3 Reasons Why NOT to Have an In-Home Session
I went over why I LOOOVE in-home sessions in last week’s blog – let’s be honest, sometimes I wonder why I do sessions outside of my client’s homes! But I’ve found that, truly, in-home sessions might not be the best choice for everyone – and it all comes down to 3 simple reasons:
#1. Having an in-home session doesn’t help you achieve your end goal
This is the TOP reason I recommend going somewhere else besides your home for your session: straight up, if it doesn’t help you get what you want out of our session together, don’t do it! For example, if your end goal is to add a bit more of the colorful outdoors back into your currently too-neutral-feeling home, more images of you in that same home won’t help you! You’d be much better served by taking your session out into Utah’s beautiful wildflowers or summer greens or fall leaves. Or, if you love the symbolism of new life out among God’s creations, a maternity session outside would pull more of that symbolism than having it at home. Or perhaps your home really just doesn’t feel like you – it’s moody when you and this motherhood journey are joyful and bright, or you can’t get rid of the neon green walls (that are everyywheree) because your landlord won’t let you repaint it. By alll means, friend, if that’s the case, go somewhere that has the right feel to it!
#2. You get super anxious over getting your home “visitor-ready”
Though anxiety over having visitors in your home – for whatever reason – is not an automatic disqualification from having an in-home session, it CAN be a completely valid reason to not choose it. I want you to enjoy our session together, this time with your family, this time to create memories that you can treasure forever! So, if it would make you more relaxed to go somewhere else – whether outside, or to a studio where someone else has already made everything perfect and clean – DO IT.
BUT, if you love all the benefits of an in-home session, and are just worried about me seeing your messy home, we can TOTALLY work on that. Mostly because you do NOT have to apologize to me about how clean or not-clean your home is. If it’s your home, it’s your home. It’s doing its job of creating a safe place for your family to be, and I think that’s beautiful. Sure, some of the mess will probably make it into some of the images, but rest assured that I also won’t hesitate to do a bit of furniture rearranging, tidying up, and strategic placing so that MOST of your images will focus on you, not any mess that might have also been there. But also (if that doesn’t ease your anxious fears), you can DEFINITELY ask for some help getting the house clean in advance! Recruit your kids to tidy it up! Ask your best friend to come over! Put “house cleaning” on your baby registry, and hire someone to come do it! Take the month before our session to declutter your home so it’s almost always close to clean anyways! If having a clean home is important to you, I 100% believe you can achieve that.
#3. Your home really, truly, doesn’t have enough light for us to work with.
This is actually a pretty rare case – though I LOVE having a couple of rooms with large windows that let in a lot of beautiful light during the day, lighter-toned/neutral walls, uncluttered spaces, and cohesive decor, MOST homes have enough light for me to create beautiful images with. Apartments with only a couple very small windows (barely wide enough to escape in a fire, basement kinda thing) are the only ones that tend to actually fit into this category.
So… what now?
Where do you go if an in-home session isn’t for you? Well, if you love the idea of staying indoors, I highly recommend booking one of the many beautiful natural light studios here in the valley! White Space Studios in Bountiful and Wild Willow in SLC are my current go-to’s! If you’d rather go outside, just reach out! I have a long list of possibilities to suggest, and would love to help you find someplace that feels just right. 🙂
