I’m pretty old-school, folks. Every year for almost ten years, a day or two before every session, I’d hunt through the “note” pages of my paper planner to find “the talk” – that little bulleted checklist of “things to things to think about” and “how to prepare” items I run through with each of my families before their sessions. It’s really important that I help you prepare for your in home photography session, especially if this is your first time. Every January, I’d manually re-copy that list into the current year’s planner. Then one year, I did something crazy — I typed the list out, printed it, trimmed it down to the size of one of my planner pages, and used a glue stick to fasten it in to the back of the book.

See? I can evolve.

But then … early in my second decade of business it occurred to me: why not share this list digitally … on the good old blog? So crazy high tech! (And why didn’t I think of this sooner???)

Here it is … in all its cryptic glory … newly updated and adapted to my fancy new website.

I flesh this out with my families on the phone before every session, and we chat through all the little things they might be worried about. This is one of several steps in my families’ session prep that ensures we’re all feeling relaxed and comfortable on the day of the session.

Grab your pencil with me, and let’s mimic that satisfying “check” motion as we browse through the items, shall we?

(If you don’t have a session scheduled with me and are just poking around trying to get a sense for what I’m about, what are you waiting for? Drop me a line through the ‘contact’ tab above).

Timing and Rough Game Plan

Timing is going to depend on the time of year (when does the sun rise/set?), the age of your kids, and what you hope to capture.  The game plan is also super personal to your family and your stage of life.  Newborn routines and bossy toddlers run the show, for example.  For older kids, we might talk about activities that will help you all engage with each other in a real and natural way. Lots to balance so phone is the best way to chat. 

Getting Your Home Ready

Your home is where your story happens. We talk about how to prep (or not) so that when you look at these photos years from now, your memories are in sharp focus on this authentic backdrop.  There are a million ways to say this – one of my favorites is HERE.  

Kid Behavior

This is an important one!  The secret to helping things go smoothly when kids are involved isn’t so much a secret, but … it’s all about spin and it can take some re-framing of your own attitudes ahead of time.    I talk about this HERE and HERE…

Pets 

They’re part of the family, right?  I’ll ask about Fido or Spot and we’ll talk about the best way to capture them naturally AND my magic trick for including them in a few family portraits.  

What to do if …

Grown-up prep

Clothes

Newborn Thoughts

Questions? Concerns?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this behind the scenes look at this phase of my session process. As you can see, much of the “work” work to make a family photography session at home run smoothly is done in advance. Don’t worry – I’m here to make it easy.

Thanks for looking,

~Jaye