A.A lifestyle session is a portrait session that is move casual in its’ approach to posing and connection with the aim of capturing authentic moments, through directed activities. They’re fun, playful, engaging, and hope to photograph the genuine smiles, bursts of laughter, squishiness of hugs, overall playfulness and love between the family in home or familiar environment.

A.Long gone are the dated days of matching outfits for family portrait sessions. Let’s coordinate instead of match. Let’s blend a color palette of neutrals or soft tones or rich tones to complement each other instead of matching whites. A great way to look for ideas is to explore a company’s current color palettes for this seasons’ tones. You can see they way they pair tans and whites with maybe one or two subtle colors. The goal for your clothing is for it not to overpower you, your expressions and your connection. When you look back at your portraits, you’ll want to remember how you felt, not comment on what you chose to wear. So classic color palettes will have you and your family shining in the heartfelt moments throughout the years to come.

A.This is your time to shine. And chances are, you’re the one usually taking the pictures. So take this opportunity to pamper yourself a bit. I have a hair & makeup team that can come to you or you can schedule an appointment with your salon, with Sephora, your favorite make up counter or a blow out bar if you want to do any of those services on your own. You’ll just want to allow plenty of time to get ready so the session can start on time and so you don’t feel rushed on the day of the session. Let me know if I can connect you with my hair & makeup team for an appointment.

A.Yes! I love working with clients throughout the years. For maternity and newborn, I offer a mini maternity & full newborn lifestyle session package for $299. You’ll select a product package for each session and I offer 20% off your product packages with this package special.

A.We’ll do the session at 10 a.m. or 2 p.m. Clearing the clutter is the best first step. For the session, you can move some things around your home so you have a little more space in the key areas we’ll be photographing: your living room, your bedrooms, your kitchen and your backyard or porch. If we’re doing an activity for your session, you’ll want to prepare a cute set up. For a baking activity, have the ingredients ready, with bowls, spoons, your mixer, cookie cutters, sprinkles or whatever you’ll need for the activity. For coloring together or reading books, you’ll want to have the supplies ready for us to engage with them quickly. For a “game night” shoot, you’ll want to prepare some of the board games to play in advance so we don’t spend time within our shooting window to do the simple set ups. Before your session, we’ll have a consultation to talk about any other logistics, but these are a few simple ideas.

A.Let’s bring all the beach toys! Shovels, pails, dump trucks, boogie boards, surf boards, umbrellas and chairs. I want to capture the true spirit of fun and playfulness of you and your family enjoying the beach. It’s all about togetherness and all about play. We’ll want to arrive to the beach together so we can scout for the perfect location for your family on the day of the session. The session will start about 1-1.5 hours before sunset (morning sessions are available, but are based on sunrise and location). We’ll allow a little extra time to create your family’s beach set up. We’ll knock out the happy family portrait and then get to the play time so we can have some authentic & fun moments playing together in your element.

A.Just as you’d prepare for a family hike or a weekend camping trip, let’s create that full feeling and set up for a genuine mini-adventure for your family. The session will start about 1.5 hours before sunset. Do you have cute backpacks for the kids? Do you hammock together or want to set up a little campsite for some daytime camping fun? We can capture pictures of you all reading in a tent together, cooking out over a campfire, reading wilderness maps together, playing in the creek, hiking a part of a trail. During our shooting time, I’ll give some direction about the next activities we can do. Once we’re done shooting, you can enjoy the rest of your hike or adventure or pack it up and save it for the next family outing.

A.I photograph families with the hopes that they’ll use their family portraits in a meaningful way. You can preserve your family portraits in an album as I design a story from our session through photographs. You can create a beautiful gallery wall of framed and matted prints and hang them in your home. You can mail holiday cards with well wishes from your family. You can create large canvas pieces to display the love and connection your family shares in special places in your home. You can create printed gifts to mail to grandparents or preserve the memories of your family for the years to come. You can create your own projects by purchasing the digital files and then archive them for trips you want to take back down memory lane.

A.I book portrait sessions about 1 week to 3 months in advance. Just inquire through my contact form for availability and scheduling.

A.You will receive an email with an online gallery to view your portraits within 5 business days of your session. The gallery will be available for 2 weeks for purchasing and making decisions about the product package you ordered. I have found that more than 2 weeks and people procrastinate and put the decision-making off. I want to help you make decisions about print sizes, products and options as quickly as possible after the session, so you can enjoy your family portraits exactly how you want to, quickly.

A.Galleries can be reinstated for $100 for 1 week. If your gallery has expired, you can contact me to reupload the gallery for one week. If necessary, we can repeat this process at $100 per week until your product package is selected or you can forfeit the package.

A.Yes! If you have additional retouching requests or specific edit requests, you can make a note in your print order. If you want additional retouching to a digital image, I offer retouching on images for $50 per file.

A.Yes! A basic family portrait session is $199 for 6 people. It’s $25 per person for each additional family member. Families can select their own product packages based on how they want to display and use the images after the session. For multiple combinations & different groups, there may be an additional $199 per hour if it will take longer than 1 hour to photograph the groupings you request. This is a custom session and we can book a phone consultation to create the perfect plan for your extended family session.

A.Yes! You can purchase a gift card by contacting me. I like to collect some information about the recipient and give you instructions about how they can use the gift card, how long they have to redeem the gift, etc.

A.Yes! I am offering mini sessions seasonally. A mini session is a 20 minute session at a pre-determined location. Clients will receive 5 digital files with their session with the option to purchase more files or a product collection from each session. Mini sessions are great for family announcements, milestone celebrations, holidays and more. You can contact me about the future mini session dates and locations.

A.Yes! I am booking portrait photography sessions during this time of social distancing & during this Covid crisis. I am happy to work with whatever precautions you want to implement for your session: wearing a mask, keeping distance, shooting outdoors, washing my hands upon arrival, using hand sanitizer: whatever I can do to make you comfortable and feel safe during our session is important for me. It will be hard not to hug you all goodbye, but I'll give great air hugs & air fives!