If your family is anything like ours, we like to take a lot of photos to help us remember our experiences while we are on vacation. Most of the time, our photos just don’t adequately capture the beauty of the places that we visit and let’s be honest, despite its popularity, using a selfie stick does not make for a good family photo.

This year I was determined to get some great shots of my family in one of the most beautiful places in all of Canada on our trip to Jasper, Lake Louise and Banff, so I hired a local professional photographer to take family photos while we were there.

Here are the top 3 reasons why I am doing this again for our next family vacation and why you should too!

#3. Your photographer can recommend great photo shoot locations!

Our photographer lives in Alberta so when I described the scenery that I was looking for she was able to provide us with a few different options that were unique to the area. Despite the fact that it was raining, unusually windy and the coldest day of the summer on the day of our shoot, she was able to capture the beautiful blue colour of Lake Minnewanka (located just outside of Banff) with the mountains in the background that we were looking for.

One of my favourites from our photo shoot

#2. Everyone gets to be in the photos!

I can probably count the number of times on one hand where all four of us are in a vacation photo together at the same time, looking at the camera the same way, with all eight eyes open and no funny faces being made. Since I’m usually the one behind the camera, I’m rarely in our vacation photos so it was a treat to have all four of us and even a few photos of just my husband and I. The last time this happened was 21 years ago on our wedding day.

Proof that I did go on vacation with my family

#1. You can relax and just enjoy being with your family!

Despite the fact that none of us like having our photo taken, our photographer made the process comfortable and easy for everyone. I didn’t have to stress about getting us and the background perfect in every shot, carrying around a tripod, spending time setting it up or checking the position and lighting. Our photographer was able to capture photos of us just being ourselves and having fun as a family during our vacation.

Sisterly love

And then this happened a few seconds later

In case you were wondering, our photographer for this session was Jennifer Chabot (located near Calgary, Alberta).  I found Jennifer through recommendations from fellow Travel Agents and after following her on Facebook and Instagram for a few weeks, I knew that she would be the perfect photographer for us! Her website is jenniferchabot.com or you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

BonnieBonnie Gundert, CTC, is a TICO Certified Travel Consultant and Owner of Great Adventures Travel. She lives and works in beautiful Oro-Medonte and has been in the travel business for years, specializing in group travel, custom travel itineraries, women’s travel and family travel. For more information, call Bonnie at (705) 252-8012 or email Bonnie at bgundert@tpi.ca.