1. Wear neutrals (beige, white, cream, peach, light light pink) or cool colors. Nothing worse than trying to edit a red reflection off someone’s chin on an otherwise-perfect picture!

2. Coordinate, don’t match. This ain’t 1990 ya’ll- no white tshirts and blue jeans. Your outfits might involve having the youngest child wearing a pink dress, while one sister has a pink shirt, and khaki pants, and mom wear a khaki dress… you get the idea.

3. Bring footwear you can go off-road with. (This is not as important in an urban photoshoot, but it still applies). If we are near a beautiful field of long grass, I am going to want to use it, and no one should be afraid of snakes while we are shooting! Come ready for adventure.

4. Do your nails. My camera has a LOT of pixels guys. It will see your chipped and half-polished nails. I can’t fix that.

5. Eyelashes. DO IT. They look fab on camera.

6. Lipstick. Doesn’t hurt- we all look a bit anemic in daylight when there’s a camera involved. If you hate lipstick, don’t worry about it. You will still look beautiful.

7. Be ready to take off your sunglasses, and your glasses for some images- glass reflects, and one of the best things about taking expensive pictures with an expensive camera is seeing your beautiful EYES. Its ok if you can’t see, I can!

1. Hands on each other! Touch your family/fiancé/whoever! Hold hands, lean on them, snuggle!!! The closer you can get, the more authentic the picture will feel and the more warmth will emanate from the image.

2. Laugh, talk, play. Just have fun with your peeps, and I will tell you what I want you to do and snap some awesome candids while you are enjoying yourselves. You will LOVE the un-posed ones more than you thought possible- a beautiful snapshot of YOUR LIFE.

3. If it’s a posed image, pay attention to your head- lol. I do this too. Don’t tilt and take a deep breath in to help tuck that chin! No one likes to see their fat folds, but its hard to correct in every pose.

4. No matter how mischievous the kids gets, KEEP YOUR TEMPER. If we cannot get a certain shot, let's move on. Nothing worse than tearful kiddos except chewing kids (I say this meaning to imply that you should also not bring food to mollify your children- a mouthful of food does not make for good pictures either). Bringing books, however, is a great idea, and favorite toys. These can easily be included in a shot and enhance the mood at the same time.

Less than two weeks! Later than this, baby will be less flexible and much more awake. I will not schedule newborn shoots much past this date.

1. Try to feed baby and get their tummy full right as I arrive. It will take me a while to bring everything in and set up. Once I am ready, we can turn on the TV for background noise and try to get the little one to fall deeply asleep so they will allow me to pose them the way we want.

2. If you are able, turning up the heat in the house may help baby sleep. I will be bringing a little space heater, but babies love warmth, and it wouldn’t hurt to hit that thermostat an hour or so before I arrive. If you’re also doing family pictures and you sweat like me, maybe not.

3. Don’t freak out if it takes a while for baby to settle down. We will prioritize our most important setups, and then just… wait. Newborn sessions take patience. If for some reason we cannot even get our most important shots, I will be happy to come back on another morning and try again.

4. I will be bringing props, including a few hats/little pants. However, feel free to dialogue with me prior to the session about anything sentimental you would like to include in the session. I love new, unique images! And feel free to browse Etsy for newborn outfits. There is some adorable stuff there! (But it will have to be ordered at least two months in advance, so keep that in mind!)

Always download the full resolution image on a desktop or laptop, not your phone. Use a reputable printing site, like mpix.com to order prints. Do NOT use a pharmacy or big box store to print. The social media size images will have less pixels, and will work for posting on Instagram, Facebook, etc, but are NOT for printing.

I do not offer photo sessions on Sundays.