I want your Christmas Tree Farm Family session to go smoothly and stress-free! I find that the more prepared you are, the more relaxed you will be the day of and the more of your beautiful smiles I will capture. So I have put together some good-to-know helpful hints on preparing for your session. I look forward to seeing you at your session!
What I’ll be doing
I am preparing for the sessions with classic Christmas scene setups. I will be nestling the scenes within the Christmas trees at Booth’s Christmas Tree Farm.
These are my three main scene setups and if time permits, we’ll do some others as well.
- I will have a small settee(couch) that will be used in a “living room” setup. I will position your family in a couple different poses to best reflect a natural but posed scene for your portraits.
- I will also have a red wagon that we will use in some shots, especially if you have toddlers and younger children who can sit in the wagon.
- My third setup will be a ladder by a tree, with your family gathered around to place ornaments on the tree.
What to expect when you arrive
There will be designated parking and you will need to walk a bit to the section where I’ll be shooting.
Booth’s has 10 different areas being used by photographers for sessions. We will be in area #3. That is marked on the map below, as well as the parking area. We are across the highway (5198 Adrian Hwy, Conway, SC 29526) from Booth's main office. There is parking on our side and you'll walk back to the section. The section is well marked.
Watch out for fire ant hills! When I was shooting my promo sessions, there were lots of fire ant hills in the fields.
Please be careful walking to the section. Booth's has placed some walkways across the ditches for getting to the tree section.
Arrival time
Please try to avoid arriving too early since I don’t want you having to hang around for the family in front of you. But also be on time for your timeslot since there are families behind you.
Christmas Sessions are generally shorter in time so plan ahead and prep little ones. My tree farm sessions run 15-20 minutes long. I book clients with only 5 minutes inbetween so there is only slight wiggle room. This helps if a child is not cooperating, but your scheduled start time is reserved just for you. If my client before you is running late, I will shoot up until your start time to ensure we begin on time.
Always plan for traffic, parking time, and getting really young littles dressed at the location. Remember to prep children for several days before your session. Let them know that we will be taking fun and magical pictures at the Christmas Tree Farm. Get them excited about the session and let them know that you know they are going to do a wonderful job being a little model. Now, I never expect perfect smiles or perfect poses by any means. But, letting them know your expectations gives them boundaries and guidelines that there is a fun job to do at the tree farm.
Give an incentive
It is up to you, as parents, whether you reward your child with some small token of appreciation for a job well done after the session, but it often works wonders with cooperation. It’s a lot to ask young children to sit and smile or any amount of time. Instead of saying during the session that something will be taken away if they don’t cooperate, remind them of their incentive for their good behavior and cooperation. Some incentives can be: ice cream, a small toy, dinner at McDonald’s, etc.
Expect that things may not go as planned
The excitement and anticipation of having beautiful and perfect family pictures of your very own sometimes don’t become reality. Your photos will be well framed, exposure current and editing done consistent with my work. But, kids will be kids, especially toddlers. Sometimes no matter what the parents or I try, little ones are not in the mood. But some of my most favorite images are the ones where no one is looking at me or my camera lens. I love laughter, and loving smiles towards each other. I will always try and get the “Christmas Card” shot, but sometimes, it just doesn’t happen like imagined.
Nap time
Many little ones HAVE to have a nap in order to function to the best of their ability. Depending upon the timeslot you chose, it may interfere with your little one’s normal nap time. My suggestion is to get your little one up an hour earlier than usual in the morning. Have them play like crazy. If you can, have them do something physical. Run around, go to the park etc. This will hopefully set the stage for them to nap a little earlier or nap a little longer so they are nice and rested for your photos. But you know your child best as to whether this would be beneficial or not. Try to avoid candy or sugar until the session is in progress or is over.
Outfits
We will have fall-like weather on our session day (highs in the 50s). When picking outfits, make sure your outfits can be layered. This could mean either adding layers or removing them if necessary. Adding tights under a little girls dress and a cardigan will allow her to wear will allow her to be a tad warmer if the weather is too chilly.
Deep color jewel tones are great for tree farm sessions. They are bold and colorful and look amazing against the deep green of the trees. See color palette below for examples. I am partial to the mustards and burgundies with some blues thrown in. Be creative!
Remember to coordinate your outfits instead of matching. It is fine to have one or two members with a pattern while others are in varying colors/shades of solids.
Lastly
If you have any question, please reach out to me:
Voice/text 843732-4618
FB: https://www.facebook.com/SouthStrandPhoto
