What are my location options if I don’t want an in-home session? I have a few places in Tampa and the surrounding area that I love to photograph my families. If you’re looking for a more natural area with open, grassy spaces and tall trees, I have a field in Odessa that is perfect around sunset (or sunrise)! If you’re scheduling your session for this location, bug spray and close-toed shoes are strongly recommended. It’s a beautiful place and one of my favorites to use but it’s natural Florida, complete with critters.

Downtown Tampa by Curtis Hixon park on the Riverwalk is a wonderful location for mornings (fewer people around) but we have to go on the early side to catch the good light. We can use downtown Tampa at sunset as well if early mornings aren’t your thing. Just know that there will be more people around so it may not be a good option if you’re shy and don’t want the extra attention of feeling like a supermodel.

I also love Honeymoon Island, if you’re up for a barefoot beach session. Just know that there is a $50 travel fee for sessions there.

All three locations are amazing so think about what kind of location fits your family the best and we can talk details during your pre-session consultation.

What about sessions at my house? What do I need to know? In-home and newborn sessions are usually photographed during the day (not necessarily at sunrise or sunset), depending on the light in your home. If you’ve chosen an in-home or newborn session, we will talk ahead of time to determine when your house has the best light and schedule our session for that time frame.

What should we do at our session? Whatever you want! I always plan a few activities for my families to do during their session. Nothing complicated…sometimes it’s just “walk in a line and look at each other” or play “follow the leader”. Expect a lot of hugging or snuggling on the ground. I have a ton of jokes that I will share (that your ten-year-old won’t find funny at all) and some games to help break the ice. I may ask you all questions about your family. The activities aren’t really important, unless it’s something that is special to your family. I’m really just trying to find ways for you to connect with your people during the session and take the focus off of the camera.

Newborn sessions are very relaxed…no games or activities. Just lots of snuggling with the baby and finding ways to connect with all of your family members.

In-home sessions are a little different as they typically revolve around chosen activities for each family. These sessions reflect a 'perfect day’, or at least, 90 minutes of it (since few people want a photographer following them around all day). I tend to be a lot more hands-off for these sessions and focus primarily on capturing the things that make this time in your family’s life special. The activities you choose for this session will be up to you and your family and we will discuss what you want to do during your pre-session consultation.

What should we wear? What you choose to wear for your session is entirely up to you. My best advice is to choose comfortable clothing that reflects your style and personality. I have a blog post that might be useful and I am happy to help you with this in any way I can.

How do I prepare my family for the session? Having realistic expectations for the session will go a long way toward making the day a success. The biggest thing you as the parents can do is relax and just enjoy your family while we are all together. Some of my clients worry that their kids aren’t smiling enough or “behaving right” and that pressure to perform can affect how the session goes. It’s honestly why I photograph my sessions the way that I do, where we are playing games and telling jokes and just enjoying our time together. The natural smiles are there and everyone just has fun, which creates really beautiful images. And if I have a child who doesn’t want to participate in what we are doing, we change directions and do something else (or I just get a few images without that child in them). As long as you aren’t worried about your child’s safety, I recommend that my parents just allow their kids to be themselves and trust me to find ways to engage them in the session. I promise you will love the result!!

On the day of the session, you’ll want to make sure everyone is rested and fed (with teeth brushed). With younger kids, you can wait to dress them until right before we start (or bring an extra outfit that coordinates with everyone else, just in case). Bring clear liquids and non-messy snacks for them to eat plus any other items you want to include in your session (bubbles, books, etc).

Depending on which location you’ve chosen for your session, you may want to bring location-specific items. For the Odessa field, I would bring bug spray and wear close-toed shoes. For Honeymoon Island, you may want to bring dry clothes and towels for the kids, just in case we have too much fun playing near the water. Bug spray is also a good idea as it can get buggy sometimes.

After your session, I will narrow down which images I love the most and will edit those for your gallery. Once your gallery is complete, I will email you the link where you can download the 15 digital files/jpgs that are included with your session fee. Additional images can be purchased for $25 per image. I also offer 3x3 accordion albums and 5x5 and 10x10 signature books. These are a great way to get most/all of the images from your session in one place.