45 People, One Session, One Gift

I’m somewhat used to a large family. I have a large Sicilian family, and my wife has a large Indian family. So when Avi reached out about a “family get-together,” a birthday gift for his parents, I had a general sense of what I was walking into.

I didn’t have the full picture. He didn’t mention the 45 people, or the dog, until I arrived.

What you can’t plan for.

I typically meet with every family before a session. I want to know who they are, what matters to them, how the kids respond to strangers, where the light will fall, what the walls look like. That conversation shapes everything.

This wasn’t that kind of session. When I pulled up, there was a full reunion in progress. Food on every table, kids running through the backyard, multiple generations in conversation. Whatever they were cooking smelled incredible. There were 45 people plus a dog who hadn’t been briefed on why a photographer was showing up.

This is more like event photography. You have very little time to pose, you can’t style anything. You read the room, find the natural groupings, and work with what’s in front of you. What made it work was the family. Everyone was so gracious and cooperative. It was both crazy and fun, and they were right there with me through all of it.

Getting the big group shot.

There’s a specific challenge with a large group: you have almost no time before someone blinks, turns to talk to a cousin, or drifts out of frame. You don’t get to redo it five times. You shoot fast, you shoot more than you think you need, and you plan from the start to do some head and face corrections in post.

That’s not a shortcut. It’s the honest reality of group photography at this scale. Even the best moment will have two people mid-blink. You composite the best expressions from multiple frames into the final image. The goal is a portrait that feels real because it captures what was actually happening, not a technically perfect shot where half the family looks stiff.

What made this work was the family itself. Even with no preparation, everyone was gracious and cooperative. They laughed, they gathered when asked, they held still when they could. You can’t always count on that with a group this size. We were lucky, and it showed in the images.

The grand group portrait, centered on the grandparents, ended up printed on metal and now hangs in the family’s home. Every person in that frame is in it because a son came home and decided to give his parents something that would last.

I’m grateful to them for having me photograph them all.

Large family sessions, extended family gatherings, multi-generation portraits: they’re all something I’m happy to discuss. The logistics are different, the approach is different, but the goal is the same. A finished piece worth hanging on the wall.

If you’re thinking about something like this for your family, reach out and let’s talk through what that would look like.