Booking your first portrait session can feel like a leap of faith. You're trusting someone to show up at your home, set up gear you've never seen before, and somehow get your kids — or your whole family — to cooperate long enough to make something worth keeping. It's a reasonable thing to wonder about.
This post is for anyone who's heard about us through a friend and thought, that sounds great, but what actually happens? Here's the honest version.
Before We Arrive
Most sessions start with a short conversation — by phone or email — about what you're hoping to capture. For a holiday mini session, that usually means a few questions: How many people? Any locations in mind — living room, in front of the tree, the kids' rooms? Do the kids do better in the morning or afternoon? Are there any shots that matter most to you?
We don't need much. We just want to show up knowing enough to make the most of the time we have together.
Setting Up
When we arrive, you'll see the gear come out — typically a strobe, a large umbrella or softbox, and a few modifiers depending on the light situation in your space. It looks like a lot. It goes up fast. The goal is to create soft, even light that works with your home rather than fighting it.
For this particular holiday session, we set up in the living room — working with the Christmas tree as a backdrop, the existing warm light from the string lights, and our own strobe to fill in the shadows. The setup took about fifteen minutes.
While gear is going up, my colleague Chloe — who handles the people side of every session — starts making friends. Especially with the little ones.
The Part Nobody Talks About: Getting Kids to Cooperate
Here's what most photographers won't tell you: the first ten minutes with a shy kid are almost never on camera. They go into the gallery.
At this session, the little girl wanted nothing to do with us at first. Completely understandable — two strangers just showed up at her house with a bunch of equipment. Chloe got down on her level, talked to her about the ornaments on the tree, let her lead. No pressure, no posing, no look at the camera. Just two people getting to know each other next to a Christmas tree.
By the time we were actually shooting, she was picking up ornaments and showing them off like she'd known us for years.
That's the shift you're paying for. Not just technical skill with a camera — the ability to create an environment where real moments can happen. The images that come out of that are the ones that don't look like portraits. They look like a Tuesday in December when your kid was just being herself.
The Full Family
Once the kids are warmed up, everyone else tends to follow. We moved through a few different setups — individual shots, the kids together, and then the whole family. The family frame is always the anchor of a holiday session. It's the one that goes on the wall, gets printed for grandparents, becomes the card.
For this family, with a toddler and a brand new baby, we kept things loose and quick. No rigid posing. Get everyone close, get the energy right, and let it happen. The baby cooperated beautifully — which, if you've ever tried to photograph a newborn at a family gathering, you know is not guaranteed.
After the Session
You'll receive a private gallery link through Pic-Time, typically within two to three weeks. From there you can download high-resolution files, order prints, and share with family. Everything is professionally edited — color, exposure, retouching — before it lands in your gallery.
Most clients tell us the thing that surprised them most was how fast it went. A holiday mini session runs about an hour. An hour from the time we arrive to the time we pack up. What you get back is a full set of images — enough to cover the card, the wall print, the frames for both sides of the family, and a few just for you.
If you've been thinking about booking a session and kept putting it off, this is a good time to reach out. Summer and fall books fast — and holiday season always fills up earlier than people expect.