Tips for Planning for your Beach Session: Oak Island Beach Session

Our beach season is in full swing! I am so blown away by all the beautiful families that we have met, and the beautiful beach sessions that we have had. I get so many emails from clients asking about what are the best ways to prepare their kids and family for this session that means so much to mom, but sometimes is not something that the rest of the family is on board.

So with that being said, there are a few things that I have found that really help prepare your family for our time together.

  1. Talk with your family about the session beforehand: It’s always a great idea to chat up the fact that you are having family pictures taken while on vacation. That this is really important to capture memories for your family while at a favorite spot. I recently had an amazing session with a family with two young children and it went so well. Mom said that she had been telling the kids for a while about the session and they were well prepared and even looking forward to it.
  2. 2 Show them my website: So that they are prepared for the types of things we will do. We will do some posed shots, they will be close together, we will be on the ground, in the sand, we will be in the water at the end. So many things, and if they have an idea of whats coming, it will help them look forward to it and not dread it. (my sessions are different than some experiences you may have had.)
  1. Make sure everyone is rested: I can not stress this enough! I know you are on vacation, but we shoot late in the day, and that’s often a hard time for little ones, so please make sure they get a good nap in. Even for parents, take a rest so that you are not stressed. It really helps.
  1. Well fed kiddos (and adults) make for happy ones: Again, we are shooting late in the day, and often my family’s go out to eat after the session because they are dressed up, but make sure snacks have been eaten so that we are not grumpy because we are hungry! You can even bring a snack (not messy one) to your session.
  1. Don’t Stress: The beach is supposed to be relaxing and fun…and that is what I will aim to capture. But it helps tremendously if you are relaxed and see it as fun. I will get the shots…I promised, so concentrate on having fun with your family.
  1. Connection: I have said this over and over, but the connection is what it’s all about for me. So, please talk to dad and your kids….I will have you close, hugging, connecting, touching etc. It helps if they know this ahead of time.
  1. Bring something for long hair: I can not stress this enough. I have had so many “great shots” that I can not use due to hair across the face. I can edit some of this, but when it’s blowing huge strands of hair, it’s nearly impossible to edit. Remember we are on the beach…it’s windy, sometimes really windy and so having headbands, clips or something that we can use to pull hair back really helps! I would plan for it to be windy….and if it’s not then yeah! But most of the time it is!
  1. Please put the phones away: First of all, part of my policy is no camera phones, but also it makes it very hard, if you are trying to take a picture with your phone, and I am doing the same …the kids will look at you because that is what they are used to, and I won’t get them to look at me. So if I see them out, I will ask you to put it away but its because I want to get the best shots possible, with the least amount of distractions.
  1. The flow: I use the same flow for most of my sessions. We do dune pictures first, I will do individuals with kids, of families etc…and then we will do beach pictures and then I usually let kids (with your permission) get in the water so that we can “play” I will have you on the ground, in the sand, so just be prepared.
  1. Have Fun! The more fun you have the better your images will be! I promise if you look at this as a “fun thing” your images will reflect it! This family below was so much fun…they laughed they joked, they connected, and it shows! I’m sure they were stressing here and there about the little ones, but truly we just had fun and I loved their images!

So there are my tips for helping your family prepare for our time together. Please at any time, if you have any questions…ask me! I’m always here for you to help you! I want this to be as successful as possible!

2015-06-25_0002holden beach photographer
2015-06-25_0008
\

2015-06-25_00052015-06-25_0004oak island photographer
2015-06-25_0017

2015-06-25_00132015-06-25_0022

2015-06-25_00192015-06-25_0003

 

Please follow and like us:
onpost_follow
Tweet
Pinterest
Share
submit to reddit

Let’s Connect

 

Burlington, NC Newborn Photography, Chapel Hill Family photographer, Chapel Hill Senior Pictures, Greensboro Newborn Photogrpaher, Burlingotn Senior pictures, Holden Beach Photographer, Ocean Ilse Beach Pictures, Mebane Newborn Photographer, Bald Head Island Photographer

Hire Sara-Anne