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Hey everyone,

I’m a dad to a 2-year-old and I’m looking for some advice to help me out of a creative rut.

Back in November 2025, I bought my first dedicated camera—a Ricoh GR IV (28mm eq). I upgraded from a Pixel 9 Pro because I was tired of that over-processed, "computational" smartphone look and wanted something more organic. I’ve taken about 2,000 photos so far and absolutely love the camera, but I’m struggling to find my visual style.

My ultimate goal is documentary family photography completely unstaged, raw, capturing everyday life exactly as it happens. I draw a massive amount of inspiration from the "Fearless Family Photographers" community (I’ve attached a

few examples of the style I love). I don't understand if these examples are likely shot in RAW and professionally color-graded, which brings me to my main dilemma.

My Struggle: I am completely torn between using custom JPEG recipes and shooting RAW:

  \- The Recipe Fear: I’ve played around with recipes (Positive Film, Negative Film, copying ones from the internet, making my own). While I love the character they add, I get anxious about permanently "baking" that look into my family memories. What if I look back in 10 years and hate the heavy color shift, but I can't undo it?

  \- The "Standard" Boredom: To avoid regretting a recipe, I’ve mostly been shooting in the Standard profile with all parameters set to zero. But honestly, the photos feel a bit lifeless. They are missing that cinematic or film-like character I’m chasing.

  \- The RAW Hurdle: I don't shoot RAW because, frankly, as a dad to a toddler, I don't have the time to edit. I also lack the editing skills right now, and I'm worried about the massive amount of hard drive space thousands of RAW files will take up over the years.

My questions for you all:

1.  How do you handle the JPEG vs. RAW dilemma for family photos? Do you shoot

RAW + JPEG just to have a backup, even if it eats up storage?

2.  Do you just commit to a recipe? Are there those of you who pick a custom recipe, treat it like a roll of actual film, and just make peace with the fact that you can't change it later? Yet you're making a choice now though.

3.  Achieving the "Fearless" look: For those of you who shoot this unstaged documentary style, what should I concentrate on? Is this look mostly achieved through clever composition and finding good light, or is the heavy lifting really done in post-processing?

I really want my photos to have character without overdoing it and regretting it in the future. Any advice on workflow, mindset, or what I should focus on would be incredibly appreciated

Seeking advice: How do you handle the RAW vs. JPEG Recipe dilemma for documentary family photography?