What’s in a Session!

Happy Afternoon Friends!!!

So this is a spur of the moment post, but it’s one I am hoping you will find helpful and also one that will encourage you to go out and get shooting!!!

If there is one thing that I have learned this year shooting children and families alone… it’s to LET GO of perfection!  I mean Hey ya’ll… that’s my life motto:  REAL is better than perfect!  Gosh, it’s THE mark of my business, it’s my phrase right?!

Seriously though, this is the biggest take away I have and I’ve transformed that from the motto to my sessions….Spur of the moment sessions will ALWAYS be way more touching, brilliant, breath taking, more meaningful and more enjoyable than anything I could ever style or plan hands down time after time!

So what does this mean and what do I want YOU to take away from this:

When you are shooting your children, whether you are a mom or a professional photographer don’t WORRY or become stressed out about a theme or the props or the styling!  JUST GO FOR IT!

I know we all love the pinterest posts and those ideas are so darn cute, but in reality bless all of our hearts, 9 out of 10 ten times they won’t always turn out that way.

Gosh in my experience with my own son, it’s taken me 3 years to realize that even as a professional photographer I should be on the list of pinterest fails!!!!

The best photographic moments I have had with Linc and with my clients are the ones in which we just show up!

We may come together with a very loose game plan in mind but we shoot for fun and we let the magic unfold!  We let the kids be kids and the only thing we really “plan” is the location and lighting!

I wanted to share this today because Valentines Day is coming this weekend and this is a real opportunity for you to take a fun little holiday that is prime for adorable photo sessions!

There are so many things that you CAN do to bring the style… but just keep in mind this is another option!  You can just play and have fun and realize sometimes less is more!

Here is just a small example:  My girlfriend and I got together for a momma date and I brought over some duck donuts for the girls!

We had the right scene and let it fly!  All it took was a fun cheerful attitude, a white bedspread, open windows and a little patience and some farm animal noises!

I’ll be sharing more of their shoot tomorrow but until then here’s a sneak peek!!

Just remember:  Children and Family Photography isn’t always about capturing the details!  There is a time and place for that!  It’s mostly about just capturing the essence of YOUR CHILD and the magic they leave behind!  The best way to do that is to free yourself from the stress of planning the perfect session and just ENGAGE with them.. camera in hand!

That’s what we did and all we used was the bed and a snack!

What can you use?!