Your family is your whole pride and you love nothing more than spending time with those tiny humans you are raising. You know how important it is to document life because it’s so fragile and time moves way too fast but that also means that you’re usually the one taking the pictures. As a result, your kids have very few photos of you and even fewer of your whole family together.

I can help you with that!

Documentary family photography allows you to be part of a moment you would love to have captured. You can focus on your family and leave me to document your crazy and wonderful bunch.

Let me walk you through my process…

mum with toddler daughter at home

Step 1: Before your session

In order to book your session, you’ll just need to confirm that you’re in so I can send you a link to my client booking system. You’ll be asked to sign some paperwork, fill out a questionnaire to tell me a little more about your family, and pay your session fee. This fee is due in full to reserve your date and your booking.

Once that is done we can start planning your session. If you have any questions at that point, we can hop on a phone or Zoom call to discuss those.

Session fee

The session fee covers my time up to your photo shoot.
There are no digital or print products included in the session fee.

Session fee

£150

  • client questionnaire and session preparation as needed
  • client prep-guide
  • 2-hour(ish) documentary family photo session

Step 2: Your session

Once we’ve decided on a time and date for your session and got it locked in the diary, I’ll send you a preparation guide that will walk you through everything you need to know. The best thing about documentary family photo shoots is that you don’t actually have to prepare anything. The aim is to document your real life, the ordinary things you do as a family that make your life so special. Nobody needs to dress up or smile for my camera.

A few days before our session, I’ll reach out to confirm our time and location. At this stage, if someone’s got sick or the forecast means we can’t shoot outdoors (if that was planned), we can talk about our rescheduling options. Otherwise, this is the perfect time to ask any last-minute questions.

toddler-girl-with-daddy
caitlyn and halle washing hair

For your photo session, I’ll come to you and meet you at home or anywhere outdoors where you like to spend time together. We then just hang out and I will stay as long as it takes for your kids warm up to me and document whatever it is you are doing.

In most cases, this will take roughly 2 hours but if we’re having lots of fun and I feel like there’s more to capture for you, I’ll stay longer. Likewise, some sessions might turn out shorter for whatever reason. In the end, it’s not about how long I stay but how many important moments I get to document.

Step 3: The Fun Part (after your session)

About 2-3 weeks after the session, you’ll get an email from me letting you know that your photos are ready, but I do this part a little differently from a lot of other photographers.

Getting your photos is an exciting and emotional event and it should feel that way! That’s why I take all of your photos and I create a slideshow set to music.

The best way to enjoy this slideshow in my opinion is to get your family together and watch it on the biggest screen you’ve got available. Grab a drink, cozy up and enjoy watching your beautiful life captured in photos. My clients love this part of the whole experience.

Your slideshow will give you the chance to look through all of your photos. You’ll have access to it for a full 24 hours, so you can watch it as many times as you like and share it with friends and family.
Once the 24 hours are up, you’ll be able to make an informed decision about which of my three collections you’d like to go with.

After you’ve purchased your collection, you have a full month to download your favourite images as digital files and decide how to spend your print credit in the online store that’s connected to your gallery. All too often, photos end up on our phones and computers only – your print credit will make it easier for you to get them off your device and into your hands.

Collections

The Legacy

£850

  • all photos (100+) as high-res download
  • £250 print credit, usable on anything in your gallery store

The storyteller

£600

  • 20 photos as high-res download
  • £100 print credit, usable on anything in your gallery store

The Short Story

£350

  • 10 photos as high-res download
  • £50 print credit, usable on anything in your gallery store

Your Online Store Products

What you’re going to do with your images is one of the most important aspects to consider when you’re planning for a photo session, but it’s all too often the one that’s overlooked. All that time and money invested deserve a better return than photos gathering dust on a hard drive somewhere.

You’ll never get the same feeling looking at your photos on a screen as you will flipping through the pages of an album or seeing them on your wall. That’s exactly why I include a substantial print credit with every collection. Below is a sample of some of the items you can choose from:

The Legacy Album

The Storyteller Book

Fine Art Prints

legacy album high quality print album

This hand-bound Fine Art Book is a luxury album to preserve your memories. Your images are printed directly on archival Fuji photo paper and each double spread opens out flat.

The album is available in 25x25cm (10×10″) with a choice of a cover materials.

Base price:
20 pages (10 spreads) = £350
additional pages (per spread) = £15

family photo album storytelling book

This beautiful press-printed coffee table book can hold as many of your memories as you like. Your images will be printed on 200gsm matte paper for high quality and longevity.

The Storyteller Book is available in 25x25cm (10×10″) with a linen cover.

Base price:
20 pages (10 spreads) = £180
additional pages (per spread) = £5

How family photos can foster your children's self-esteem

Your favorite images are professionally printed on 100% cotton fine art paper (300gsm) with a smooth matte surface and museum-grade quality.

These full-bleed prints are available in a variety of sizes and are perfect for framing and hanging on the wall or giving as a special gift.

Prices starting from £20.

mum and daughter laughing and singing
Client Love Letters

"Wow, these photos are absolutely gorgeous!!! Thanks from the bottom of my heart. It's so magical looking at these and seeing the pictures of our life!"

— Alice Conroy

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

A.k.a. questions you might have or want to ask before your session.

I’m passionate about capturing my clients in their homes. It’s where you and your kids will probably feel the most comfortable. It also gives me the opportunity to document you in your personal space. In 20 years, you’ll look back at these images and remember all the small details that will have changed in your life.

But documentary family photography doesn’t just work at home. It can include walking the dog, going to the market to buy eggs, picking up the laundry or visiting the playground. Whatever your day would usually look like, will be part of the photos that tell the story of you.

If you had planned to spend a day with the grandparents anyway, absolutely. Invite them over or let’s incorporate a trip to their house as part of your session (unless they life hours away obviously).

A documentary family photo session usually doesn’t include any posed or set up shots. However, if you’d like a few shots of individual family members or all of you together for a group shot, we can spend 15mins either at the beginning or the end of your session doing those.

As much as I love Pinterest for inspiration, I highly recommend you not looking up ideas for family photos there. Documentary family photography aims to capture your real, normal, everyday life. Real life can’t be posed or planned and I wouldn’t want to try and recreate photos you found online because they won’t necessarily represent who you are.

I recently wrote an article about exactly that topic.

The best thing about documentary family photography and films is that we don’t rely on the weather. Most sessions happen at home anyway and if the weather is a bit shit, it’ll make hanging out at your house just a bit cozier.

If we planned your session to be somewhere outside, in most cases a bit of rain still won’t stop us. Just make sure you’re all dressed for the weather. In the event of a downpour that won’t end and without a sheltered backup location, we might have to postpone your session though. We’ll be able to discuss that when we plan your session.

If anyone in your family – kids or grownups – gets sick just before your session, we might be better off postponing. Covid is still not gone and I wouldn’t want to put you are me in a situation that could become dangerous for any of us.

If any of your kids just have a bad or grumpy day and isn’t feeling their best, we should still be able to go ahead with your session. Sick days usually result in lots of quiet time and cuddles which could be great to document for you. In the end, you know your family best though and if you feel that having me around for the day would not benefit anyone, then let’s find an alternative date to postpone.

All collections come with a complimentary print credit. There is no monetary value attached to them in the sense that you could receive money off your collection if you didn’t want to buy any printed products.

The reason behind the print credit is that all too often we collect photos on our computers, phones, or social media and never print them. With the print credit, I’d love to encourage you to get your beautiful family photos off your device and into your hands, and onto your walls.

If you bought THE SHORT STORY or THE STORYTELLER Collection and you really absolutely don’t want to use your credit for print products, you can also use it to buy more digital files. Individual images can be purchased for £50 each or in a discounted pack of 10/30/all files.

The print credit in THE LEGACY Collection cannot be exchanged for digital files since you’ll already have access to all of them.

Digital files can’t be returned or exchanged for another one. Please make sure you download your absolute favourite files to avoid wanting to replace or return any. If you purchased THE LEGACY Collection, you’ll be able to access and download every high-res image in your gallery.

The number of digital files you’ll be able to download depends on the collection you choose.

THE SHORT STORY gives you 15 high-resolution files.
THE STORYTELLER includes 30 high-res files.
THE LEGACY will let you download all images in your gallery.

On average, a 2-hour documentary photo session results in 80+ images. When you book a documentary film session, that number will be slightly lower with an aim of 70+ photos. The film itself will already be covered by your session fee and will be ready for you 3-4 weeks after your session. It will be available to view through your gallery and you will receive a separate download link for the high-resolution file.

As soon as your slideshow goes live – you decide when the 24hours for that will start by clicking the link in your email – you’ll be able to choose which collection to go with. After 24 hours your slideshow will disappear, however, you’ll still be able to choose what to purchase.

You will not be able to access your gallery until you’ve made a decision to buy any of the collections available.

If you can’t make a decision after 24 hours, you’ll be able to revisit the link to your gallery on any other day. There is no time limit to when you’ll need to make that decision. However, you won’t be able to access your gallery, the slideshow or any of the images until you’ve purchased a collection.

Once you’ve chosen and purchase your collection, your gallery will be online for 30 days. That should give you enough time to make a decision on which photos to download (un less you went with The Legacy which includes ALL digitals) and how to spend your print credit.

If you want or need access to your gallery after those initial 30 days, I can reopen your gallery once for another 30 days for free. For any further or future reopenings of your gallery, you will be charged a small fee.

You can take as much time as you like to decide what collection to go with. However, right after watching your slideshow is when the memory will be the freshest to make an informed decision.

You’ll also be able to upgrade your collection once you’ve purchased any of them if you realised you made the wrong choice. If you upgrade, you’ll only be charged the difference in the collection prices.

Yes, I do offer payment plans for the collections. Please do get in touch with me directly to discuss your request and situation.

Got some more questions? No problem, click the link below and drop me a message.

email me