Life goes by so quickly and it can feel like your children change and grow in the blink of an eye. What better way to capture everyday moments and memories than with a family photography session! Photographer Julia Moore–Pilbrow, mum to 3 energetic, mischievous boys, felt that traditional, posed family photos never really resembled the reality of what her family was like. She was inspired to capture the real moments: the chaos, the mess, the fun, the personalities and the quiet, reflective times, and wanted to offer this to her clients too. At Love them Wild Lifestyle Photography, she offers families the chance to be themselves, creating fun, unposed, authentic images – memories that you can hold onto forever. Here, she talks to The Natural Parent Magazine about launching Love them Wild and her passion for capturing precious family moments.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
My three boys are so crazy and larger than life, so traditional posed photos never felt like they really resembled anything like what our family was really like (not to mention it was torture trying to get them all in clean clothes, in one place, and smiling). I love to capture photos of my kids going about day-to-day life, the Lego playing, the made-up games, the bike racing – photos that really get to a sense of who they are, and who we are as a family. I love looking back on the photobooks I put together in this style and getting a sense of who each boy was, at each stage – what they loved to do, the toys they loved to play with, what our house looked like, all those details we never think we’ll forget but we do! (or is it just me with a terrible memory?). Basically, I wanted to be able to offer this to my clients – hence, Love them Wild Lifestyle Photography was born.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
To be honest, I’ve never been that interested in traditional family photography – I have enough of trying to wrangle kids to do something they have no interest in at home, to not want to do that at work. With Covid playing havoc with the wedding industry however, I was looking to diversify, and I realised that I should be offering for families the type of photography that I love doing with my own family – and that there was a real gap in the market for that. That was when it really clicked and I got excited about launching a family lifestyle photography brand.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
Well, it still feels somewhat early days! I’ve been a wedding photographer for around five years, so it was somewhat simple in terms of the skills I needed, and to replicate a lot of my systems (website, etc.) to a new brand. Starting out has mainly been about building up my family portfolio to show exactly what I want to be shooting, and starting to find and connect with families who feel the same way about building a lifetime of memories.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
I’m pretty clear on boundaries – which days are my office days, no working once the kids are back from school type thing. (although I am writing this right now while I’m supposed to be having dinner with them, ha!). It took me a while to learn the joys of outsourcing and mentoring, but these have been invaluable tools for learning to run my business more efficiently and authentically.
