Here's the truth about family photography: the kids are in charge. Here's the secret – that's only a problem if you fight it.

Get on their level, literally and figuratively, and something shifts. The running and the noise and the total unpredictability of a small person with strong opinions stops being something to manage and starts being the whole point.

I'm Anna Jones, a Des Moines–based family photographer – and I will absolutely be on the floor with your kids. I love children, I love the beautiful mess of family dynamics, and I love seeing the world through a two-year-old's eyes, even if that means I'm eye-level with the dog for half the session.

I grew up in a big family. To me, chaos doesn't mean something went wrong. It means everyone showed up.

My job isn't to pose you into a version of your family that looks good on paper. It's to follow your kids' lead, pay attention to what's actually happening, and find the photographs hiding inside the moments you didn't plan. That's where your family lives - and that's where I want to be.