Often times, I get asked if I am doing mini sessions. Well, what I find is that most clients don’t realize what a mini session is vs. one of my smaller 20-minute regular sessions. Often after talking to the client, I usually grasp that what they are looking for is a smaller essential session, but referring to them as the wrong thing.

Let me explain first what one of my essential sessions are.

With my essential sessions you get the 10 digital images and 20 minutes of our time together. These are still held at a location of your choice. These are shorter sessions though and not the full experience. They are similar to mini events in that they are shorter, but not exactly the same in that we usually get more images and you have the choice of location for these type of sessions. My Luxe options and above are the full experiences and you do get all the full digital images.

Even though these are shorter time session, my full sessions allow a family time to relax and open up around me. Sometimes, this is what can create the perfect variation of photos from posed to candids. We see a lot of genuine smiles and personalities shine through on my full sessions. There is less pressure on full sessions, because we aren’t in a hurry with back to back sessions just getting that vital checklists completed. A full session allows me more time for creativity in your photos. It allows us to slow down a little and allow real life to happen, getting more creative images for you. I always feel most proud of the galleries that we’ve created during full sessions.

Now let’s look at what mini sessions are.

My mini events are something that I do special that may revolve around a certain theme or location, such as unicorns, sunflowers, cotton fields, Santa, etc. I would like for you to think of a mini event like when you sit down at a restaurant and order an appetizer. When you order an appetizer, you don’t get the full meal. You get a sampling in smaller portions. You may get a taste of what the food is like, the service is like, the atmosphere, or whether or not it suites your taste. My mini events are similar. They usually come with a lot less number of images for download, with the option to purchase more. Mini events are a much shorter time frame, limited to about 10-15 minute sessions. They are also specifically held at one place, as they are usually back to back sessions. So I have people arriving as we are finishing up the previous session, which means I haven’t accounted for drive time between sessions – so there is no extra time at all between my sessions.

Mini sessions give us just enough time to capture the necessary. They are great for if you have never booked a session with me and want to see what I am all about, or if you just need quick family photos for holiday cards. These can also be great for younger children, as they have a shorter attention span, or if you like to get photos taken more than once per year and you are documenting milestones in your children’s young lives.

So when might you choose a regular session over one of my mini sessions?

-when you are looking to tell the full story of your family

-when you have a large group or extended family that you would like to be photographed and you want to get different pairings of family members

– when you have a new addition to the family

-when you know you would like to make prints of your images

-if you have family members who are shy and slow to show their personality

-if you want control of your location of where the portraits will be taken

-if you want the full digital album (there aren’t many photographers that release the full digital album – so this is something I do special for my clients for the Luxe full experience option)

One last thing. My mini sessions are not listed on my website. They are usually special events that I list to my email subscribers and sometimes on social media.