Episode 003: How to Get the Most Out of Your Family Photo Session

Hey, hi, hello and welcome to this-the third episode of the Kelsi Bailey Photography Podcast. It was several years ago, I’d say, I was giving my website a bit of a glow up and in this particular instance I was working on my investment page-the page where clients go to see how much money they can expect to invest if they hire me Kelsi Bailey Photography. And, if you know me in real life this might not come as a surprise to you but I am very-I can be a very awkward person-especially socially and I get super cringy and even more awkward than ever when it comes to talking about money. So, yes, I am one of those photographers that has all of my pricing laid out in black and white right there on my website so that I don’t have to have those awkward money conversations with potential clients. So it was at this time I was working on the investment page of my website and I did not want the heading just to say INVESTMENT or SESSION INVESTMENT or SESSION FEE so I set out in search of trying to find something a bit more…a bit softer for the heading of my investment page and what I found is a quote that reads ‘photography is an investment that becomes more and more valuable over time’ and I think at the time when I read it, the first lightbulb went off and said ‘yes, that’s it, that has a much softer investment appeal’ and I put it on my website immediately and the more I saw that quote as I continued to edit my website and in the years since then, that quote has spoken to me more as both a mother and the owner of a photography business than almost any other quote. 

Because in the literal sense ‘photography is an investment that becomes more and more valuable over time’ literally means, that, photography is an investment that becomes more and more valuable over time. In time, perhaps, family members pass away and all you have left are the memories and the photos of them that you treasure most in your heart. Um, more and more valuable over time as your kids get older, um, you know, those photos of them when they are little are such priceless treasures so literally it becomes more and more valuable over time BUT I think in a much more metaphorical sense, for me, anyway, photography is an investment that becomes more and more valuable over time I think of this in the way that it relates to the relationships that I have with my clients.

I’ve talked about it before here on the podcast that I value my relationships with my clients as a most prized possession. I’m so proud of the way I have built that and I am so honored to have the relationships that I have from this business and they-you-become more valuable to me over time. And I think this is in part because 1. We get to actually build a relationship and I think that’s really beautiful but also 2. it really elevates the photography experience that you have as a client. And it seems, to me, at least, now, with my returning clients when I get to see you year after year or every other year or whatever that looks like…um, I find that our sessions are more of a collaboration with each other to make sure that we are both getting out of the session what we need. It becomes to you and to me, an investment that becomes more and more valuable over time. 

So, when I think about that, in the sense of, like, value, in the literal sense when you are searching for a photographer and you find their investment page and you look at that page and you see that number and you think ‘okay. this photographer is $200 for a photo session. What do I get for that? What value am I getting out of that?’ And of course on their website or in the PDFs that they send you, it’s going to be listed in very black and white. This is what you get. You get this many images, this much time, this many outfits, etc, etc, etc. But I want to talk about how to get the most out of your family session in a collaborative way with your photographer because the more collaborative you can be with me, or your hired photographer, the more you’re going to GET both in a financial investment sense but also in a metaphorical sense of investment so here is how to get the most out of your family session-I think it’s a list of 1, 2, 3, 4, it’s a little tiny list of 4 things that I think will help you get the most out of your family photography session. Let’s do this-let’s raise our coffee mugs-cheers-and jump in today’s episode.

Okay. The first thing that I have on my list-item number 1-is to communicate with me-or to communicate with your hired photographer. I don’t mean communicate here in the way that you are like, inquiring about a session, or sending in a deposit or confirming date/time/location, or circling back the week of your session and confirming date/time/location-that’s not the kind of communication I’m talking about. I’m talking about communication that is collaborative between you and me. Or you and your hired photographer. What I mean by that is this-once you have done all of those things-you’ve booked your session, you’ve paid your deposit, you’ve signed all the paperwork, and then there’s the lull, right? There’s a lull between then and your session date where you’re coordinating outfits and you’re hyping it up to your family and during that time, I encourage you to be collaborative with me or your hired photographer. I mean, if you see something that I post on Instagram or you find on my Pinterest photography page or you see on my blog-if it is an image that speaks to you and you think ‘I love this. This is exactly what I’m looking for’ – will you let me know? Send it to me in a DM, send it to me in a screenshot, email it over to me-this will remind me that you are just as excited about your session as I am and it will ensure that we are an absolutely perfect fit. From time to time, I will receive invitations to view collaborative Pinterest boards for inspiration. They’ll inquire and say ‘We would love to book a family session-here is sort of the vibe that we’re going for’ and they’ll send me a link and I’ll click over to the link-the Pinterest link-and I will see images of families on a beach, or families in a log cabin, or I will see families standing out with the cacti in the desert, and those are all amazing, beautiful images and heck yea if I had any of those at my disposal, you could bet that I would be delivering images like that as well, but my business is run here, in the Midwest. We have beautiful prairie grass, we have beautiful foliage, we have things of that nature and that is what I’m delivering in my sessions so if I’m seeing different inspiration that you desire, then there is a bit of a disconnect. And if there is a disconnect, that, like I said, then the ball is in my court to clear up the communication and say, ‘What is it about these images that you’re liking?’ and hopefully we can work through that. But if I don’t see any kind of collaborative communication, I’m just showing up to the session and just doing my thing-which, yes, is also fine but it’s even better, we’re like, really setting ourselves up for success if we have talked about things in-between now and then, and the images that you like, maybe you’ve sent me one and you’ve said ‘You know what? This one? I’m not digging so much.’ Listen-if we know that-like I said, we’re showing up at your session, we’ve already built a rapport by chatting. Oftentimes people will send me images on instagram or they’ll send me several text messages or they’ll email me outfits and ask me questions about that and then there’s always an apology attached-‘Sorry for bothering you!’ ‘I promise this is the last one!’ and I want you to know that I don’t want you to be shy. I am here and I am happy to help and I literally say that in all of my correspondence emails and I mean it. I want to chat and collaborate with you so that we can get to know each other, and, as a return client, if we already know each other, I want to continue to collaborate to make sure that we are on the same page as far as what poses are we doing, what vibe are we going for, and like, I said, if we can collaborate on that then we will start the session on a successful foot and that is what I want for so-step number one-is to communicate collaboratively with me or your hired photographer. 

Item number two is to plan for what you want to print ahead of time. So the key here is to do this before your session and not after. Why is this important? Because if you can take a stroll through your house and literally take a pen, grab some paper, I want you to write it down. I want you to write down what photos you would like to print. Okay, I’m walking through my house-I see that right in the front hallway I have an 8×10 frame that has a photo of our family-we need an updated family photo for that 8×10 frame, I’m writing it down. Then we have our gallery wall. We have 8×8 frames, I have 12 of those, inside of those are images that are 5×5. In our gallery wall I need it all updated. I need individual photos of each of my children, I need a family photo, I need two or three photos of our kids together-so you can start visually piecing together what your new, refreshed gallery wall will look like. Then you’re walking into your living room-you’re saying ‘Okay. I need an 11×14 family photo over here on this wall, I need something really giant to go on the mantle, preferably something of our whole family since it’s kind of the centerpiece of our living area’ and then whatever else you need. It’s been really popular lately-and I’m really loving it-that kids are asking for specific photos for their room. They want individual photos with mom and dad, they want one with their brother, one with their sister, and if we can make a tangible list-again, with literally pen and paper-if we can make those lists before the session-better yet-if you can share that list with me-then we are, again, collaborating, we’re working together and we are doing all of that hard work on the front end. I know what photos you need the most in your gallery to fill the frames that you already have-or maybe we’re designing a new gallery wall-and we can do that too-but if we do all that work on the front end, your session gallery delivery day is going to be so much sweeter. Because at that point, you can just plug and play. You’ve got your list that you’ve already written out and you’re saying ‘Okay. This image right here is the one that I want for this frame, these are the ones that I want to make sure I get in the gallery wall, this is the one going on the Christmas card, this is the one I’m going to order giant right above the mantle.’ and then all of that takes about half as long as it would if you did it the opposite. If you wait until you get your gallery in your inbox and then you start looking at what you want to fill…what I would hate to happen is for you to be going through your gallery and saying ‘Oh shoot. We totally forgot to take photos of just my husband and I for our nightstand!’ or ‘We totally forgot to take one of just dad and the kids so that he can put it on his desk at work’ and then you’re thinking ‘Well. Now the whole session wasn’t a waste but we didn’t get everything that we needed’ and that’s a heartbreaker right there so my advice there is just walk through your house after you’ve scheduled your session, make a note, a tangible note of the images you want to make sure you receive in your gallery so that I can make sure I know what I need to shoot to fill all of your frames because it’s like that phrase ‘happy wife happy life’ like, if there was a word that rhymed with client I would toss it in here but that is the sentiment that I feel. If I know exactly what you need then we make sure we get that during your session and the rest is just plugging and playing when you get your gallery and that is going to be so much more fun than analysis paralysis. Of you staring at your gallery not even knowing where to begin. So. Let’s eliminate that analysis paralysis altogether. Let’s make a list of what we need. Let’s share that list with me or your hired photographer and then let’s make sure that we make it happen. So item number two is to plan for what you want to print.

Quick Question-did you know that I send out a little monthly love note to my email subscribers? It’s filled with photo session tips, behind-the-scenes peeks, podcast updates, and plenty of real-life mama moments, the kind you can read with your morning or afternoon coffee in hand plus my subscribers are the first know about session availability, mini session offerings, what’s new in my business and I’ve been known to toss around some freebies from time to time so if you haven’t subscribed yet, consider this your invitation to join the family! Simply visit kelsibailey.com and tap the ‘Let’s Be Pen Pals’ icon at the top of the page. I can’t wait to meet you in your inbox! And now, back to the show!

The third item on my list if you are looking to get the most out of your family photo session is to prep your children and your spouse appropriately. I know-I am right there with you-we are living in our world where we are constantly running from one activity to the next activity-from one appointment to the next appointment. Our weekends are full. Our weeknights are full. Everything is busy. Everything is full. And oftentimes, scheduling a photo session is like adding one more appointment to the calendar. And then we view it as such-we view it like a doctors appointment, a dentist appointment, a one more thing that we have to do and my big goal for 2026 is to totally flip that narrative on its head and I’m going to start right here. When you book a photo session, I want you to change your mindset about it a little bit. I don’t want it to feel heavy like one more thing on the calendar, one more thing that I have to put a lot of unwanted effort toward. I, instead, want you to book a photo session and cherish it as like, quality family time. I want you to feel good and refreshed about blocking off a little bit of time where all you have to do is love on your people. Be with your family. I don’t want it to feel like going and having a cavity filled at the dentist. I do not want your kids and your spouse to think about photo sessions that way. Instead, I challenge you, I encourage you, I invite you, to hype it up in a different way. To try and treat it like something fun-like family time should be. If your kids have a birthday party at Urban Air this weekend, I would be willing to bet that you are selling it to them in a way that makes it fun and exciting. You’re not saying ‘Ugh. We’ve got Charlie’s birthday party this afternoon. If you are good and you smile and you behave and you listen at Urban Air, I will get you ice cream after the party.’ That’s not how we’re treating birthday parties. We’re like ‘Yes! Hooray! It’s Charlie’s birthday party day! This is going to be so much fun I’m so excited for you!’ I want to treat family sessions that way. I want you to include your family on the plans and include them early. Tell them where we’re going ‘We’re going to go somewhere new-we’re going to go to a park. We’re going to make a new friend-her name is Kelsi. What do you think you’d like to wear? I think that we’re going to go have our photos taken and we’re going to hang them in all of these frames. Do you see these frame on the wall right here? We’re going to put pictures of you in there, we’re going to put pictures of all of in there, and you know what? We’re going to need a photo of our family for the Christmas card. Let’s go do that!’ I want it to be approached that way because when we approach it as something fun, the kids will not be immediately in a need to be bribed to get it done. It makes me so sad when I show up to do photo sessions and I’m excited and I can tell mom is excited and I can tell that no one else is excited. Like, the dad is already looking at his watch like ‘kickoff is in an hour we need to be home by then.’ I am a football fan, yes I’m hearing you, yes I get it. Also, if you’re showing up and you’re saying ‘You know what? If you guys just cooperate already, just do what Ms. Kelsi says and then when we’re done we’re going to go get some ice cream.’ Kids will cooperate under that impression for a few minutes, but the truth is, we’re going to need more than just a few minutes and the more bribery we have to stack, the less successful we are going to be. So instead of, like I said, throwing it on your family like the Friday before your session like ‘oh by the way guys, in-between all these other things, we have to go have our family photos taken so if y’all could just wear what I’ve set out for you and cooperate and listen, then it’ll just be over with.’ Then we’re showing up the session with that mentality and I don’t think that your family is going to be in the best state of mind to just relax and have fun which is what I want for you. Instead, let’s flip that narrative. Let’s treat it as the quality family time that it is and if you choose to do some bribery, choose it like an additional family outing. ‘We’re going to go put our pretty dresses on, we’re going to put our fancy shoes on, we’re going to go have our photos taken and then we’re going to get ice cream together and it’s going to be a really fun morning.’ If we treat it like that, our kids will view it like that, and we’re going to have a much happier, much more successful session. 

The fourth and final item on my list is to trust me. Trust your hired photographer. I hope that if you have hired me-or your hired photographer-I hope that you’ve done so for a reason. I hope it’s because you’ve found our images and you’ve loved our style. I hope it’s because a friend referred you to us and they loved our work. I hope it’s because you stumbled on my website, or my Pinterest page, or my Instagram profile and you thought ‘I have to hire Kelsi because x y z.’ If that’s the case, and I hope that it is, then please trust me. Trust the process. Trust that I know what I’m doing and allow me to direct the session. When we pull up for our session and we hop out of our cars, from that moment on, your only job-mom and dad-your only job is to love on your family, and listen to the direction that I give. I don’t mean that to sound bossy. I do not consider myself a terribly bossy person so let me give you a scenario to illustrate a bit more of what I mean by this. So picture this. We’re all together. It’s mom, dad, it’s Charlie, Tommy, and Edith. We’re a family of five. I’m photographing you and everything’s looking and smiling, everything’s going well and I give a direction. I say something like ‘Okay. Everybody-Tommy I want you to start tickling Edith and everyone’s going to look at Edith and smile.’ That starts to happen. Everything is going well, everyone’s listening, except dad. Dad’s looking around. He’s making sure Tommy’s doing the thing that he was directed to do. He’s making sure that Edith is doing what she’s supposed to be doing, he’s looking at his wife like ‘Am I doing it? What are we doing right now?’ and as soon as that happens? As soon as that happens, the magic that was going on elsewhere is gone. Those images are no good. I can’t go back and redo it. So please allow me to know when to redirect. Allow me to know when we need to change up our position or take a few minutes break. Trust the process. Okay? Mom, dad? As soon as you intervene, if I give a direction and I say ‘Everybody look at dad’ and nobody looks at dad, that’s okay. That’s okay. Dad-when that happens-you just keep looking, you keep smiling. Because if you’re looking and smiling, chances are, your kids will start listening to. Also, what happens is if I say ‘Okay everybody look up at dad’ and nobody looks up at dad and then dad, you stop smiling, and instead you start directing and you start saying ‘hey, guys, you’re supposed to be looking up here! Edith, oh my gosh, Edith get back here what are you doing?’ As soon as that happens, the entire energy of the session shifts. And it’s really hard to reign that back in, okay? It’s like that saying when you go and you sit at parent teacher conferences and you hear about how well behaved your kids are at school all the time and you think ‘my goodness they don’t act like that all the time at home.’ This is the same type of scenario. Your kids, I promise, are going to behave much better when they’re getting direction from a new person or even if you’re return client and I’m seeing you for the seventh, eighth year in a row, your kids are going to listen to me much better than they’re going to listen to you during our session. And allow it to be that way and trust that I know what I’m doing. I know what I’m trying to achieve and that if you can just keep looking and smiling and being your happy self, that everything that we capture is going to be gold vs me having to go and cull through images and delete whole sets of poses at a time because mom and dad were either trying to direct or mom and dad were looking around anywhere else but where they were supposed to be looking to make sure that everyone else was following direction. That will be a bit of a downer in the long run. So please-I know it’s a big ask-because I know when you’re doing a session you’re also worried about how it’s going to reflect on you if your kids aren’t listening. I’m also a mom. I’ve been photographing families for over a decade. Please. Allow me to take that weight off of your shoulders while we are in the midst of our session and allow me to direct and know when to redirect and I promise if you stay in your line and you smile and love on your people, and listen to the direction that I give, everybody is going to in. So that’s the last item on my list is to trust me or trust your hired photographer. 

I hope that sharing that teeny tiny list of things can kind of help illustrate the different facets of that quote that I shared earlier. The quote that reads ‘Photography is an investment that gets more and more valuable over time.’ I believe these words to be so true because I know that when you hire me or another photographer you spending your money, you are spending your time, you are investing in our business, but I don’t want it to feel like simply a business transaction. I don’t want it to feel like you give me money, I give you photos, and then that’s it. I want it to feel more like an experience that becomes more and more valuable over time. I hope that the images that we are making together this fall or the images that we’ve made together last fall or last spring or last summer or last time you had a baby-I hope that those images now or a year from now-I hope that those images are infinitely more valuable to you today then than they are right now in this moment. And so that’s why I shared these four things-to recap-if you are hoping to get the most out of your photography session, I encourage you to 1. Communicate collaboratively with your photographer, 2. Plan for what you want to print before your session, 3. Communicate appropriately with your husband and your kiddos and 4. Trust me or your hired photographer during your photo session.