Family Storybooks

Real families. Real life. Told like a story.

Family Storybooks are limited, commissioned projects conceived as authored visual narratives. I take on only a small number each year.

Family Storybooks are not traditional family sessions.

Each project is conceived as an authored visual story — planned, staged, and built around a real emotional theme.

Editorial family photography staged inside a home as part of a storybook project

Reality becomes a set. Everyday life becomes narrative.

I plan and stage a series of photographs inside the family’s own world, homes, routines, ordinary places, pushing them slightly off balance.

The goal is not to look natural.
The goal is to feel true.

Documentary family photography recreating everyday moments in a domestic space
Editorial family photography capturing playful and intimate moments

These stories
are playful, saturated, slightly exaggerated.

Nothing is idealized. Nothing is romanticized.
Parents are in on the joke.

Think pop colors, sharp light, visual punch — closer to a children’s book than a family album.

Not soft.
Not nostalgic.
Not timeless.
This is about now.

Family Storybooks are for curious, creative families — people who love images, books, visual culture.

It’s for parents who don’t want “beautiful memories”, but a bold, honest, slightly irreverent gift for their child.

Family photo book project photographed with an editorial approach
Editorial close-up of a printed family storybook cover featuring hands resting on a pregnant belly, photographed as a physical book object.

The final outcome is a book.

Images and short texts come together into a physical object — a story to grow up with, keep, revisit.

A family storybook made by an author, not a template.

*Texts are part of the original story and appear in their original language.

The project results in a printed book conceived as a complete object.
Approximately 24 pages, built around a carefully edited sequence of images.

Each Storybook begins with a conversation.
From that exchange, I develop a visual narrative and a sequence of staged images.
The photographs are produced during a focused day shoot and later edited, sequenced, written, and designed as a single work.

Editorial photography of a printed family photo book open on a red title spread reading “CIAO!”, photographed on a yellow background.
Editorial photography of a family storybook open on an interior spread showing an expecting couple standing outside their home at night, photographed with flash for a family storybook project.
Editorial photography of a family storybook open on an interior spread showing an expecting couple at home.
A family storybook open showing documentary photography of an expecting couple relaxing on a bed with their dog in a domestic interior, photographed for a family storybook.
Detail of an interior spread showing an expecting couple grocery shopping, photographed for a family storybook.

Each Family Storybook is a unique, authored project.

It’s created through a close collaboration and developed around a real theme, a moment in transition, or a shared state of mind.

For this reason, only a limited number of Family Storybooks are produced each year.

Inquire about a family storybook

Studio Zita also works on events & gatherings and editorial weddings.