live love photo session prep

Preparing for your Portrait Experience:

If you’ve made it this far, you’ve already heard it, but I’ll say it again. The most important thing I can tell about preparing for your experience is this: Your family’s interaction will make this experience. Mom and Dad, your job is to focus your attention on your children, pouring your love and your excitement onto them, leading the way; showing the example. I know, it’s going to be a little weird having someone there documenting it, but after the first bit, I promise you’ll forget I’m there photographing and then it’ll be like I’m one of you. But if they see you being comfortable and ignoring the camera, they’ll follow suit. The best thing for you to do is relax! Not to sound morbid, but if these were the last hours of your lives together, how would you spend them? How would you want to remember them? I can assure you that you wouldn’t want any regrets of being uptight or nervous or whatever. I strongly encourage you to put a lot, and I mean a lot, of thought into how you want your family’s photography session to come to fruition.

What you need to know about me: I am laid back. I will get cozy with your kids, make them comfortable. I have three kiddos of my own and have to choose my battles. During this time together, I encourage you to do the same. I know that kids are kids and that they have short attention spans. I get that they are probably going to show off a little, that they’ll try to see what they can get away with. This is who they are, and this is part of what this experience is about. You’ll see that I will do my best to deflect any situations that rise and redirect their attention. Most of the time, you’ll find that I’ll just be a fly on the wall. At other times I’ll give you some direction and call someone over for some photographs. It’s my goal to capture portraits that reflect exactly who you are during our time together.

The What and Where

I encourage you to ponder and jot down a few experiences that you’ve shared as a family in the questionnaire that was sent to you with your confirmation email. What are some things you’ve done that are most memorable to you. Where were you? What is so memorable about those moments? Why are you fond of it? I also encourage you to think about things that you haven’t yet done. What draws you to wanting for it? What would you like captured forever? Please be sure to think of activities that everyone will enjoy, not just mom and not just dad. Include your spouse (and if the kids are old enough, them too!) in this part of the planning, as we want to make the experience enjoyable and as stress free as possible, and well, everyone wants to feel included. Need ideas? Backyard camp-outs, fishing trips, tea parties, a trip to the zoo, in-the-park picnics, a trip to the put-put course, a stay-at-home kind of day, baking cookies or cupcakes, a trip to the beach, walk around town…

Clothing

I always suggest you to bring two or three different outfits each. We may not get to them all but at least this will give your experience some variety, and the option. I always suggest that you wear what you most want to be photographed in and then we can change later on. Your clothing does not need to be fancy, in fact, I encourage you to be as casual as possible and choose items that you wear on a normal day to day basis. I also suggest you to not match, but coordinate your colors so that you don’t look too “put together and posed”.

Let’s start off by saying that preparation on your part is one of the best ways to assure that your photography session will go as smoothly as possible. It will also allow you to have more of a hands-on approach in how your final product will turn out. The more thought you put into your session, whether it be choosing the location, or just choosing clothing, the better the results will depict who your family is and who your children are! We suggest that you put a lot of thought into who your family is and what you want to show in your session. What places do you like to be? How do you interact with each other? What are some fun things you like to do together? So often, the family photo turns into a posed picture. If this is not your family, don’t make it your family photo! Christie is open to different and fresh ideas for family portraits and realizes that each family is different and it’s our goal to make sure that your session is really YOU!

Clothing is always one of the biggest things people worry about when they schedule a photography session. Christie’s philosophy on style is very simple, be you and let your kids be themselves. Many times families will have kids who are developing their own sense of style. Our goal is to depict the realness of your children and family, so allowing the kids to pick something out is really ok! Regarding attire for family photos, I don’t know about you, but our families very rarely go out the door matching. Simply put, we don’t match in real life, why should we do it in our family photos? Instead of matching, we suggest that you coordinate colors. Choose one or two colors that can compliment each other and choose the clothing around these colors. See below for an example (Please note that these are just a suggestion on how to coordinate! These are obviously for a family with small children, but can easily be adapted for families with older kids!). Also, I’ve created a Pinterest Board specifically focusing on family and kids clothing ideas! Click here to be inspired for your own session!

Great brands for beautiful clothing in your photos include: GAP, J. Crew, Boden, Mini Boden, Old Navy, Target, Anthroplogie, Francesca’s

If you’re only having the kids photographed, please bring them in the item you most want photos in, but also feel free to bring an additional one or two changes of clothing.

When having your children photographed, please be sure that they have washed up and brushed their teeth! Nothing like a red mouth from a recent lollipop to make a photo pop!

For smaller children, we suggest that you bring a drink and a small snack to tide them over and make it through the session, especially during the summer months when we begin our photo sessions at 6:00 pm. For the older kids, generally a bottle of water will do! Please remember that clear liquids are always best 🙂 We don’t want orange or bright red smiles and teeth, do we?

A Final Word

I can’t thank you enough for choosing to invest in not only me, but my vision for your family portraits. Your scheduling a session with me is the highest compliment and I feel so blessed to be a part of your family, even for such a limited time. There’s something so special about being able to watch you love and live together. I want to say, one last time, if you have any questions or concerns, I am here to help you! Please don’t hesitate to contact me!