I don't live anywhere near family(except my wife and dogs)... I grew up in RI and my brother and his family are still there, my folks moved to Florida, all my grandparents are gone, my sister and her family are in Mass. and another brother is in one of the Carolinas. When I photograph a family i see how close they are and how much they get on each others nerves and how much they will defend each other and and and all that stuff that is family. You can't pick your family! You can pick your friends. I like the people I photograph and its fun getting to know them and in the case of young folks--getting to watch them grow and change. Family portraits are hard to pull off--each individual is...well just that an individual. I think it is important to show that...yet in a family picture everyone wants to look just so. I don't mind it...in fact I tend to like it actually when the people aren't really paying attention to me. I think these are the best pictures. I've been disappointed when I've shown some family pictures that I really like to hear 'oh to bad so and so isn't looking at the camera'. Usually its a baby who is more interested in looking at mommy or cousin Petey or something. And I understand, we always want our portraits to be perfect, but I also want them to be real. So its a tough balance to try to find. I've made a half dozen or so family portraits in the last year and each one I've learned from. My favorites are the ones with the unexpected happening. SayerMotter photograph by Richard Sayer.