Here are a few tips to help you get ready next time you’re planning a photo shoot!

Choosing a location

Here are a few ways you can pick a location:

• Is there a place that’s meaningful to you? A place where you like to go to clear your mind, enjoy nature, maybe a spot where you have lots of good memories?

• Where have you been wanting to explore? Maybe a beautiful lake, beach, or forest that you’ve heard other people talk about or have seen photos of.

• What do you enjoy doing? Choosing an activity, like a picnic, coffee date, campfire, hike, or walk in the park – these are all activities that lend themselves really well to candid moments and capturing photos of you doing something that lights you up!

Here are a few beautiful locations I love to recommend!

Willband Creek, Abbotsford

Golden Ears Provincial Park, Maple Ridge

Aldergrove Regional Park

Sea to Sky Gondola

Pitt Lake

Outfit styling

The main goal of what you wear is to accentuate the overall mood/vibe you’re going for, and not distract from the connection with the other people or from the location we’re shooting in.

• Think about incorporating interesting layers of clothing, like a knit sweater, heavy denim, a flowy dress – things that add visual interest.
• Stay away from distracting logos, words, graphics and patterns – unless you’re specifically going for a statement outfit and you’ve chosen those things intentionally!
• Jewelry, hats and scarves are a fun addition to any outfit!
• If this is an engagement shoot, consider scheduling your hair and makeup trials for the same day as the shoot!

A few tips specific to groups:

• Decide on a group colour palette – For example, earthy colours like brown, burgundy and olive green, or cool colours like muted blues, greys and forest green.
• Limit patterns, less is more here. (Solid colours look best in group shots. You can have a few pops of pattern, but make sure it’s not going to look too busy when you’re all standing next to each other.)
• Avoid logos and words on clothing. (The simpler, the better!!)
• Don’t all wear the same colour pants, so you’re not one solid colour on the bottom half – have some people wear tan pants, black pants, blue jeans, grey pants, a different colour. 

Click here for a pinterest board with outfit ideas!

Below are a few examples of dressing to match the location, and tastefully using colours and patterns to complement.

Posing

I love getting you to laugh, move, and interact! For couples and families, the goal is to capture photos of your connection with each other, so keep your focus on each other! I will get a few shots of you looking at the camera, but for the most part do things like:

• Hold hands, sway, spin each other, slow dance
• Say things/tell insides jokes that you know will bring on some smiles and laughs
• Give cheek and forehead kisses
• Always be interacting with each other
• Relax your shoulders

If you want music to set the mood, that often helps you to feel more at ease and playful. A good song can relax you or inspire some fun dance moves!

Don’t worry about stray hairs or looking perfect – be in the moment!

Try not to micromanage your kids’ posing; child-led poses are so fun and can be the best photos!! Kids tend to do better in photo shoots when they’re not feeling forced. Let them pick up sticks and run around!

It’ll turn out so much better than trying to make them do something they don’t want to, and capture the energy and wonder of being a kid.

Let’s make something beautiful together!

Want to learn more about what it’s like to work with me? Head on over to my bookings page!