Hillsborough River State Park | Tampa Family Pictures

I love meeting new families. It is always the best compliment when other clients refer their friends to me. I get a sense of their photo style even before we meet because I know what their friend’s photos looked like and what ultimately made them choose to book me, too. The same goes for new clients who didn’t get a referal from a friend but maybe saw a blog post, or Instagram post that they loved and let me know when they book. Here are a “few” of my favorite photos from our session at Hillsborough River State Park this fall. It was hot that day, although looking through the camera I kept saying “I feel like I found fall in Vermont” right here in Florida! Their patterns and soft earthy tones really fit perfectly in this “fall” like location in Tampa! Enjoy the photos and if you want to hear a few tips on finding the right photographer and communcating tips for your session, keep reading!

Communication with your photographer will always help you get the photos you want. Photographers should be talking to you as clients to get down to the basics of what photos are most important to you when we document you through our camera lens. However, ultimately, it is up to you to verbalize what style of photos are most important to you. Even better, if you can show images you love best through photo examples, preferrably the photographer’s own work that you are working with, you will get a great dialogue started with your photographer. If you want the perfect family smiling at the camera photo, that is awesome. Just be sure to communicate that upfront. If you really just want to remember your kids at this age, and their personality is more important to try to capture, that is great, too. What is so hard to redirect at a session as a photographer is a family who said they wanted authentic moments captured but then watch them spend 90% of the session having their kids smile at the camera. So, in your communication, make sure your partner/spouse also knows what has been communicated so everyone has the photos they want. I get it, I want something specific when I document my own kids, and when someone documents us. My husband is probably less concerned with anything and just wants to be done with “his part” as quickly as possible. So I make sure to let my photographer know that too! If you husband is really into smiling portraits, make sure you let me know so I can make sure to get a few extra images in the gallery. I am always open to what clients want but I can’t read minds. No one can :)

Before booking with a photographer you should look at their entire online portfolio, from their blog posts, Instagram feed, and Facebook, etc., just to get a collective picture of their work, too. Not every session will look exactly the same as families styles, wardrobe decisions, locations, time of day and lighting can change but the ultimate quality and type of photos should stay pretty consistent. If you look at my work, you may see a few photos interspursed with all family members smiling at the camera, but those are more infrequent than other more authentic family moments overall. That goes across all platforms I share my work. That is not the case with all photographers and ultimately, not everyone’s preference. That is totally cool. There is a photographer for everyone and as a photographer, I don’t want to be the photographer for everyone. I don’t take on photographing events, I don’t photograph large weddings any more, I am not really into fully portrait sessions. Even my senior portrait sessions, I prefer to add family to the start or end of the session because I know those connections with parents as these teens about to fly out of the nest is so impactful.

Those are some helpful photo hints for finding the right photographer and ultimately getting the photos you want most! I will continue to give a few suggestions that have just come to mind after a very busy season. Thankfully, most of my clients are returning and I have documented everyone so often, there is little to say before we get started beside catching up on life and new hobbies of the kids and the like. Want more tips or have a specific questions you want answered, drop a comment below! I am happy to help!