What Should We Bring to Our Outdoor Family Session?
After 13 years in business and well over 1000 family sessions, I am shocked to realize that I have never made a blog post dedicated to addressing this question - ha! I guess I’ve preferred to tell families individually? At any rate, I’m putting these pearls of wisdom here so that I can reference it later AND to give you a sense of what the outdoor photo session looks like.
Bring the Essentials Only
In other words, the less we have to schlep around, the more we lend ourselves to organically and spontaneously moving around in an environment. Before bringing something, ask yourself if it’s essential for the next hour. I’m aways happy to carry phones, wallets, and car keys in my backpack for you. A caveat for this rule? If you have a 2 year-old and/or a younger one, pack a slim bag with essentials that you might need. While a 6 year-old doesn’t need a change of clothes, that 5 month-old might. You are the expert on what is essential for your little ones.
While the inclination to bring lovies and toys to a shoot is understandable, I recommend resisting that urge. Your kiddos will quickly figure out what you have in a bag and trying to convince them to give up or delay gratification of snuggling said item(s) is an unnecessary battle. You don’t need to bring anything to entertain your kid. And for the love of god, don’t give your kid a screen just before our session. 😜
Select Clothing Thats Fits the Environment
Highly structured or overly tailored clothing and fussy shoes are not a great fit for a family lifestyle session. We tend to move around a lot at sessions and everyone should be comfortable in their clothing. This doesn’t mean joggers and a t-shirt (for grown-ups), it just means wearing something with a little give and something that can withstand the groping and grasping of dirty child hands.
It’s also good to consider the environment we’re shooting in. Will there be a lot of sand? Wear sandals you can remove. Will there be moss-covered logs to sit on? Don’t wear a white dress. We don’t want to miss fully interacting with our environment because we’re not wearing the right clothes or shoes.
Finally, it might be a given for all my families living in San Francisco, but it can be easy to forget when you’re in sunny Marin or the East Bay. No matter what the weather is like at home when you’re leaving, prepare for different weather at our shoot location (especially if we’re shooting at the beach!). Bring layers!!
Bring a Positive Attitude
It can be stressful to get your family out the door on your shoot day. Add to that being on-time and keeping food off your kids’ clothing and getting photo session buy-in from your spouse - it can feel like Sisyphean task. And… and… the more you can stay calm and regulate, the easier it will be for your family to do the same.
That said, something usually goes awry before or at sessions and my motto is ‘say yes’ to whatever gets thrown our way. Your kids has a meltdown 15-minutes into the session. We “say yes”. There are nude sunbathers at our beach session. We “say yes”. Your kid falls into the surf and gets wet and sandy when we’re only halfway finished. You get the picture.
The more we can stay positive and allow whatever is happening to be there, the more we can be present with our families. For me to capture true connection, your family has to be in connection.