Surely I should be telling everyone to book a shoot with me, right? Shouldn’t I be advertising my skills to everyone? Strange to sell myself short?
Well, no actually. I don’t think so. Photography is a very emotive thing and I really want my clients to love their final pictures, but my style of photography isn’t for everyone. Just like so much in life, different people like different things….it’s what keeps life interesting. I would hate to think that one of my clients was disappointed with their pictures because it wasn’t the look they were hoping for.
So, here are 6 reasons you might not want to hire me for your family photoshoot.
1) You want a polished studio look with a uniform background
A family photoshoot with me will be out and about on location so the background will be the location you choose, be that the woods, the beach or your garden. It will also reflect the time of day, season and weather at the time of the shoot. Therefore, if you want to know that your final images will have a uniform look to them then maybe a studio shoot would a better option.
Want a neutral background? My location photoshoots take place in beautiful Devon landscapes
2) Your family love the idea of dressing up really smart and posing in front of the camera
For many people, the idea of getting dressed up smart is really appealing. There’s also something glamorous about the idea of a studio with flash blubs and posing. Watching the kids roll around in the grass or trample through mud in their best clothes will fill some people with horror so I always recommend to my clients that they wear clothes they are comfortable in. Likewise, I will never ask anyone to ‘smile’ or say ‘cheese’, preferring instead to wait for the natural giggle or interaction…..even the shyest of children will smile in the end.
Mucky faces are just part of the story for my family photoshoots
waterproofs and wellies are often de rigueur on a family photoshoot with me in rural Devon
3) You want the convenience of online booking and being able to see your images on the day
I get it - you want a date in the diary and to know that it won’t be scuppered by the weather. It’s not as common as you might imagine, but there are times when I’ve had to postpone a shoot because the weather isn’t playing ball. Some people also want to have the images immediately, which is so much easier to do when the lighting is controlled. I will take 100s of pictures in an hour with your family (ssshh, whisper it..some of them will be rubbish!) If you are all messing around then inevitably some will be blurred, eyes closed, unflattering faces etc. I take a lot of time to select the best ones before professionally editing each one individually. This means that you will end up with a gallery of approximately 40-50 beautiful and unique images that you’ll love and will struggle to select from, but you’ll have to be patient (isn’t that part of the fun?).
All members of the family are welcome on my Devon photoshoots
4) Your friend has just had a studio shoot and you love the images on her wall and want the same look for your house.
It’s rare that I go to the same location twice, therefore no 2 galleries look the same. If you want to know what your images are going look like in advance, maybe don’t get in touch with me. Each of my galleries are as unique as the family I’ve met and each location I’ve been to so I can’t, and won’t, recreate the exact same look twice.
Each of my galleries has a unique look to match the unique family I photograph
5) You want to pay one price upfront to cover everything before your shoot.
I charge £100 for the session fee (more details are available on my pricing page). This is all you pay before the shoot takes place. After we’ve met, I get busy on the editing and once I’m done, you get an online gallery of images to view. Only then do you need to choose which package you want to buy. This way, you don’t need to commit to buying a lot of images before you’ve even seen them, but if you do love them so much you want everything, you know in advance how much that would cost. (Oh, and I also include prints with all my packages as I truly believe in the importance of having something tangible to hold in your hands at the end of the process - and the quality of the lustre prints I use is gorgeous when compared to high street prints).
6) You don’t want the hassle of sun/sand/mud/puddles
Studios are clean and sand-free (sand seems to follow me round wherever I go, I even found some in bed the other day!!). In a studio, you don’t need to bring wellies or a change of clothes (unless you want two looks of course). Chances are your photographer won’t end up crawling around in the mud either, and you won’t need to worry about getting your feet wet…..but you may not have half as much fun, and you probably won’t be allowed to bring your dog (or horse) along too!
There is a danger of muddy hands and knees on my on location photoshoots!
If you have a slightly bigger family, I can accommodate them too
If all these things sound like you then a studio shoot would probably be the best option for you family photoshoot. However, if you don’t like dressing up smart, or posing for the camera, you prefer being outdoors to indoors and you want a final gallery of images that reflect your’s and nobody else’s family then maybe we should have a chat?