How investing 30 minutes before your session greatly improves the outcome.

A successful outcome!

Two factors stabilize this portrait…parents are in the portrait AND the kids are off their feet on tall stools.

In other words, what we discuss before your session is critical to the success of your portrait, especially if there are young children involved.

We call it the Design Appointment and it is the first step in your Journey with us.

If you have ever tried to photograph your own children, you have probably encountered a few obstacles that keep you from getting that perfect portrait. Fidgeting, moving, fussy “targets” that keep looking off and not at you or running out of the frame, sitting when you ask them to stand or standing when they need to be sitting,,, it is frustrating!

Though there is not a magic wand we can wave when we photograph your family or children, we have ways to “stack the deck in our favor.”

The Design Appointment is one of those ways. Preparation is the key!

What is the Design Appointment?

It is a time we set aside before the session to discuss how we can avoid issues that may hinder the outcome, especially if you have young children.

We sat down one day, years ago, to write out the obstacles we have encountered while photographing children. We jokingly named it “The Enemies of Creativity” and the name stuck:-) Our goal was to eliminate these obstacles as much as possible in order for you to have a wonderful experience and amazing portraits.

I wanted to discuss the FIRST of 5 “enemies” here and that is the request to photograph your young children as a group without any parents in the portrait. This is very nearly impossible as when children are of all different ages, they require different tactics to get their attention and great expressions. While we are busy engaging the mind of the toddler, we may miss the silly face the 6-year-old is making while the baby is crying!

The session’s goal in this scenario is to just get all of the children looking in the same direction. Great expressions become harder to accomplish.

All children have different personalities and we must tailor our approach to each. Because of this, we prefer to photograph your children one at a time or with the parents who act as the glue, holding the group together and giving it cohesion. This allows us to do our best and meet your expectations.

Through specialized lighting and posing, we can highlight the children (though they may be in your arms or lap), adding much more interest to the portrait than putting a young child out on a background by themselves where they may feel uneasy.