Tips to a successful session.

The goal of this guide is to help you prepare for your session so that we can maximize every minute of our time together. I want you to truly enjoy the experience and to love the photos we create. For couples or family sessions, I also recommend either sharing this guide or reading it with your partner so that you’re on the same page when the session begins. Now, let’s get into it!

My hope for your session is that you and your family enjoy your time together and create lasting memories to look back on. I recommend making it a date by either planning something before or after for everyone to look forward to, and to help reframe family photos as an experience vs. something they “have to do.”

Another fun way to infuse your family’s personality into your photos is to bring an activity to play or a snack to eat at the session. This encourages engagement and helps everyone forget there is a camera in front of them. Are you into Phase 10, checkers, La Croix, fine wine, pizza, sushi, etc? Feel free to bring it! Then you’ll remember forever what you were into during that season of your life. 
 
In the end, the most important thing is to simply enjoy being with your family because the session goes by so quickly. You are taking intentional time to document your family for generations to come and I hope it is a positive experience! So just try to soak up every moment, focus on engaging with each other and not with the camera, and I’ll handle the rest! *We only have time for one outfit during a mini session.

I encourage you to play with your children during the session! Think about what you like to do with your little ones. Do you throw them up into the air? Read to them? Tickle them? Thumb wars? Wrestle? I love the idea that this type of lifestyle photography will offer a window back into your son or daughter’s childhood once they are grown. How sweet will it be having photos captured of you playing and engaging with your child as a family heirloom?

The more you engage with each other during your session, the more it helps me capture everyone’s unique personality and the family dynamics you share together. I promise you will love the end result when you focus on being with each other and making one another laugh vs. looking at the camera the whole time. Doing this will even help you forget that you don’t know what to do with your hands ;)

Building off the ideas of creating a family date and playing together, I recommend sharing what you will be doing with your children to help them prepare and know what to expect.

I hope to capture your family in the most authentic way possible, and a major way we do that is through movement and games. This way, we can avoid having to ask them to smile. Instead, those moments of joy are happening naturally, and your children will hopefully grow up without dreading photo sessions where they were asked to smile for an hour :)

The adults don’t have to ask the kid(s) to smile and the kids don’t have to force any emotions they aren’t feeling for the sake of a camera. And, if they are crying/sad/nervous, we can just take a break or I’ll have you all walk with your backs facing me and I can still capture family moments. Everyone wins!

We will do our best to start on time. As I am a huge lover of natural light, know that the timing for your session isn’t a coincidence. It’s scheduled so that we have the best lighting for your photos.

If we are not meeting at your home, please allow enough time for travel or traffic. However, because I want everyone to arrive at the session as relaxed as possible and in the mindset to have fun, please do not let time be a major stressor. If you’re running late, we will get creative and work with the time we have left. I do not schedule full sessions back to back, so if necessary and if the sun allows, we can also go over a few minutes. I just ask that you communicate with me and share if you are going to be late. 

Lastly, an hour is my standard session time, and that is usually plenty of time to capture the photos we need. This even accounts for those little micro-breaks between changing locations or giving everyone a break to reset and rest without a camera in front of them. So, if anyone needs to use the restroom halfway through, grab a snack, breast feed, or have a diaper change, do not fret! There is time allotted to care for your family’s needs without taking away from the time we need to create our photos together.

It is very common to feel nervous before you get in front of a camera. So first things first, know that you are not alone. Second, I do not expect you to feel at ease from the start. My job is to direct you into movement poses that help you relax, feel natural, and be your true, comfortable selves in front of my lens.

You do not need to practice poses, study Pinterest pins, or let the nerves take over. I’ll provide the prompts to help your family engage with each other so that by the end of the session, you will not only have had fun, but the end result will be something you’ll treasure.

I love incorporating the family pet that is so special to you all. However, if we are not taking photos at your home, my only request is that you bring a handler who will not be in your photos to help manage your four-legged family members.

Choosing your outfits can often be a big stressor when planning a photo session, so much so that I’ve written an entirely separate guide to help relieve some of that stress for you! You can read it here: seethingscloser.com/what-to-wear

For now, here’s a quick spoiler: I usually recommend the spouse organizing the session to choose their outfit first and then plan everyone else’s around them.

When I have a session coming up, I constantly stalk the 10-day weather forecast and am happy to discuss the possibility of rescheduling. I also have clear bubble umbrellas if you want to embrace the rain. Totally up to you!

-Arrive ten minutes early.
-Have your child(ren) use the restroom beforehand.
-Bring keys, cell phones, and sunglasses!
-Leave transition glasses in the car or be prepared to take them off during the session.

Once the session is over, I ask for 21 days to edit and deliver your online gallery. I deliver your photos via a platform called Pic-Time, where you will receive all gallery download rights and can download individual photos or the entire album. There is also a print shop associated with Pic-Time that you can order prints through.