put down. So I did what any photographer who's also a mom might do, I held the baby on one hip and got the shot with my camera in my other hand. It was an impressive feat if I do say so myself.

Why sessions like this matter

Here's what I want you to take away from this post — and I mean this genuinely, not as a sales pitch. The season when your kiddos are young is a blur. It is loud and exhausting and sticky and gone before you know it. The baby in these photos is already a toddler as I write this blog post. The toddler with the bubble eye will be in kindergarten before we know it. The grandparents, who are vibrant and present and so clearly in love with this whole crew, are not going to be this age forever.

None of us are.

A session like this doesn't just give you pretty photos. It gives you proof. Proof that everyone was here, together, at the same time — in the middle of this beautiful, ordinary, irreplaceable season of life. The bubbles. The chaos. The kids running around and playing. The toddler's eye, round and wondering, caught in a bubble for just a fraction of a second before it floated away.

The best gift you can give your family isn't a thing. It's proof that this moment existed — and that it mattered.

If you've been thinking about putting together an extended family session — the grandparents, the siblings, the cousins, the whole beautiful crew — I hope this is the nudge you needed. You don't need a big occasion. You just need a morning, a good location, and maybe a bottle of bubbles.

Let's make something worth keeping. Contact me for information on scheduling an extended family session.

Keywords: babies, children, extended family, family, gardens, Melbourne FL, toddlers