Employee team portraits during an active family day

A family day is a good time to photograph teams who rarely see each other, since many of them are in the same place for once. It is also a bad time to ask people to stand in a line for ten minutes. Parents are watching children, children are running, and nobody wants to miss the next activity. This page sits within our guide to corporate family-day photography.

What makes team portraits hard on a family day?

Attention is divided. A parent who is posing may also be tracking a child on the other side of the field. Children get hungry, bored and cross. A portrait that would take two minutes in a quiet office takes ten when a toddler is involved.

The portraits also compete with activity coverage. If the photographer is at the portrait spot, they are not at the games, the meal or the prize-giving.

Reserve a window and keep it short

The best approach is to give portraits a fixed, announced window. For example, choose a quiet period in the programme such as just before lunch or during a break between activities. Place the portrait spot near the main activities, so parents can see their children throughout.

Choice	Option A	Option B
When	Before families arrive	During a break in the programme
Who	Colleagues only	Colleagues with families
Pros	Quiet, efficient	Everyone present
Cons	Needs early arrival	Children's needs affect timing

Our group photograph planner helps you plan layouts, and timing group photographs around the event flow shows how to fit them into a live programme.

Do the arithmetic

Before you promise team portraits, test them. If the portrait window is forty-five minutes and each team needs five minutes including the walk to the spot, the window can serve nine teams. If you have fifteen teams, you need a longer window, a second crew member or fewer teams.

Our guide to scheduling planned portraits within live event coverage goes into this in more detail, and the event headshot capacity estimator can test the numbers.

An example of a workable plan

For example, imagine a family day with twelve departmental teams. The organiser announces a thirty-minute portrait window at 11.30am, before lunch, at a shaded spot beside the children's play area. Each team has a three-minute slot, with an organiser calling the next team. Families can join the portrait if the team wishes.

The main photographer continues activity coverage, and a second photographer, if the company chooses to add one, runs the portrait spot. Teams that miss their slot appear in a short backup window after lunch.

Protect the activity coverage

Portraits should not eat the time set aside for the rest of the day. Decide how many hours go to portraits and how many to activities, and write both in the plan. If you want both done well, ask us whether a second photographer is worth considering. What an additional event photographer changes explains the effect on the plan and the cost.

Children and families in team portraits

If children appear in portraits, the same care applies as for any child image. The company's authorised process and the parents or guardians decide how images are stored and shared. Do not use identifiable children as examples in public communications without appropriate permission. Read family days involving grandparents and several age groups for other things to consider.

Keeping it low-pressure

Present the portrait as an invitation. A team that would rather skip it can appear in event coverage instead. Keep the spot simple, with a plain background and no props, and let the photographer take a few frames and finish. People relax when they can see the end.

Comfort and pace

Some people, including older relatives, may tire quickly. Place seating near the portrait spot and keep waits short. The guide to older relatives who tire quickly during photographs gives practical ideas.

We confirm the crew, hours and deliverables in your written quotation, so the portrait window and the activity coverage both have a place in the plan.