Include your family in portfolio?

Do you guys ever include your own family in your portfolio of work, namely portraiture and kids? It seems like a no-brainer that if there is a good quality picture than you should use it, but there is a part of me that feels like it's cheating a bit because the relationship between photographer and subject is a little tighter, thus resulting in (presumably) better photos.

I imagine this would be more important for folks like me starting out that don't have a deep level of shots to choose from, but some of my favorite shots are of my kids (of course!) and I don't forsee myself ever taking them out of my portfolio. I just don't know where the line of "proud dad" and "businessman" intersect

What are your thoughts?

One shot would be okay. More than that strongly implies you don't have much experience outside the family. You also need to ask whether the family photo is the same sort of image you would offer clients. If the image of your child was made though a process that you can't replicate for the client then maybe it's better left out.

Agreed, if one of your top shots just happens to be a family member and you want that image to represent your work, why not?

I have I believe 3 photos of my daughter in my portraits portfolio, I also have 1 of my wife, 1 of my mom and am working on 2 from each of my grandparents. They are great subjects and easy to work with why not use them to boost your portfolio. Other then my wife and daughter no client would ever know who my grandparents are. I also have a couple of my extended family but they actually counted as clients as I was paid for their shoot, heck I was paid by my mom for her head shots as well.

Littlejon Dsgn wrote in post #17676769
I have I believe 3 photos of my daughter in my portraits portfolio, I also have 1 of my wife, 1 of my mom and am working on 2 from each of my grandparents. They are great subjects and easy to work with why not use them to boost your portfolio. Other then my wife and daughter no client would ever know who my grandparents are. I also have a couple of my extended family but they actually counted as clients as I was paid for their shoot, heck I was paid by my mom for her head shots as well.

That's fine until your client doesn't like the results and then finds out that all your portfolio is family and trashes your reputation.

That would be bad, luckily for me that's only like 5-10% of my portfolio. What I was trying to get across is it should be ok to have family in your port, should your entire port be of just family .... probably not.

Littlejon Dsgn wrote in post #17676769
They are great subjects and easy to work with why not use them to boost your portfolio. .

Why not? I'll tell you why not. Because what happens when your clients are not so easy to work with? Then the images of your clients probably aren't going to be as good as those of your family. So showing the clients images of your family can and will build false expectations. When your clients' images don't look as good as the ones you showed in your portfolio, then they have a genuine grievance against you for misrepresenting the level of work that you can produce for them.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #17678157
Why not? I'll tell you why not. Because what happens when your clients are not so easy to work with? Then the images of your clients probably aren't going to be as good as those of your family. So showing the clients images of your family can and will build false expectations. When your clients' images don't look as good as the ones you showed in your portfolio, then they have a genuine grievance against you for misrepresenting the level of work that you can produce for them.

I can see that point, from my point of view I have 50 images in my family/portraits gallery and only a handful are of family. Again I would not load your entire gallery with family.

IMHO you are thinking too far with what can think the customers ...

At first what do you put in your portfolio ? The bests of the bests, no?
So it means that you are not luckily be able to replicate your bests of the bests each time ..., am i wrong?

Secondly i will take an example of someone which look like a "reference" on this forum, Lisa Holloway which seems to put quite a lot of her family members in her portfolio > http://www.ljhollowayp​hotography.com/categor​y/personal/ (and photographs appears also in the front page)
In my opinion she is absolutely right, why not to put family members in the portfolio if the photographs are gorgeous or your bests of the bests ?

gonzogolf wrote in post #17676795
That's fine until your client doesn't like the results and then finds out that all your portfolio is family and trashes your reputation.

Why is it that you are assuming he can't duplicate the same portraits again? Obviously...not matter who the portrait is of...if you cannot duplicate that same work again, you should not advertise that image. Really has zero to do with family portraits.

Reservoir Dog wrote in post #17776832
IMHO you are thinking too far with what can think the customers ...

At first what do you put in your portfolio ? The bests of the bests, no?
So it means that you are not luckily be able to replicate your bests of the bests each time ..., am i wrong?

Secondly i will take an example of someone which look like a "reference" on this forum, Lisa Holloway which seems to put quite a lot of her family members in her portfolio > http://www.ljhollowayp​hotography.com/categor​y/personal/ (and photographs appears also in the front page)
In my opinion she is absolutely right, why not to put family members in the portfolio if the photographs are gorgeous or your bests of the bests ?

Exactly...I see no reason why not include family photos if they are your best. As a professional, you should be able to deliver what you advertise...no matter who the photos are in your portfolio.

Hogloff wrote in post #17779851
Why is it that you are assuming he can't duplicate the same portraits again? Obviously...not matter who the portrait is of...if you cannot duplicate that same work again, you should not advertise that image. Really has zero to do with family portraits.

Can the photographer spend the time with a client that they don't with their family waiting to grab the perfect moment? Can the photographer instantly bind with a client like they can with their child? Does including lots of family shots send the message that my family that my family work is better than what I deliver for clients, otherwise the client work would be featured?

When first starting out I used quite a few photos of family in my port, now I have thinned it out some while adding in additional people, but I do still have family in my port. Can I recreate the same image .... yes. So why keep it you ask, because its a great photo and showcases my best work. My family images are set up like my client images as well. I bring them into the studio and work with them until I get the photo I want.