Questions from my Early Career
In running some website maintenance, I ran across this old blog post from my (very) early days of my photography career. These were some common questions friends would ask me, and my thoughts at the time. Though some part of me feels like deleting the whole thing, I think it’s worth preserving, remembering how much I’ve grown over the years, and celebrating how much I understood who I was and what I had to offer my wonderful clients (even if there was much self-doubt at the time, too). So, enjoy the flashback to the past, and learn with me: embrace where you are, don’t try to serve everyone, and serve your people deeply. (My comments and edits are italicized.)
What sessions do you offer?
I am a lifestyle motherhood photographer (and birth, Kaitlyn, and birth!) – I specialize in capturing real and authentic motherhood before, during, and after birth. My clients are usually most interested in capturing their pregnancy (maternity), birth, fresh newborns, postpartum journey, their babe’s milestones, and their families as they continue to grow – all precious moments in their motherhood (and family) journey that they want to remember.
I am, however, an awfully hopeless romantic, and love taking the occasional engagement, anniversary, or first look/bridal session. (You know, romanticism isn’t just for the wedding industry… and yet, that’s also not the reason why I’m here in birth work and documenting pregnancy & newborns either.) I also LOVE serving local birth workers and small business owners that serve the mamas (clients) I love, and offer limited headshot and branding sessions to help fill that need for beautiful images in their businesses. (This is still an important part of my business, though I really primarily serve doulas and birth workers.)
How do I book a session with you?
It’s pretty simple! Just reach out to me using my contact page, or message me on social media (except don’t message me on socials… they’re so unreliable, and you will get lost! I never want to accidentally forget about you in the hustle and bustle of life, and filling out the forms on my website will make sure I see your message and get you all the info and support you need to make a good decision)! From there, I’ll ask you a few questions (or even set up a quick FaceTime consult – yes! consults are key!) to #1) make sure we’re a good fit, and #2) so I can understand your needs! Once we’re sure that I can serve you how you need, we’ll pick out the best location and time for our session together. Then, I’ll send you an email with a contract to sign and an invoice to pay your retainer (40% of the total session fee), which puts you officially on my calendar! Tada! Booked and ready! (Minor changes here! Consults aka discovery calls are required – I’m not going to let you spend your money on something you’re not confident will be soul-filling for you! But now I split payment a bit differently to save you on sales tax fees.)
Can we have our family/maternity/newborn/milestone session in our home?
ABSOLUTELY! I ADORE in-home sessions – there’s just something about your family in your space that feels so authentic, unique, intimate, and beautiful! I find that everyone’s just more comfortable in a familiar place. That translates to images with more genuine smiles and silly giggles, snuggles, and connection. PLUS – you don’t have to pack everyone into the car to go anywhere – I come to YOU! (See more reasons why (and why not) to choose an in-home session on my blog!)
I ESPECIALLY recommend having your session in your home for newborns, since I think it’s an especially miraculous feat to make it out the door postpartum with a new babe and enough extra clothes and diapers to be prepared for the inevitable blowouts and spit-up.
Check out the Taylor’s Family Session for an example of a family session in their home, and my newborn gallery for examples of in-home newborn sessions!
If you’re someone that doesn’t feel comfortable having your session in your home (maybe getting your home “visitor ready” gives you anxiety, or you just don’t have a lot of windows and natural light or your rented apartment just doesn’t feel like you), but you still love the look and feel of an in-home session, a natural light studio is fantastic alternative. It comes pre-cleaned, with beautiful windows, neutral colored walls, and comfy (though rather sparse) furniture, and are designed for beautiful, bright images that I adorre.
Still love, love, love in-home sessions! They are my bread and butter outside of birth, because being in and around your home lends such power and meaning to your images and film. Granted, we live in Colorado, and it’s beautiful outside, and sometimes anxiety/home situations means you’ll be better served by the studio, but 9 times out of 10… your home is where it’s at, and I love that my clients often come to me for that specifically.
What if I don’t know where I want our session to be at?
Don’t worry! I’ve spent countless hours figuring out the best places in Utah – now Colorado Springs! – for our session together, and will send you a few options based on what you’re looking for. Indoor sessions are ALWAYS on the table (see above), but if you want to go into the beautiful outdoors, Utah has LOTS of options. Check out my growing Pinterest board for some examples!
What if it rains/snows/hails on our session day?
I’ll always check the weather a couple days before our session, and, if it’s going to either a) damage my equipment, or b) really interfere with our session goals, I’ll suggest we either reschedule or move to an indoor location. Colorado weather is wild and unpredictable. We do our best together, and sometimes have the best adventures in the rain! (But again, in home sessions are the best because we don’t have to worry about that!)
What happens after booking? Can you help me figure out what to wear?
Once everything is officially on my calendar, I don’t just disappear until our session day! I want to make sure you’re fully prepared to make the most of your investment and our time together. That looks like me reaching out every once in a while, being available for ANY questions you might have (seriously! text me!), and, when that session date gets closer, sending you my step-by-step guide in deciding what to wear and providing second opinions and suggestions to help you put together everyone’s outfits (when you want them, of course). My goal is that you’ll get purposeful and beautiful images, and to feel fully supported, loved, and cared about throughout your experience with me. That last sentence is still at the core of KMP: purposeful aka meaningful, beautiful images and films. Supported, loved on, seen. The amount of support I give is a few steps up from the old days (with better boundaries like office hours!), but the core principles? All still there. Good job, young Kaitlyn.
What are your sessions with you like?
I tell my clients to arrive at our location (or be ready in your home) about 10-15 minutes early – I’ll use that time to get to know each of you (or catch up if we’re good friends already!), review my plan for the session ahead of us, and say goodbyeee to any pre-session camera-shyness and nerves. I want you to feel comfortable with me so you can be yourselves, real, authentic, and beautiful. If we’re having your session in your home, I’ll also use this time to take a quick tour of the house in search of the VERY best light to use during our session.
Once we’re all acquainted and ready, we’ll take the first few moments to get a few of those more traditional, everyone-looking-at-the-camera images, and then quickly move into the real meat of it all – capturing you in all your authentic beauty, family connection, love, and personality. We’ll play games (kids get quite excited to “sneak up” on mom & dad and attack them with hugs or tickles), snuggle, laugh, comfort sad children, bake cookies, read books, explore the world, and just do all the things that show the meaningful moments in your family. Sometimes I’ll give you a little extra “posing” direction (mostly so my short self doesn’t shoot up your nose haha), or ask you to do things again, but mostly, I’ll let you all be yourselves and just work to keep everyone comfortable.
Of course, if chaos happens (ok, let’s be honest – WHEN chaos happens), I embrace it. I’ll shift things around, capture it in its crazy glory, and, I promise, we will still have a marvelous time and capture beautiful moments. The best thing you can do as parents in that chaos is to relax, be patient, and pour extra love into your kiddos.
Also still decently accurate! Though I have an occasional little one just being adorable as soon as I arrive, for the most part, I don’t bring the camera up until we’ve reconnected, remembered why we’re documenting this moment, and I get the trust of your little ones. Chaos is wonderful, and loving on the littles in those moments always pays off (and even creates the deep magic that will resonate with your soul for decades).
How soon do I get my pictures back after our session?
You can expect to see a little sneak peek of the magic we created on social media within a couple days of our session, and to get your full online gallery within 2-4 weeks. That online gallery will contain all the high res files that you can download, share directly to Facebook, and an online portal to order professional quality prints, canvases, or albums.
This has shifted to in-person reveal sessions now! While it’s convenient to just send it all to your email, just dumping the images on you also falls a bit… flat after all that effort and connection and support leading up to and through your session. I love celebrating with you, connecting again, and supporting you in getting beautiful, tangible pieces of art in your home, so you can connect with your children over them in the years and years to come (long after I’m gone).
Do your packages include the digital files? How do I print the images from our session?
My packages include the cost of the actual session itself (what you might have seen called a “sitting” or “session” fee), as well as printing rights for the high-resolution digital files that I’ll send you in a beautiful, easy-to-use online gallery. I want you to be able to download all your favorite images to your phone and use them as your profile picture, your screensavers, your wallpapers – everywhere! And, yes, I want you to print your pictures! There’s something about seeing that real, beautiful image of your family up on the wall every day that’s just… so rich. Helpful. Meaningful. Worth it.
If you want high-quality, color-accurate, vibrant, beautiful paper prints or canvases for those walls (or to send out as Christmas cards, or give to grandparents, or anything else!), you can order those directly from that online gallery and they’ll get printed at my professional lab. If you prefer to print elsewhere, that’s fine, too! That printing release lets you take your (high resolution) images wherever you want. Just be wary – if they print photos for cheap, your prints might look cheap!
I do separate your investment into a session fee and art fee now – primarily because Colorado sales tax law is complex, and this both helps me comply with that law and saves you money (since sales tax is not applied to the session fee). And I now include tangible art with nearly every purchase, and guide you through custom wall galleries, printing, etc. It shouldn’t be your job to sort through printing options and sizes and frames and album designs, etc – goodness knows you have enough decisions to make and research! This is something I’m very, very familiar with, and love taking care of for you – so you truly get to enjoy your investment, no extra work on your end.
Do you offer a discount if I book multiple sessions with you?
I do! I strongly believe in the power of documenting your complete and authentic story, and offer several motherhood packages including birth, maternity, newborn, and milestone sessions that are built just to do that while also saving you money! Yup! The KMP Membership has evolved a bit over the years – more flexible, more meaningful. But it’s still here, and still includes huge bonuses and perks!
How do I know we’re a good fit?
This is SUCH an important question. If you want those classic images of everyone looking at the camera, but…. you want everyone to look like themselves (none of those awkward smiles that say “I’m posing and I think this is really awkward!”). If what you really love looking at over, and over again, are those candid shots – the ones that capture the crazy shapes your kid has learned how to shape their tongue into, the ones that have your husband’s genuine smile in them, where you are smothering your children in your love and you can tell that they love it (even though they complain ;). If the traditional “picture perfect” family, maternity, and newborn photos honestly feel kinda fake to you. If you want to be in your family’s pictures, not just taking them. If you want to honor your real, raw, authentic motherhood by investing in a photographer that will honor that with you, and treat you as the beautiful human being you are – stretch marks included. If you want to see your images and think: MAN, I am SO loved. Being a parent is WORTH it. If you want a photographer that treats you like a FRIEND – who will be silly with your kids, give you hugs, follow you on social media to keep up with your life, and straight-up just wants to make your life happier. If that’s the case, OH FRIEND, are we a good fit! And I CANNOT WAIIT to meet you. (Go straight here and reach out!)
But maybe that’s not you – and that’s TOTALLY ok. Maybe what you really care about getting that PERFECT everyone-looking-at-the-camera picture for those Christmas cards, and you don’t want anything else. Or maybe you’ve been dreaming of that beautiful canvas in the nursery of your little itsy bitsy, perfect little newborn expertly swaddled up with the cutest little bear between their little hands. There are plenty of wonderful photographers here who would be happy to help you with that! (Hint: it’s just not me 🙂 If you need some recommendations, just let me know – I’d be more than happy to send you the right direction!
Kudos to young Kaitlyn! I have never been a posed newborn photographer – with multiple backdrops and little props and meticulously edited images. Authenticity was a core value then, and it still is now! I do incorporate a bit more in baby’s first portraits than I used to – I used to do exclusively lifestyle work, with very little swaddling, baby mostly in their parent’s arms, etc., but now swaddle babe and bring my Moses basket as a neutral, consistent backdrop where we can document baby alone in a beautiful way while still giving baby space to be themselves. But at the core is authenticity and embracing your family as you are, now.
I hope this was helpful! If you have MORE questions, please don’t hesitate to Reach Out! Talk to you soon!!
