Dana Pugh 11/10/22 Dana Pugh 11/10/22

Adventure Session in Fish Creek Park

Fish Creek in the fall is iconic if you live in Calgary. It is by far the most requested location for family portraits. There are so many lovely little corners of it to explore that it makes it the perfect location for a family Adventure Session.

What is a family Adventure Session? It truly is my favourite type of family session. And, in 2023, it will be the only type of on location session that I will be offering families. I am a self described child lead photographer and, by that, I mean I take the children’s lead. I let them show me their world. They lead the way in an adventure…this is a gentle way to create portraits in the hopes of creating a safe space for the children to show me their true selves. This is the best way to get real expressions. Over the 17 years I have been doing these sessions, I’ve been on many adventures big and small. I’ve met kids of all ages and take the lead only when I feel I have it is necessary. The end result is not just a handful of images where the goal is perfection…it is a collection of images that work together to tell the story of your family’s connection. Life is, after all, perfectly imperfect and I do not see myself in the images where families are wearing perfect clothes, have perfect hair and are all behaving perfectly. My family was never that way, so I would never want my own family portraits to reflect that.

Here is a sampling of the images I created for one family this fall at Calgary’s iconic Fish Creek Provincial Park.

Dana Pugh 10/22/21 Dana Pugh 10/22/21

Just Add Bubbles | Calgary Family Adventure Photography

Rule #1 of how to run a photography session with kids—when in doubt add bubbles. And snacks. Preferably not at the same time. That’s what I love about Adventure Sessions. There is no timeline. We aren’t trying to get kids to behave a certain way or wear clothes that they find uncomfortable. It’s a time to play and focus on just enjoying your time together. It’s a time to let the kids just be kids….and, the parents, too ;) Let’s blow bubbles, eat watermelon and run through the wild grasses of southern Alberta. That’s the best kind of photography session.

Dana Pugh 6/27/21 Dana Pugh 6/27/21

Kananaskis Adventure Session | Calgary Family Photographer

Adventure sessions are my favourite way to document a family. In fact, with young kids, I think this is the IDEAL way to have family portraits. It’s slow portraiture…just like going on an adventure and having me hang out with you while I take some photographs. There is some, but not a lot of direction. We take our time and the kids relax(parents, too). You get portraits for Grandma, epic photos for your walls, and a story that belongs in a book so that you can truly see a little slice of your family from that time in your life. More and more, I’m hearing parents of young kids asking to have the shortest session possible—which feels a lot like rushing it to me…forcing behaviour on your family then crossing your fingers that it all works out. Adventure Sessions are truly a no pressure event—just show up and have fun…I’ll do the rest!!

I have been photographing this family for years! In fact, I photographed mom while she was pregnant with her little girl! It’s such a treat watching the kids grow and change. Plus, it truly is like visiting an old friend—so, this session was so chill…super chill.

I wanted to add that both of these parents are emergency room physicians who have spent the last year and a half fighting the hard fight during the pandemic. I want to THANK THEM and everyone else like them for keeping Albertans safe and healthy. The mom is also a photographer who got special permission to photograph the front lines of this pandemic. She has done an amazing job. You can go follow her work at: https://www.instagram.com/heather.l.patterson

Last year, we met at Upper Kananaskis Lakes for our session during the wild fire season…the mountains were there, you just had to look really closely ;) They also camped nearby so we ended our session at their campsite. Always a treat hanging out with them. Here are the images we created together.

Dana Pugh 10/25/19 Dana Pugh 10/25/19

Calgary At Home Adventure Session

One of the great things about Calgary is that so many homes back right onto beautiful natural parkland. One of the not so great things about Calgary is that the weather is incredibly unpredictable. Even thought this session happened when it was arguably NOT fall yet, we got a huge dose of fall weather. Wet, soggy, and incredibly foggy. I gotta be honest, I was a little afraid that things could go sideways pretty fast. I mean, with a not quite one year old, you never know how they will handle being uncomfortable. But, this beauty was a trooper. We ended with a warm sink bath that was completely unplanned but very necessary.

This family purchased what I call my Adventure Sessions. Which means that we try to capture a combination of portraits and documentary images. I think sometimes people get intimidated by the word ‘Adventure’ and think that they need to do something truly adventurous in order to satisfy the call…but, here’s the thing…Adventure is everywhere if you are looking for it! Bubbles, watermelon, sink baths…Grandma and Grandpa…all of this is quite adventurous when you aren’t even one year old.

So, here is a smattering of the images we created together while on our Adventure…