Downtown Portland Family Photos – Finding the Right Murals
Who says your family portraits need to be in some grand landscape or city park? Certainly not me!
For this family portrait session we decided to keep it urban and hit up some of Portland’s cutest murals in the South East.
Not just any murals would do. Since Portland’s mural scene changes so frequently we spent the day before this session scouting for locations and choosing murals with family friendly subject matter, no graffiti, and fun colors that would coordinate with their wardrobe.
Portraits In A Parking Garage
For our next location we knew we wanted to keep things minimal and get some beautiful shots of the Portland skyline in the background. There are a few different places for a look like this but our favorite happens to be a parking garage.
I know… A parking garage? Really? Yep.
Ok so hear me out… The top couple floors of a parking garage can be the perfect place for a portrait session. The best part are the views – that’s an obvious one. But we love parking garages for a few more very important reasons:
- Sunlight reflects off of light colored parking garage concrete which is super flattering in your portraits. It’s like the city version of a light sand beach.
- The top floor or two of a parking garage is usually empty cuz nobody wants to walk that far to get to their end destination. This means you get a clean and open urban setting without distracting elements like cars, other people, bright road signs or garbage cans, etc.
- All this open space means you have room to have fun. If your kids are full of energy you can let them run around while we chase them with our cameras capturing all that energy. You can safely watch your kids from afar without worrying too much about them getting into trouble. And, if your kids are a little older and like to skateboard, roller skate, or [insert other wheeled activity here] then they can play and do their thing in this clean & open space.
- Ok and last thing, and possibly one of my favorites, is that every angle is flattering. You can get lens flairs, shadows, and bright open sunshine without worrying about dappled light causing weird shadows on your faces. Always a bonus!
Book Your Own Downtown Portland Family Photos
If you love this fun take on family photographs, then book a session with me in Downtown Portland! You can learn all about our approach to family portraits on our Maternity & Family services page. Message me for more details and to discuss dates for your family portrait session.
