Why "Mini" Photo Sessions Are Awesome

Photos by Morgan Bayard Photography

Wanted to share a little photo shoot we did with one of my go-to photographers, Morgan Bayard, a few months back on an unseasonably warm day in November. It was a "mini session," which if you have kids, is really one of the best things ever.

Here's why: While I am perfectly content posing for anyone who wants to take my picture for hours on end (#blogger), both my kids (and, honestly, my husband, too) are not. With them, photo shoots have to be quick and to the point. None of them can possibly muster smiles, cooperation, and patience for anything close to the two whole hours that most photographers have as their minimum for portrait sessions. 

That's why "mini sessions" are so genius for us. If you're not familar with the concept: Photographers block off an entire afternoon in one location (for ours, it was Pier A park on the waterfront in Hoboken), and book individual sessions in 20-minute blocks. You show up ready to go, stand around awkwardly for a few minutes while the previous family finishes their session, and then jump right in when it's your turn.

You bribe your kids to smile, they begrudingly comply for 15 minutes while the photographer snaps away, and then by the time they start to really lose it, it's over anyway. (And honestly, mine barely managed to do that! One would smile, but the other wouldn't. Then the first kid would start to frown, while the other one finally decided to smile. I kept asking Morgan,"Do you think you've gotten anything good?!?") Still, if you have a good photographer, somehow you get lucky, and you end up with that one holiday card shot you needed, plus lots of adorable shots of the kids. In comparision to a full, private shoot, mini session pricing is usually very, very reasonable, too.

You just know the first photographer who came up with the mini-session concept had to be a mom, right? ;)

For more cute shots of my kids, check out the mini session we did with Morgan two years ago in the same location here. (omg, my kids look so young in it. Especially my daughter!). She also shot our family here, here, and here.

Our Holiday Photo Mini Session

 

A few weeks back, I took the kids to a local park for a mini photo session with photographer Morgan Bayard. (She has photographed for us before at this party and this party!) This was actually my first time doing a mini session, which is essentially a "quickie" shoot where you get a block of just 20 minutes. It costs less than a full shoot, and honestly, it's better for little kids anyway, because very few of them want to be posing for an hour. (Case in point: this disaster of a holiday shoot.)

Although, truthfully, my kids couldn't even properly hold it together for the 20 minutes here. Even under the promise of ice cream, I spent the entire time standing behind Morgan and threatening to take away the ice cream, future treats, iPads, etc. They were acting so silly the entire time that I was genuinely worried that we wouldn't get any good shots. Luckily, we managed to snap a few cute ones. :)

I'll be using one of these for our holiday cards this year. I'm going to be ordering from Minted again, because we've always had such a great experience with them. I'll be revealing our card here soon! But if you're planning to order cards, now is a good time, just FYI, because Minted is having a 15 percent off sale throught tomorrow night. Use code HOLIDAY15.

(Oh! And I've linked to their clothes below, if you're interested. I'm obsessed with the Mini Boden outfit my daughter is wearing. I want to recreate it in my size!)

Any guesses as to which shot I'm using for our cards? ;)

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