Portrait sessions and Christmas presents

Now is the time of year when I am booked to photograph lots of family portraits. Often the family decides to have portraits taken because it is a significant birthday for a family member, or a wedding anniversary etc.. but it never ceases to amaze me that coincidentally these portrait sessions are always on the run up to Christmas.
So what does a portrait session with Hayley Lehmann entail?
First off is planning the time for a session. If it is with little ones this normally involves early morning or early afternoon sessions to coincide with the end of meal and sleep times.
The next most common question is “What do we wear?” I always tell people to think about coordinating items like everyone wearing muted colours, or parents in black and children in bright colours. Normally I ask clients to bring a change of clothing so that there is some variety in the photographs.
The big day arrives and more often than not I need to manage parents’ expectations. They say that one shouldn’t work with children or animals, but perhaps that should be rephrased to one shouldn’t work with children’s’ parents or animals. Mummies and Daddies often get fraught if the child is not beaming in every photo, and the distress that the parents feel is soon amplified by the child’s behaviour. Yet some of the most beautiful portraits come when I politely ask the parents to be quiet and we just let the child revolve in their own little world.
After the session is over we review the images on the computer and decide what we are going to do with them. With little ones running around it is often easier to do this on a separate day. We can present images in all kinds of wonderful wall displays, design albums or even sell good, old-fashioned prints to go in frames. Whatever the budget, our portrait clients leave here with memories to cherish. Please see some of our recent testimonials for confirmation.