Family Session Welcome Guide
Hello I'm Jennifer
I am a professional photographer that LOVES LOVES my job. My style is non- traditional with extreme crops. Photography that will make you laugh and cry. I try to capture the realness of you! I am a sucker for close ups. Eyes are my favorite. It's you, right now at this moment. I want to capture the things that will be long gone 5 years from now. Think about it...your belly full with a new life, the missing teeth, the little curls, rolls on your baby (you know the one I am talking about) the painted fingernails, how big daddy's hands are with your new baby. It will just be a memory five years from now. I feel I am playful. Some say I am a free spirit. My sessions are filled with laughter. We will have fun during your session. This is my GOAL!
About the Session
My focus is to capture your family in this season of your lives! I want to capture moments. I want to embrace all the beautiful imperfections. At our session we will play, snuggle, and maybe even adventure. We'll start off our session by getting that perfect pose out of the way. I usually like to do one standing and one sitting pose. And then we'll start our adventure.
What to Expect?
Things to Do Before Your Session
What to Wear
Choose Your Colour Palette
I always suggest choosing 3-5 colours to work with. Neutrals and soft colours are the easiest to style cohesively, bold and bright colours can be distracting and stand out too much particularly in the outdoor nature environments I shoot in. Find one outfit you love and build the rest of the families outfits from there. If you have a patterned outfit you have chosen, you can pull colours from the pattern to inject into other family members outfits. It's also wise to think about where you will be displaying these photos in your home, will the backdrop and your clothing colours match in nicely with your home decor?
Comfort Is a MUST
Ultimately wearing clothing you feel comfortable and beautiful in will be best. It will make you shine that little bit more during your shoot. Wearing clothing that is uncomfortable or not something you would normally wear will show in the images. It's also a must to make sure kids are dressed comfortably for the shoot, make sure they are warm enough, and have appropriate footwear for the area we are shooting at.
Add Some Texture
It looks so good when families add textured clothing to their styling, think knit or waffle fabrics, linen, corduroy, lace etc. Adding texture just adds interest and depth to your photos. Having some items of clothing with movement helps. Think flowy skirts and dresses.
Things to AVOID
Clothing which has large graphics or brand name logos on it. These will date, they will stand out, and be distracting in your photos
Styling the family in 'matchy matchy' outfits, think white tops and jeans - this look is a little dated and won't reflect your families unique style
Too many patterns. If everyone wears something patterned it's going to look super busy, best rule to follow is one person wears a pattern, two at most
Clothing that doesn't fit you well or is restrictive, you want to be comfortable in your shoot and be able to run with the kids and cuddle them comfortably, you also dont want your bra straps showing in ill fitting tops / dresses
Recommended Timing & Location
The Best Time to Capture the Moment
Light is one of the most important aspects of photography. As a photographer, I'm always studying how the light is falling, how it is adding too, or taking away from a moment.
The best time of day for outdoor family photos is 1-2 hours before sunset. This time of day is referred to as the "Golden Hour" because of the lower sun creating a golden look and beautiful backlight opportunities for photos. Having the sun lower in the sky means more flattering light for family and maternity photo sessions. The location does impact the exact time we would start, (some locations have no ability to filter sunlight so we would want to start earlier, while other locations - like the one shown in this post - have great spaces for filtering the sun so you can start a closer to two hours before sunset).
The exact time of day will also vary by the time of year. In the winter and fall months, sunset is much earlier. While spring and summer days are longer, and golden hours are later.
What's Next?
Collections
Collection #1 - $500
10 High-Resolution Digital JPEGS from your gallery
with print release
$50 complimentary print credit
Collection #2 $700
25 Digital JPEGS from your gallery
with print release
$100 complimentary print credit
Collection #3 $900
All High-Resolution Digital JPEGS from your gallery
with print release
$200 complimentary print credit