What To Expect – Cornwall Family Photography

What To Expect – Cornwall Family Photography

For those of you wondering about timing for Cornwall family photography portrait and documentary sessions, here are the basics:

• The best time to plan any outdoor session is within 2 hours of sunrise or sunset. If this conflicts with your child’s bedtime, let me know. We’ll do what we can to work around that and give you the best possible opportunity to make use of beautiful light.
• Please arrive on time. As my calendar fills, I have to book appointments back-to-back; sessions that start late still need to finish on time so as not to cause problems for other clients.
• Most portrait sessions will not last more than one hour, particularly if there are young children involved – I understand that young children get restless and do my best to work quickly!
• For newborns, allow 2-3 hrs. You should plan to start your session with a full feed at the studio, so please try to keep baby unfed for 2-3 hours before your session if possible. I’m perfectly comfortable with breastfeeding, so only bring a cover if it makes you more comfortable.
• Documentary sessions can be done ANYWHERE! Think about places that you love to go (or classes that your children are enrolled in) and let’s plan the session around that!

During your session:

• Please don’t worry about whether your children are smiling. I’ll take care of them. Not every portrait needs a smile.
• It’s confusing and overwhelming for kids to see multiple adults shouting, waving, and jumping around in different places. Let me act the fool first. Then, if I need some help, I’ll ask you for it and let you know where I need you stand.
• Children feed off of their parents’ energy. If you’re happy and enjoying yourself, they will be, too. If you’re anxious, they will be, too.
• Don’t worry about standing still, looking at the camera, or what to do with your hands. I’ll be there to help position you for formal portraits and encourage interaction for casual portraits. I love capturing images of family members looking at one another, rather than at the camera, so if a member of your family does something funny, enjoy it! Smile at them, not at me.

Your session has finished; we’ve all had fun. Now what?

• I get all your images onto the computer and go through them to remove the blinks, blurs, and weird faces that inevitably occur.
• I do full edits of the very best of the remaining photos (30-35 for traditional portraits; 50-60 for documentary).
• Within 2-4 weeks of your session (depending on time of year), you receive an email containing your gallery access info; you follow this link and have 3 weeks to view and download your proofs, as well as place orders.
• I send your order off to the lab and inform you when the photos have arrived (typically 10-15 days) – payment can be made by cash or cheque in person or by etransfer.
• You pick them up and leave smiling!